advice welcome....

[cambridge61]

Hi and thanks in advance for any advice - situation is this....

Daughter sat the 11+ and passed for her school of choice but has not been offered a place due to her rank.

However - during the 2nd of the 2 1 hour tests, the child at the desk directly behind her had a bit of meltdown, the invigilator was unable to resolve the situation and called for assistance, which happened to be the head teacher, so for the last 20 minutes of the second hour my daughter had the upset child, and 2 adults trying to calm her - somewhat off putting for her.

We spoke to the admission officer after the event on the phone who described it as one of the most extreme situations she had ever encountered during an 11+ exam, and agreed we must appeal, and said that the events would have been recorded.

So our argument is this.......my daughter did not get to sit the test in same conditions as all the children who ranked above her, in my mind, making the process unfair.

I would welcome any advice to help prepare for the appeal hearing.

[Amber]

Hi.
Presumably there is an invigilator's log which has the incident recorded and to which you will be able to have redacted access to support an appeal. It has to be redacted as I understand it to protect the identity of other children. If it was indeed the worst incident ever seen, I am sure it is in there. I wonder why they didn't take the poor child out of the test?

Also, I would be careful about suggesting that 'all the other children' who scored more highly than your daughter would have sat the test in better conditions as I assume there were other children in the room aside from your daughter and this child when the meltdown occurred. I am a little surprised (this is Gloucestershire, right?) that the Head was even in the school let alone spending 20 minutes in the room, but the log should have all that recorded. I do recall an incident a few years ago in Gloucestershire in which a child was copiously vomiting into a waste bin in a test. The parents appealed (not sure if they were successful or not) and I always wondered about all the other poor souls who had to witness it. I assume they were also affected. As it was the last 20 minutes of the test perhaps her papers will show a drop in score after that point which would support your case.

I know that the advice on here is always to focus an appeal on academic evidence and not dwell too much on extenuating circumstances. That will comprise things like CATs and KS2 test predictions, head teacher support etc.

[cambridge61]

we have a letter of support from school and copies of sat tests so hopefully have academic covered.

i was really after advice which points to highlight to try and put forward a string case

i guess its not as straight forward as saying my kids clever so just want to formulate a best case possible and would welcome pointers

[Guest55]

Also you need to think about why that particular school as it will be full already. You need to counter the school's case for why they have no room for one more student.

[Etienne]

Welcome to Appeals!

As explained above, you need as much academic evidence as possible to prove that the result really would have been different:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeal ... cation#b11" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and sound reasons for wanting a place at the school being appealed for:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeal ... -school#c2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Example:
https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeals/general#a43" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[cambridge61]

thanks for the feedback so far....most grateful.

has anyone ever used the services of a professional ?? if so what was the experience like.

[Guest55]

Money can't buy better advice than Etienne.

[Amber]

May I ask which school you are appealing for, C61? The success rate varies hugely in Gloucestershire and one grammar is, as I am sure you are aware, heavily undersubscribed this year and has actually been asking people to appeal.

[cambridge61]

ribston....daughter didnt meet the pass mark for crypt whereas she did for ribston.

but....as crypt basically invited us to appeal we have...but i was told the had 200 appeals already and we might be in the second round of appeals by which point they'd be full

[Amber]

Only 8 people who put Ribston as first preference on the CAF were not awarded a place (you are presumably one of them). I would think that with some who were allocated potentially preferring Crypt, you are probably in with a reasonable chance of getting in on appeal. As things stand they are full though, so you would have to come up with a strong reason why you want the school, as well as good evidence about your daughter's academic performance.

we have a letter of support from school and copies of sat tests so hopefully have academic covered.

I am not sure what the experts on here say, but I am not sure that you 'have academic covered' - you may need something more than that.