Unsuccessful grammar school appeal

As a panelist in this situation, there are two hurdles we need to consider;
non qualification - the fact he didn't get the qualifying score. We are not allowed to make our own determination as to your sons ability; we can only look at the academic evidence that shows that his ability very clearly. That requires extensive paper evidence from school in terms of previous, consistent high achievement. Did you have that? TBH the reason for underperformance is not that important, it's the evidence of consistent performance at the required high level that is key.

then even if we decide that that evidence exists, we also need to consider oversubscription - is the detriment to your child of not going to this school greater that the detriment to the school of taking another pupil? This sounds like it might have been an extremely oversubscribed school with a strong case, if the panel only gave one place with 39 appeals.

Even if we decide that an appealant is of the academic standard, we also then need to decide on the second point too. The music points you make would generally be quite weak I'm afraid - nice to have but not a huge detriment not to have. He also seems to have access to music lessons/support outside of school.

The full feedback letter should explains the deliberations of the panel and why they made their decision. if you really aren't happy that this explains the deliberations the panel made, you can make a complaint based on maladministration, though honestly it doesn't sound as if that was the case. This won't overturn the appeal result, but if granted, would result in another fresh appeal with a different panel.

What instrument does he play? Grade 3/4 on French horn, bassoon, tuba or harp will be of a lot more interest to a head of music running a school orchestra than flute, clarinet or piano.

I agree with this, I went to Grammar School back in the 70s when tutoring for the 11+ was unheard of. I went from being top of the class to average which really affected my confidence. I found myself among students who were highly intelligent. I really didn't enjoy my grammar school years.

My daughter failed her 11+ on one of the papers, but scored an extremely high score on verbal reasoning. No tutoring at all. I could have appealed but I didn't as I was told that the top group at secondary was equivalent to the bottom set at Grammar and I thought that would be better for her confidence. She did extremely well on her GCSEs, all A*, As and Bs, did A levels then went to uni.

The problem now is that so many parents are paying for tutoring for the 11+ that there are too many children passing for the amount of places available. This is why I think they should be abolished.

my DC are not in grammar school but from what I hear, the pressure is incredibly intense and getting in is only the beginning. If your DC found the entrance exams this stressful, why do you think he’d be fine with the ongoing workload and pressure of grammar school? Is he more disappointed by this or are you?

It’s not very helpful to speculate on why your appeal did not succeed. The decision letter should summarise the evidence considered by the panel and how it reached its decision.

Sorry, but your Son didn't meet the criteria. It's the first of many disappointment in his life. He'll bounce back if you show him that it's not a big deal.

You sound like a parent that is able to offer him some fantastic opportunities. Having gone through the teenage stages twice I can tell you that having friends, hobbies and interests outside school is very important. So maybe it's good for his personal development that the school he's going to isn't focused on music.

I do understand your and his disappointment, but as gently as possible I do wonder whether they didn’t make what you consider sufficient allowance for his medical condition because (assuming it’s a permanent condition) it might also sometimes affect his ability to keep up in lessons.

My experience, working in a school that took children from a range of feeder schools, is that the children very quickly widened their friendship pool and few were so friendly with those from the same primary, after a short time. It’s an opportunity to meet new people and have new experiences.

You have to ask yourself whether an extremely academically demanding school is the right place for him with his medical condition. Its a miserable place being a clever, bright child with lots of potential, being in a class where you are considered below average from the off because other 11ynolds are ahead of you at that point in time. It affects their self esteem greatly. And with the benefit of hindsight, performance and level at 11 is not indicative of where they all are at 18, please trust me on this. I have university aged kids and the ones that are at top universities and getting great jobs aren't the same as the ones that got grammar school places and scholarships, in all but a couple of cases that I can think of.

Awful news and devastated, seems extreme, the rules can’t be changed if candidates say they weren’t their best on the day can you make an exception, where would it stop?

Hi OP, you went through the appeals process and you've had your answer. I know it's hard but honestly the best thing you can do for your child now is to put this behind you and start looking forward in a positive way.

I do empathise with the op though because if you do live in a grammar area it's just not the same. The grammar system creates a situation where the middle class children who can afford tutoring (whether that's time and knowledge from parents or paid) leaving the non selectives with disproportionate levels of the children who receive less support which creates behaviour issues.

I think the problem is he achieved the pass mark in only one of 3 categories but failed in the other 2 - why did his medical condition not affect him across the board?

Pupil premium probably have a lower pass rate, its a blunt tool but its very needed to cancel out disadvantage most children on pupil premium suffer from.

You are missing my point. Even if they agreed and 5 marks(for same of argument) were added he still would not meet the cutoff score in his admissions category.

I just scraped into a Grammar, it was miserable, I couldn't keep up. Me and my friends from primary barely spoke after the first couple of weeks.

So allocation was not only based on score. PP is used as a way of targeting those who may be disadvantaged and benefit relatively more from a grammar education, I’m not sure your apparent envy is a good look.

My Dd got grade 4 distinction in year 6. Definitely not considered gifted!

I think you just need to accept it tbh. If you put in all the info then he just didn't meet the requirements and may be better off flying high in a non grammar. Much that I hate the music grade system the school won't consider grade 3 gifted. We are in a grammar area and there are 4 children in DC's year 6 class who are above grade 6.

Gently op, they had lots of kids in the same situation, passed the test but not high enough to get a place, how could they give him a place when someone scoring higher doesn’t get one? Also whilst congregations on the music exams, they are not at the level to be considered, without sounding bragging (yes it’s bragging) my dd had grade 7 on one instrument, grade 5 on another and grade 6 singing by aged 11, that still wasn’t the highest in her primary school as two kids had grade 8’s, and abrsm which is harder.

i personally don’t believe in grammar schools, they create division and mean later developing dc are put at disadvantage because they go to inferior schools, luckily there were no grammars where we lived because my k
other dc was a classic late developer and is now doing a job that is a bit “wow” wouldn’t have stood a chance at 11+