Invigilators report - has anyone seen one?

[theseneschal]

Hi, I'm in the position of appealing against a grammar school. I've emailed asking for the invigilators report, would anyone know if they're obliged to send it out to me? Is there a time frame for a response?

I'm also wondering whether it will list a start and finish time for both the exams in time form eg., 9:30start 10:20 finish 10:40 start 11:30 finish? Or just list the exam was say 45 mins?

Any feedback would be gratefully received.

[heartmum]

Hi theseneschal, I'm not sure which area you are in but in the area were I live (Buckinghamshire) I contacted our Education authority (Bucks CC) and they forwarded a copy of the report to me. However they had blacked out actual names on the report due to data protection. The report came within a couple of weeks.

[theseneschal]

Thanks Heartmum, we're looking at a Gloucester Grammar. I just asked the school admin by email, who said they would pass it on to Mrs X, who would get back to me.

A couple of weeks feels like a long time during this phase of admissions! I hope you had a positive result. X

[SSSMM]

I have sat on Gloucestershire grammar appeals panels and whilst I do not know if a copy is sent to the parents at their request I can confirm that every single event is logged. The exact start and finish times are logged together with any noises, disturbances etc such as 09.43 Little Johnny dropped his pencil, 10.01 car horn heard outside - I am sure you get the picture. The school will always bring the log with them to all appeals in case a parent asks on the day.

[NancyB]

Hi, I'm in the position of appealing against a grammar school. I've emailed asking for the invigilators report, would anyone know if they're obliged to send it out to me? Is there a time frame for a response?

I'm also wondering whether it will list a start and finish time for both the exams in time form eg., 9:30start 10:20 finish 10:40 start 11:30 finish? Or just list the exam was say 45 mins?

It depends on the individual invigilator, but all will have start time & end time. Then there will be
09:31 Child A dropped his pencil.
09:32 Child B sniffed.
09:35 Child A dropped pencil again then was sick.
09:37 Child F left room to go to toilet
09:40 Child F returned.
09:42 Sound of helicopter flying low over classroom

The childrens names will be on it, so you'll not get to see the original at any stage - it would have to be redacted.

[mattsurf]

I recommend 100% that you ask for this report. In our original appeal we did not ask for it, however, while preparing for our complaint to EFA, we did ask for it and it showed that the English paper was stopped 2 minutes early (DD had a special access arrangement to have a break in exam due to an eye condition), there was clearly an error on timing following the break. DD was 1 mark from pass mark so 2 minutes was very significant

Report showed details and times of all events.

Also ask to see copies of answer sheets, in our original appeal we were blindsided by the school when their case (which we had not seen before the hearing) consisted of statements like "[name] answered 9 of the final 20 questions correctly in the maths, this demonstrates that she struggles with the harder questions and leads us to feel that she will struggle with the level and pace of Maths taught in Grammar School", "in English [name] answered 5 out of 10 questions correctly on the final comprehension, because of this we feel that she will struggle to access the curriculum at a fast paced Grammar School"

In order to be prepared to respond to these attacks, you need to be as prepared as possible

[NancyB]

I recommend 100% that you ask for this report. In our original appeal we did not ask for it, however, while preparing for our complaint to EFA, we did ask for it and it showed that the English paper was stopped 2 minutes early (DD had a special access arrangement to have a break in exam due to an eye condition), there was clearly an error on timing following the break. DD was 1 mark from pass mark so 2 minutes was very significant

Report showed details and times of all events.

Also ask to see copies of answer sheets, in our original appeal we were blindsided by the school when their case (which we had not seen before the hearing) consisted of statements like "[name] answered 9 of the final 20 questions correctly in the maths, this demonstrates that she struggles with the harder questions and leads us to feel that she will struggle with the level and pace of Maths taught in Grammar School", "in English [name] answered 5 out of 10 questions correctly on the final comprehension, because of this we feel that she will struggle to access the curriculum at a fast paced Grammar School"

In order to be prepared to respond to these attacks, you need to be as prepared as possible

I think this is a Gloucestershire appeal, who now use the CEM test. The exam instructions & timing is played out on a CD, rather than invigilator looking at a clock.

The Glos CEM test schools no longer have access to the answer papers once they've been sent off for marking and are just sent a ranked score back. They cannot analyse the ability of the child in any particular type of question, do not know how many questions were answered or which ones were missed out. All very different to how it used to be with the old test up to two years ago.

[mattsurf]

I think this is a Gloucestershire appeal, who now use the CEM test. The exam instructions & timing is played out on a CD, rather than invigilator looking at a clock.

The Glos CEM test schools no longer have access to the answer papers once they've been sent off for marking and are just sent a ranked score back. They cannot analyse the ability of the child in any particular type of question, do not know how many questions were answered or which ones were missed out. All very different to how it used to be with the old test up to two years ago.

This is indeed a good step forward - we felt that we were bullied and intimidated by the school at the appeal and their claims of lack of suitability for GS frankly ridiculous based DD missing the pass mark by 1 mark (which is not even statistically significant)

[theseneschal]

Thanks for that advice. The school just got back to me and have refused to give it to me telling me it will be available on the day should I wish to appeal that can't be right?

[Amber]

Thanks for that advice. The school just got back to me and have refused to give it to me telling me it will be available on the day should I wish to appeal that can't be right?

I think as long as the appeal panel don't have access to it either they might be within their rights - I know that one side can't have information the other doesn't. It sounds as if it would be quite a lot of work for someone to go through redacting the thing just for you, particularly as you haven't yet lodged an appeal and may decide not to do so.

Ideally either Sally-Anne or Etienne will have time soon to answer this as this is something they will know right away off the top of their heads.