Academic appeals partially selective
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Academic appeals partially selective
My daughter sat the academic papers in September for SW Herts and subsequently for Bucks. Our target school is St. Clement Danes.
She has Asperger's and was given extra time in her exam as well a smaller room. The problem is that she got to a question she struggled with early on and stayed with it for a long time which meant that she had to rush and guess some answers. This was her first exam and she is perfectionist, she was very nervous and forgot to move on. When she came out of the exam she said to me immediately, "I didn't do very well as I got stuck on one question".
She has since sat the Bucks 11+ and said that she think she did well. Her experience with the SW Herts exam helped her.
She has an excellent academic history in primary school, a ready age of 14 when she was in Year 4, she is in the top sets for maths and English, she is on the higher achieving pupil programme, talented writers group, and her reports are consistently grade her work as Greater Depth. Her maths and English in her y5 reports were 120+, I am told they do not score over this level at the school. I am confident in providing evidence from school on her academic ability however my questions are - as it's only a partially selective school am I able to appeal based on her academic ability for an academic place? Do I have any grounds for appeal? I am moving into WD3 area but not close enough for a distance place.
She does not have an ECHP
She has Asperger's and was given extra time in her exam as well a smaller room. The problem is that she got to a question she struggled with early on and stayed with it for a long time which meant that she had to rush and guess some answers. This was her first exam and she is perfectionist, she was very nervous and forgot to move on. When she came out of the exam she said to me immediately, "I didn't do very well as I got stuck on one question".
She has since sat the Bucks 11+ and said that she think she did well. Her experience with the SW Herts exam helped her.
She has an excellent academic history in primary school, a ready age of 14 when she was in Year 4, she is in the top sets for maths and English, she is on the higher achieving pupil programme, talented writers group, and her reports are consistently grade her work as Greater Depth. Her maths and English in her y5 reports were 120+, I am told they do not score over this level at the school. I am confident in providing evidence from school on her academic ability however my questions are - as it's only a partially selective school am I able to appeal based on her academic ability for an academic place? Do I have any grounds for appeal? I am moving into WD3 area but not close enough for a distance place.
She does not have an ECHP
Re: Academic appeals partially selective
Welcome to Appeals! 
You should submit an appeal in March covering everything.
The three main areas are:
• Academic evidence of high ability
• Extenuating circumstances
• Reasons for wanting a place at this school.
The following example might help:
https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeals/general#a43" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
You should submit an appeal in March covering everything.
The three main areas are:
• Academic evidence of high ability
• Extenuating circumstances
• Reasons for wanting a place at this school.
The following example might help:
https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeals/general#a43" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Etienne
Re: Academic appeals partially selective
Thanks Etienne, really very helpful.
May I just ask what is an acceptable (appeals) reason for wanting a place at SCD?
I have many but I am not sure which would hold up:
I met with SENDCO on open day and she very generously spent around 15 minutes talking to me. Girls with Aspergers present very differently to boys and she was able to list exactly the type of support my daughter would need. This is really very rare to come across in a mainstream educational setting.
The school building is well laid out, calm and organised. I can see that my daughter would not find too many of the areas too busy or threatening.
The school treats children as individuals and really emphasise this in what they say and in my conversations with existing students.
It would provide a strong academic environment where my daughter would not stand out as being odd, or different. Some might describe as geeky.
Any drection on this last area would be a great help.
Many thanks
May I just ask what is an acceptable (appeals) reason for wanting a place at SCD?
I have many but I am not sure which would hold up:
I met with SENDCO on open day and she very generously spent around 15 minutes talking to me. Girls with Aspergers present very differently to boys and she was able to list exactly the type of support my daughter would need. This is really very rare to come across in a mainstream educational setting.
The school building is well laid out, calm and organised. I can see that my daughter would not find too many of the areas too busy or threatening.
The school treats children as individuals and really emphasise this in what they say and in my conversations with existing students.
It would provide a strong academic environment where my daughter would not stand out as being odd, or different. Some might describe as geeky.
Any drection on this last area would be a great help.
Many thanks
Re: Academic appeals partially selective
Good question!
https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appea ... -school#c2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
It's personalised with the reference to "my conversations", but how big was the sample size?
Fine! Even better if there had been a separate appointment with the Senco at this and at alternative schools. Scroll down to Example B:Spicy wrote: (1) I met with SENDCO on open day and she very generously spent around 15 minutes talking to me. Girls with Aspergers present very differently to boys and she was able to list exactly the type of support my daughter would need. This is really very rare to come across in a mainstream educational setting.
https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appea ... -school#c2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Point out why this matters - not all panels will be knowledgeable about Aspergers.(2) The school building is well laid out, calm and organised. I can see that my daughter would not find too many of the areas too busy or threatening.
Some panels might think this reads a bit like a quote from a school prospectus ("We pride ourselves on treating our pupils as individuals .....".)(3) The school treats children as individuals and really emphasise this in what they say and in my conversations with existing students.
It's personalised with the reference to "my conversations", but how big was the sample size?
As with point 2 above.(4) It would provide a strong academic environment where my daughter would not stand out as being odd, or different. Some might describe as geeky.
Etienne