Herschel Appeal for score 110

[Bepositive2life]

Hi, My DD got 110 in Berkshire test, where the required pass mark is 111. She is very despondent and says if we I had worked with her and provided comfortable situation at home, she would have scored better. My 2 year old DS was assessed by Early Learning Team (who visited childminder's place) with speech problems and they also doubt if he has ADHD because of his fleeting attention span and hyper activity. I mostly spent time with him as there are strategies advised by speech therapist to follow and perform with him. As he cannot communicate clearly and pass the message, he gets frustrated quickly and throws tantrums on her sister (like throwing heavy toys on her, upsetting her, and so on), hence we always asked her to be in her room and work on her own. I did not even help clarify her doubts.

DS passed the Bucks test, but she has been wanting to join Herschel, as it is just 2 miles from our home. To accentuate the challenges we had, our home which was quite old was getting renovated during her summer vacation, that is during the holidays just before exam. The construction did not go as the builder planned and it got completed in the first week of this month (that is, December 2019). This resulted in a huge messy and noisy environment.

Can anyone please advise me if it is worth appealing for Herschel. I have all proofs. She is an outstanding student in her school and the headteacher is willing to recommend her.
Edited by moderator

[scary mum]

Did you put Herschel on your CAF? You can only appeal for a school which has turned you down.
Did you also apply to Burnham Grammar? As you may know, the score for Bucks is irrelevant, so I have edited it out, although I get the point that the scores are far apart.

[Bepositive2life]

Yes, Herschel is our third choice. First one is Becky high and the second is Burnham grammar, the rest are all local comprehensive schools (Ditton Park and Langley Academy).

Would we be able to appeal even if we didn't put Herschel as the first choice?

[hermanmunster]

You can appeal for any school which has rejected you. Are you likely to get one of your first two?

[scary mum]

If you are close to Herschel you would almost certainly get BGS, and possibly BHS.

[Bepositive2life]

Yes, I suppose, most probably, Burnham grammar. But DD wants to go to Herschel as it is closer and she can commute on her own without depending on us or any other transport. She is a kind of girl who wants to do things without depending too much on others.

I feel so much guilt that I used to sent her to her room whenever she came asking for help. I thought my 2 year old deserved more attention than her. Now I regret for not helping her.

I couldn't find much about Berkshire appeals, hence thought of creating this post, at least that would help other parents in the future who go through the same situation. I wish no one gets this shocking score of '110'. The Berkshire results day was horrible for my DD. She calmed a bit down when the Bucks results was out.

[scary mum]

I will move this to Appeals and hopefully someone who knows about these things better than I do can help you.
If you are offered BGS or BHS you will not be turned down by Herschel as you will not be considered by them, so you can't appeal. This is why you are advised to put the schools in your true order of preference- if Herschel was your first choice I'm not clear why you wouldn't put it first?

[Bepositive2life]

We didn't put Herschel first because we were sure they would turn her application down. To be on the safer side, we put Bucks schools first and Herschel then.

[scary mum]

Unfortunately that's not how it works - you must put them in your true order of preference - if you look on your council website it should explain this in detail. Unfortunately for you it is now too late, unless you are able to change your order of preference (unlikely).

Your local authority has to assume that if you put BGS & BHS, those are your first and second choices, it can't read your mind & assume that the school you put third is actually the one you prefer, unfortunately.

[Bepositive2life]

Yes scary mum, we thought about it while filling the CAF.

But as per the following thread:

https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum ... .php?t=739" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The admission procedure seems to be quite different between Berks and Bucks. Just as the thread said, we thought it was fine to put Bucks choices first and then the Berks choice.