Secondary School Appeal

[gun33t1]

I have just joined mumsnet and wanted some help on Secondary School Appeals please.
My daughter took the 11+ exams in September 2018. In October 2018 we received an email that my daughter had been assessed suitable for admission to a grammar school.
Then in November 2018 we got another email from admissions stating that there was a discrepancy with my daughters date of birth between her test registration and secondary school application.
I then confirmed my daughters date of birth on 21st November 2018, then another email came saying that I have mistakenly gave the wrong date of birth. Instead of giving April as the month of birth I gave May as the month of birth, My daughters result was deducted by 1 mark off her English test result. According to the grammar school threshold for a grammar assessment no single score below 107 in any subject is acceptable. This meant that due to the mistake of birth month my daughter score was 106, meaning that she did not meet the criteria for grammar school.
In her other subjects she scored 113 for Maths and 121 for reasoning.
My question is why was 1 mark deducted from English rather than the other subjects.
My elder daughter already goes to this grammar school which is a plus point for my younger daughter to go to the same grammar school.
Could someone please advise on how I can put this all down for the appeal.

As I said on the other thread, I don't sit on grammar school appeals, but if any of the marks for the various papers was going to be adjusted for age I would expect it to be English. My guess then is that when you disclosed your daughter's actual date of birth she lost one of the age-adjustment marks for that paper. If that is the case, I can't see how you can use it to your advantage in appeal - you'll need to find other grounds.

If you said your child was born in May, when it was actually April, then the LA will have not allowed the correct factor for age and I can therefore understand why they then said you do not meet the correct standard.
I presume that you applied for places at grammar schools as on time applicant by the end of October on an assumption that your child was of grammar school standard. So when the LA said you are no longer of grammar school standard in November did they allow you to revise your preferences for schools or not? They should have done and you should have considered other schools that were not grammar schools in your area and put them down as preferences.
Given that you were very close to the standard in english you could argue at appeal that your child is able to cope at grammar school. However I have to say that this is what everybody else who is appealing will be saying and you are unlikely to win at appeal without there being some other major positive factor. I would also have to say to you that many pupils who are borderline for grammar school acceptance do find the grammar system difficult and they may struggle. That is something you do need to consider.

How do you get April and May mixed up?

@PanelChair, thank you for info, I thought maybe sibling would also be a factor?the grammar school that my daughter goes to is about 7-8 miles away from where I live. Meaning that my youngest daughter will go to school close to home. Now that would mean that 1 of my daughters will be late for school everyday

That must be upsetting for your daughter. However If they deducted a mark upon date correction then the mark of 106 isn’t due to your mistake. Had you recorded the date of birth correctly then she would have been allocated the score of 106 originally. So she hasn’t lost out due to it.

The other papers may not have the same degree of age adjustment as English. You could ask why but it wouldn’t help her being below the mandatory minimum on English though.

@admission thank you for the information

Georgie - it's very easy to do on some online forms, if it's a drop down menu, you can choose April and then scroll down to the next question and if the menu is still open it can change to May without you noticing.

Why would one child have to be Kate every day? These children aren’t reception age who can’t be left unattended until taken into a classroom.

*late

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat, my eldest daughters birthday is on 10th May, and my youngest daughter is on 10th April, when completing the application i was talking to my eldest daughter

Why can’t the girls get to school themselves, or at least your youngest if she is going to the nearest school? Is there any school transport for the older girl? Sorry just trying to work out why one would be late. My dcs go to different secondary schools but both make their own way there under their own steam.

You need to check the grammar school entry criteria but there is unlikely to be a sibling priority above the qualifying scores, if at all. If your younger dd is at a closer school then she could perhaps travel independently or with a friend. In the end secondary aged children are expected to be able to travel independently and logistics of arriving on time due to multiple drop offs are not considered. Presumably you all manage at present.

The sibling argument doesn’t really work for grammar schools, which rarely give any priority to siblings in their admissions criteria. And it’s usually assumed that secondary school age pupils are capable of getting themselves to school, so an appeal panel is very unlikely to be persuaded that you need to take either or both of your children to school.

Being deemed selective comes above siblings in the admissions criteria for the nearest grammars to us. So is deemed selective, siblings, proximity (with LAC up higher I think than siblings). Or ranked by score, with no sibling provision (super selective).

my youngest isnt really streetwise, and the school that she has got admission in is about 10 minutes drive from my house. Where as for my eldest daughter to get to her school by public transport would take 1 hour 30 mins door to door on a good day

That may well be so, but appeal panels can’t base their decisions on transport issues.

@PanelChair I can understand from your point

What a shame that she missed by one mark. Unfortunately if she hasn’t passed all the parts of the exam then she isn’t eligible for the Grammar. I can’t see how siblings or transport could be considered over passing the exam for a selective school.
Did the LEA allow you to change her application when the mistake was discovered or have they just allocated you the nearest undersubscribed school? Is there another school (aside from the Grammar) that you would prefer?

Your youngest will become streetwise very quickly. A lot of people don't think their child is ready to independently travel to school, but they get there very quickly. 10 minutes by car is not a long way to travel by public transport, at all.

She didn't get any of the other school choices that she put on the list.

Have the school said they will appeal?

Except in the rare circumstances when schools have vacant places, they always contest appeals.