Grammar school appeal advice.

[Picklepops01]

Good morning all, so today is the big day to find out what school my DS will be attending, we are going to go through the appeal process as DS failed on the day he had missed out 13 questions on one 4 on another and attempted his Maths but only scored 104 on it so overall score was 297. As DS missed out so many due to the usual being nervous, worrying about the time and one also being he had just turned 10 at the end of August and he'd not had weekly tutor lesson like his peers. Does anyone have any experience on the same thing and had the appeal be successful, the headteacher and year teacher were both surprised he hadn't passed as he's always been where he should be or working at a greater depth. But the school did not appeal on his behalf obviously due to it being a low mark compared to other children. Any advice would be most helpful.

To win, you will need to convince the appeal panel that your son is of grammar school standard but underperformed on the day. Don't give them examples of his work. Evidence from his current teacher and/or head would help. However, if he missed out by a long way it will be difficult to convince the panel.

You also need to show that the disadvantage to your son from not attending outweighs any problems the school will face from having to cope with an additional pupil. You need to find things the school offers (other than being a grammar school) that are particularly relevant to your son and are not available at the allocated school. This could be subject choices, extracurricular activities, etc.

Good morning thank you for your quick response.
My son scored 297 but needed 332, as mentioned he missed out on answering 17 questions in total but only scored 104 in maths 107 passmark needed.
Both his headteacher and year teacher have sent me their supporting emails for me to attach to the appeal letter so they are in full support of this and will provide all that is needed work wise for him originally I was unsure wether to go through the appeal with that score but having found out how many he missed the school said I should definitely take it to appeal.

Hi @prh47bridge out of interest would it be beneficial to include the fact that I was made redundant months prior to the test and obviously with myself and husband being stressed and under pressure to pay the bills etc.. (husband is self employed) and trying our best to hide this from our son it had some kind of affect on him as we were unable to do the things we normally do or put him in to weekly tutor lessons like his friends etc.. just a thought.
Thank you in advance for your advice.

I think that score is far too low to bother.
the people I know who were successful in appeals were only a mark or two off.
Do a bit more prep this year and do a re-sit next year.

I find it really hard to believe you could be successful on appeal with a score of 297. Based on the pass mark I assume you're in Kent? People I know who have been successful on appeal had well over the total pass mark but were under in one subject only - eg 360 overall but 105 in maths so didn't pass.

I think you should be careful about getting your hopes up in this situation. If your head is so supportive, why did they not do a headteacher's appeal before the results were published?

That's what i thought but after finding out he'd missed so many questions the school said I should definitely appeal otherwise we would not waste their time in doing so.
I don't believe they can re sit it can they we are in Kent?

Sorry but that score is very far off the mark he needed, and the reasons for the low mark are not really beyond what other children might also have been feeling - nervous on the day etc.

I think you are very unlikely to be successful on appeal. I would spend time instead finding out good things about the school your son has been allocated.

@Labtastic my thoughts exactly I have thought about questioning that but then just thought it was due to the mark being so low. My son is happy about the school he has been accepted for but wants to try the appeal either way so neither of us are getting our hopes up.

Why are you trying to force your son into a school system where he will constantly be under pressure and be hovering near the bottom of the class? It's horrible being surrounded by peers who find the work easier than you do and can score high marks under pressure better than you can, at that time. It's cruel. He may well go on to get great exam results, and be very academic, as boys often mature later academically ime, but he's not ready right now.

Are there other points to retry in Kent when he might be more ready?

But surely he skipped the questions because he was unsure, and/or slow? I don't understand your justification here. If this was a GCSE and he left out half the questions you couldn't say "well if he had answered those questions and got them correct he would have got a grade 9" - that's not how it works!

My daughter missed her grammar by 10 marks. She lacked confidence in her maths at the time. Now at her comp it has all clicked into place and she's top of set 1. But she didn't meet grammar criteria so she didn't get a place. That's how it works?

@AIstolemylunch this appeal was not my decision if u read my post above it was my son's decision to do so. I've expressed to him that the score was too low so don't expect to win it.

You won't win an appeal to get into grammar if you haven't passed and the time to appeal the grade was after the results came out. I don't think they'll re-look.at it now.

Also the lack of tutoring won't be a factor. In spite of what you hear there are good numbers who don't get outside tutors. Also Kent and others like Bexley always say you don't need to be tutored to pass so won't take that into consideration.

The numbers who win appeals are really really small so I'd save yourself the effort now especially if he's happy with the school he got. He didn't pass. He needs to let it go.

Someone I know won an appeal because they had made a mistake answering on the answer grid (I'm not sure how it works, but they gave question 1 answer to question 2, etc). They realised and started to correct it and only messed up on that one subject.
I can't see how not answering 13 questions is a reason to appeal - unless paper was stuck together or something?

Also - he missed out 13 questions? On which paper? Because the Maths and English only have 25 questions each!

Isn't your son 11? Who has told him an appeal is even possible, never mind likely to win in this situation? I'm sorry to be harsh but I have been though this and have older teenagers so have the perspective and it is not his decision to make, it's yours. You should not be giving him false hope or supporting the idea that if you don't answer questions on an exam you get another chance. You don't, outside of trying again at a different time. That's not how the system works and doesn't do him any favours pretending it is.

Lots of children don't pass grammar school exams at 10/11 and go on to do extremely well academically. And vice versa. It's a ridiculous system that takes a snapshot look at how the child reasons and performs in exams at 10/11, which is far too young imo, especially for boys. Nonetheless, it is the system and you can't force children that don't fit into it, at that time.

Is it better for a student to be bottom of the class in a grammar school, or near the top of the class in another school?

Seems a very long shot if he missed the minimum maths score and overall, he would be unlikely to have got all 17 correct and even then not achieved the overall score. Are the scores not age adjusted? Does the allocated school stream?

It's not great mental health-wise being near the bottom all the time and most boys, generally, give up in that situation. Also the work isn't completely different in grammar school classes compared to other schools - they are all preparing for the same GCSEs, they just go at a faster pace. Not having time to develop acdemically and not being able to keep up from the beginning sounds horrible to me and my dc's friends who were in that position simply gave up and left school at 16 and switched off from education, including three who were at grammars (Sutton).

Sorry OP but I agree with the others - many other children who did or did not get in would have been nervous, not had tutoring etc.

With this in mind would the grammar school be the best fit for him?

@AIstolemylunch he turned 10 the August prior to the test. As said above no one has given false hope he's prepared for it to not be successful. The school have said we should appeal as they are surprised he did not pass.

I would not be wasting my time otherwise it is my son who wants me to try.

Do they not age adjust for Kent 11+ scores? I know they do in some areas.

even if you appeal, keep him out of it and concentrate on preparing for plan b.
you’d probably do better looking at 13+. More time to prepare etc

Ok that's fair enough, go ahead and appeal then on the basis that he should have passed and he would have got all of those questions correct, had he attempted them. It won't be successful but you will have done what he wants. Personally, I think it's better to accept what has happened and get on with looking forward to starting secondary school, rather than dragging it out, but he obviously understands that an appeal is possible now so I guess you have to go through with it.

It won't do any harm to mention it and it may help.

If he is keen to appeal how do you think he’ll take a rejection? Rejection at this point is a bit more “computer says no”, rejection following appeal might feel a bit more personal. While on the face of it there’s nothing to lose by appealing I’d still be concerned about the knock to his self esteem and confidence.

In the meantime, have you accepted the offer you do have?