How do you prove your child's academic ability?
Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators
-
littleloopy
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2008 12:24 am
- Location: South Bucks
How do you prove your child's academic ability?
We go to appeal in 3 days time and I am petrified of letting my daughter down.
She is so well suited to a GS it is unreal, yet she got 118 + 113 in her 11+.
I don't want to leave anything out at appeal but my poor head is spinning and I am now beginning to panic a little!
She moved from a small school with maybe one or two passes a year (if a good year) to a bigger far more successful school, in year 5. She has settled in brilliantly and is thriving well and truly. She has always had excellent reports and very rarely have teachers pointed out anything she needs to work on (unlike my reports in the past!!!)
She is 12th on the oos, 10 above her passed and 10 below her passed.
She was given a 2:1 by the headteacher, who has written great stuff about her and also a letter from her teacher.
She is expected to get 5's accross the board in her SATS too.
She took the maths challenge in year 5 and got a cert of participation (she had only been at the new school for a couple of months) and this year, she got a silver. Should I take certificates for the maths challenge?
I have so many questions but I will leave it at this for now.
Any advice will be greatfully received.
Many thanks
Littleloopy
She is so well suited to a GS it is unreal, yet she got 118 + 113 in her 11+.
I don't want to leave anything out at appeal but my poor head is spinning and I am now beginning to panic a little!
She moved from a small school with maybe one or two passes a year (if a good year) to a bigger far more successful school, in year 5. She has settled in brilliantly and is thriving well and truly. She has always had excellent reports and very rarely have teachers pointed out anything she needs to work on (unlike my reports in the past!!!)
She is 12th on the oos, 10 above her passed and 10 below her passed.
She was given a 2:1 by the headteacher, who has written great stuff about her and also a letter from her teacher.
She is expected to get 5's accross the board in her SATS too.
She took the maths challenge in year 5 and got a cert of participation (she had only been at the new school for a couple of months) and this year, she got a silver. Should I take certificates for the maths challenge?
I have so many questions but I will leave it at this for now.
Any advice will be greatfully received.
Many thanks
Littleloopy
Hi Littleloopy
Have you read Etienne's Q&A about appeals, I have found this really helpful. We went to appeal last Friday, so don't know how we got on yet, but I felt with this forums help that we had as much covered as we could. The panel were really nice, it was not scary at all so try not to get too stressed about it (easy for me to say now ours is over with). The panel asked us about our circumstances and about why we felt our daughter had not gained the pass mark. She excels in Maths but her English is not quite so good so they asked us about that (which I was expecting thanks to this forum).
So my advice would be to try to get all the facts straight in your head before you go, try to think of as many questions you may be asked and think about answers, they asked if we had brought schoolwork and spent some time looking at it, so I think some books are also a good idea
Good Luck.
Have you read Etienne's Q&A about appeals, I have found this really helpful. We went to appeal last Friday, so don't know how we got on yet, but I felt with this forums help that we had as much covered as we could. The panel were really nice, it was not scary at all so try not to get too stressed about it (easy for me to say now ours is over with). The panel asked us about our circumstances and about why we felt our daughter had not gained the pass mark. She excels in Maths but her English is not quite so good so they asked us about that (which I was expecting thanks to this forum).
So my advice would be to try to get all the facts straight in your head before you go, try to think of as many questions you may be asked and think about answers, they asked if we had brought schoolwork and spent some time looking at it, so I think some books are also a good idea
Good Luck.
-
littleloopy
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2008 12:24 am
- Location: South Bucks
Thanks Hope.
I am just at that stage where you thought you had all the bases covered and then you realise that you haven't!
I don't know what they might ask, that's my problem.
I will sit down with a pen and paper later and try brain storming!
It seems like such a lottery if you are successful or not. Hearing that 120's aren't getting a place has made me a nervous wreck!
I wish it was Thursday already!!!
I hope you get a lovely letter in the post.
Thanks
Littleloopy
I am just at that stage where you thought you had all the bases covered and then you realise that you haven't!
I don't know what they might ask, that's my problem.
I will sit down with a pen and paper later and try brain storming!
It seems like such a lottery if you are successful or not. Hearing that 120's aren't getting a place has made me a nervous wreck!
I wish it was Thursday already!!!
I hope you get a lovely letter in the post.
Thanks
Littleloopy
Hi LittleLoopy,
I had my appeal in early January and was one of the lucky ones, mine was successful, my DD scores were 116/115, but I had strong extenuating circumstances which helped BUT I really did try and just prove the Academic Achievements above all.
In the actual appeal I pushed the academic achievements first, like yourself my DD was a 2-1, 13th of oos 11 passed above, 5 passed below and 2 that didn't were scores of 120, basically the Heads oos was very accurate which made the summary all the more plausible. I also had a letter of support from her year 6 teacher. She is expected with 5b SATs in Eng and Sci and 5c in maths, plus I put in a very good year 5 report. I am sure a lot of people on here are doing the same. As I mentioned I also had stong circumstances which all I can think must have helped enormously too. I cannot believe some are not going through, obviously I do not know the full stories and I am not present in the Appeals as to what is said etc. I kept mine very simple and just homed in on the excellence side (I also took in her books, there were some very good comments in there but equally there were also some not so good, but I did not see the point of hiding anything.) I did not go into any detail about what she was like or what else she did as I felt I was just there to prove she was GS material, my DD is member of many clubs has many interests, is a prefect blah blah (I did not say any of this).
I was asked a couple of Qu about my circumstances (not too many) and then a few filler Qu, such as does she read, does she play an instrument, is she good at art (they picked this up from the teachers letter) she is extremely good, (I did not want to mention it, as I felt I could be penalised and asked why do we not try and get her into a school that caters for artsists believe me I was expecting as much).
I am not sure what the deciding factor was, (probably a mixture of the two) but really do push the academic side and then explain why you think your child fell short of the pass mark.
I hope this helps a little, and as Hope has already said the Panel are really quite nice, just concentrate on being calm and sell you childs academic abilities.
Regards
I had my appeal in early January and was one of the lucky ones, mine was successful, my DD scores were 116/115, but I had strong extenuating circumstances which helped BUT I really did try and just prove the Academic Achievements above all.
In the actual appeal I pushed the academic achievements first, like yourself my DD was a 2-1, 13th of oos 11 passed above, 5 passed below and 2 that didn't were scores of 120, basically the Heads oos was very accurate which made the summary all the more plausible. I also had a letter of support from her year 6 teacher. She is expected with 5b SATs in Eng and Sci and 5c in maths, plus I put in a very good year 5 report. I am sure a lot of people on here are doing the same. As I mentioned I also had stong circumstances which all I can think must have helped enormously too. I cannot believe some are not going through, obviously I do not know the full stories and I am not present in the Appeals as to what is said etc. I kept mine very simple and just homed in on the excellence side (I also took in her books, there were some very good comments in there but equally there were also some not so good, but I did not see the point of hiding anything.) I did not go into any detail about what she was like or what else she did as I felt I was just there to prove she was GS material, my DD is member of many clubs has many interests, is a prefect blah blah (I did not say any of this).
I was asked a couple of Qu about my circumstances (not too many) and then a few filler Qu, such as does she read, does she play an instrument, is she good at art (they picked this up from the teachers letter) she is extremely good, (I did not want to mention it, as I felt I could be penalised and asked why do we not try and get her into a school that caters for artsists believe me I was expecting as much).
I am not sure what the deciding factor was, (probably a mixture of the two) but really do push the academic side and then explain why you think your child fell short of the pass mark.
I hope this helps a little, and as Hope has already said the Panel are really quite nice, just concentrate on being calm and sell you childs academic abilities.
Regards
Caz34red
-
littleloopy
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2008 12:24 am
- Location: South Bucks
Thank you Caz34red,
I have taken lots of info from all the posts I have read and know that I will post how I find the appeal so that others might get some tips from our experience.
A friend of mine is having her appeal today, so I will get some more ideas of what to expect on the question front.
I am so pleased I was told about this forum, it has made things so much easier than if I'd been left to muddle through on my own!
I have just been reading through my DD's literacy books. Some of the poetry she has written is really good. I don't know where she gets it from!
I have taken lots of info from all the posts I have read and know that I will post how I find the appeal so that others might get some tips from our experience.
A friend of mine is having her appeal today, so I will get some more ideas of what to expect on the question front.
I am so pleased I was told about this forum, it has made things so much easier than if I'd been left to muddle through on my own!
I have just been reading through my DD's literacy books. Some of the poetry she has written is really good. I don't know where she gets it from!
