Hi everyone
Well we on the 1st got the news we had expected and ds had not been given our 1st choice school.
He has been given our 2nd choice and a choice we are happy with (Grammar school)
However ds has his heart set on choice 1 and I will admit of the 2 instinctively I feel school 1 will be the better for him and we wish to appeal.
DS primary school have already told us they are happy to come along to speak at an appeal on behalf of DS as they too feel this school would be ideal for him.
I have read the info on here for appeals many a times and I think I get the basics (we have to show the disadvantage for the school is less than the disadvantage our son would have)
DS did not score enough for the % selection in the 11+ (We are in Kent) for school A
I had not at the time realised how much pressure ds was under from school friends (nor had teachers who after told me they had realised this too) He has always had the "professor" tag by his friends. DH and I (and I have to say the school) pow have always been " do your best and that is what we ask" However on the day that we had the results come out I saw every single friend go up to ds telling him a variation of " you will pass far better than the rest of us"
He was white in the face and the pressure he was under must have been immense (and btw no he didn't score the highest)
2 days prior he had insisted on going to the open day at the school his older 2 sisters go to, this school had never been on the cards for ds until this day and on the way there I said something to him about how this had not been on my plan to do (I was irritated) and he burst into tears and all of his fears of not passing etc came through (yes one of those moments of omg how didn't I see how he was doing as dh and I felt we had done good by playing it down)
Due to this we don't think he actually did manage to pass the test as well as he would under other circumstances. In his cats score in year 5 he scored 8 and 9 the 9 in Math this is his strong point and it is also where school A specialises (they have something they call STEM Science Technology Engineering and Math - this is ds idea of heaven)
we are thinking we will use the cats score to show that under other circumstances ds has shown the ability to score the levels that was needed for this selective school.
Speak of how he excells at science and math (I know school will back up there) and how the STEM is something that he would not be able to further in the way that school A can do in other schools. (I feel this is a key point)
Speak of their music department ds took up playing violin after his current school took part of one of the schemes where the entire class plays a instrument for a year. This is now 2 years ago and he has taken individual and group lessons too. Their music department has groups that meet up and do so in their lunch break as we live in the countryside this would make it possible for ds to take part in this without it would make it impossible for him to get home after (something other schools doesn't do theirs are often after school) If the band he would be interested in doesn't meet in lunch time (this is something I would need to follow up) then the school he has been assigned has not got a string band and this is what ds is interested in. So school A has something there ds could not be involved with in school allocated.
Speak of their cricket team. They have an all year cricket teams and ds has played cricket for the last 3 years in our local club and LOVES it. It is his sport and for him to be able to play it all year would be amazing.
Speak of the fact school A of the grammar schools in the area has the smallest amount of students. As ds comes from a small country school (107 students on roll) this would make him settling into school far easier for him as it would not be as overwhelming as the other schools would. (They could argue that their intake is now the same as the other two schools but I would say it is the overall feel of the school that is important there and the school has 400 fewer students than the one ds is allocated)
Speak of the values that school A has are similar to what his current school has and what is supported at home. This would make it easier for d's to settle and he would thrive in an environment that he would find familiar and supportive.
Speak of their pastoral care that I am time and time again told is excellent and how with ds coming from a small school this would ensure the school would with supporting him into big school (is this any good at all?)
The primary school has said they will come along to an appeal and speak of ds school work and his abilities so I was thinking I would leave this to the head or Senco (depending on who comes we have been promised one of them)
Find out if the have a basketball team as ds just discovered this sport and is very keen to learn more (would this work at all)
Mention that on the open day the fact that the school grew their own vegetables and used them in cooking and in science blew ds head away and he was so impressed and keen to learn more and spoke of this for days after. Despite the fact he has never been interested in growing vegetables or what you can do with them. Now he wants to do this at home - mostly the corn the school grew btw. Mention if the school can get this level of interest from him in one brief meeting we feel this shows the school would be able to further get him to achieve his very best.
Where I am stuck is does any of this go down the lane of showing that he would be disadvantaged by not going to this school? & if not what further do I need to look into.