11plus appeal help please

[grammarwoes]

DC didn't do well enough in the 11plus to get a grammar school offer yesterday. We stupidly decided not to use a tutor because the council strongly advises that it's unnecessary and a capable child will do well in the 11+ because the content (English and Maths only for our area) is taught in school. We agreed with this sentiment and wanted to make sure that DC would thrive in a grammar environment because they had aptitude and not because they'd been tutored to pass the exam.
However, what I didn't consider in this was the fact that DC was out of school from March until September due to Covid and so hadn't fully covered the year 5 curriculum and thus didn't know all of the content for the exam (homeschooling provision was poor in this period - just some random worksheets from Twinkl / Bitesize, no online classes, no video teaching, not even any marking of work / feedback). I suppose I naively thought that this year's 11 plus might be modified to account for the fact that the kids hadn't learnt everything in it except most of them had because they'd been tutored.
We then moved house over the summer, DC started at a new primary school in September and so was still getting used to a new learning environment etc and hadn't really had anything much in the way of proper teaching for 6 months.
Their class teacher has made comment on DC's excellent academic aptitude and was pleased they were going for a grammar place (they're exceeding expectations in all areas, reading age of 14+ etc).
Would this be enough to appeal that DC is suited for a grammar education and just didn't do well in the exam based on the above? I realise that the chances are very slim but I'm willing to try anyway .
In our area there's no pass or fail mark as such, they just offer the places to the children with the highest marks until all the places are taken.
We're lucky that our backup choice is a good comprehensive (the grammar is out of our area so the comp has many able pupils) but I still think that DC would do better in a highly academic environment / single-sex / smaller school.
Thanks for reading!

The school should tell you what this year's cut off point was and what it has been for previous years. If they don't tell you, go to the elevenplus forum and ask there. People will know for your specific school

the blurb issued by the council beforehand states that they will be assessed on what they've learnt in school so no tutoring is necessary (or indeed advocated)

In that case, you should argue that the council has not stuck to its admission arrangements as your child was assessed on things that had not been taught in school, thereby giving an unfair advantage to children who had been tutored. It is still a long shot but that is a better argument. It shifts it from, "my child did badly because of Covid" to, "the council has not stuck to its published admission arrangements".

In our area the success of an appeal is based on whether they achieved over 121 for their Year 5 SATS tests.

@grammarwoes

I'll contact admissions again. On Monday they said they couldn't tell me the cut off score for the school . Maybe they were a bit harassed and I will have more joy if I call next week

Ask the school themselves rather than the LA

@ittakes2

In our area the success of an appeal is based on whether they achieved over 121 for their Year 5 SATS tests.

We don't do year 5 SATs / CATs (and even if they did, there was no school from March of year 5 onwards, so they wouldn't have been done this year anyway I guess).

? SATS are Year 6 and the highest possible score is 120. Neither are they taken in any consideration for grammars.

Highest score for SATS is 140 or 141

? Unless it’s changed from 2019 @Cookerhood it’s 120.

thirdspacelearning.com/blog/sats-scores-explained-ks2-ks1/

Sorry, yes, I was thinking of CATS! Too many acronyms.

:-) no worries!

I was on an 11+ forum where people stated what scores had made the mark and what had failed for the local schools (Gloucestershire) so easy to determine the cut off. I'll see if I can find the link.

Whilst most councils recommend no tutoring this is not what happens in practice. At a minimum it's home practice papers abs we had external tutors as the exam in our area covered Y6 syllabus areas.

https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/11plus/viewforum.php?f=16

This links to the Gloucestershire page but you may be able to find similar for your area

Good luck

Do bare in mind what is better for your child, appealing means he’s in limbo a little bit until he knows. He may do better preparing with his friends where he knows he is going rather than the uncertainty of an appeal.

Talk to the school, if they support you it might be ok. In my area, it’s not enough. But it is for some.

It's definitely unfair of the council to maintain that children would have covered everything in the test given this year's situation. You also have to bear in mind that in addition to tutoring, many kids apply to grammars from private prep schools, which had excellent lockdown provision and live online lessons throughout lockdown.

I guess you are looking at Plymouth High or Devonport High for girls if so it might be worth seeing if they still do the 13plus which is taken in yr8 if I remember correctly. In which case you could always try then if you fail on appeal.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

The council aren't going to say look, our schools are okay but in all honesty you'll need to tutor your kids

TBH the harsh truth is your appeal and will gather dust with every other deserving child who had a less than ideal lockdown learning provision, and missed out on a grammar place.

No experience of 11 plus. By all means appeal. But please don't lose hope if you fail. Bright children can and do do well in all kinds of settings. Indeed it is likely your child will he top off the pile in an alternative school, and that's a giid thing.
We moved from an area rife with entrance exams for grammars and private selectives and my two still did brilliantly. In fact they couldn't have done better! And what I heard was that tutoring absolutely was de rigeur. So the council lied to you!
Honestly. Nil desperandum.

Also I'm in Cornwall.

@scentedgeranium

No experience of 11 plus. By all means appeal. But please don't lose hope if you fail. Bright children can and do do well in all kinds of settings. Indeed it is likely your child will he top off the pile in an alternative school, and that's a giid thing. We moved from an area rife with entrance exams for grammars and private selectives and my two still did brilliantly. In fact they couldn't have done better! And what I heard was that tutoring absolutely was de rigeur. So the council lied to you! Honestly. Nil desperandum.

Thank you 😊

Ask the school about cut-offs. We applied for one grammar school (didn’t get it) and they emailed yesterday to say what the lowest score had been and how many children with higher scores are ahead of him on the waiting list. We didn’t ask, but they must get so many requests for that information they send it out as standard.

I have to say though that I am not sure an appeal based on the fact your son is bright but you didn’t do enough preparation is going to fly.