Urgent - School admission Error - Offer withdrawn

[Faith2022]

Hi,
A grammar school where my sister's daughter applied to, sent a letter in May 2022 and they congratulated her that her daughter has passed the test and was added to the waiting list for Year 9 entry. But within 24 hours, the same school sent her a letter and advised that her daughter did not pass again.

The grammar school has refused to explain how they arrived at the lower score which made her daughter non selective. The first letter that she received in May 2022 stated her daughter had a total score of 122 whilst the second letter showed the score as 101. My sister has refused to tell her daughter as she already celebrated with her and it is difficult to tell daughter that she did not pass again. (This is so confusing to a young child)
We have an appeal this week and I would appreciate any assistance.

Thank you all in advance.

There are only a few reasons that an offer can be withdrawn, but an error on the part of the admissions authority is one of them, and 24 hours would be an acceptable time frame in which to do it. So on the face of it, if they made an error, they are within their rights to withdraw the offer (even though it wasn't actually an offer, just a place on the waiting list if I read correctly, but a place conditional on having passed the exam so I think the same principles would apply in this case)

They should be able to explain what has gone wrong though, and why.

The appeal would need to prove that the detriment to the school of taking another pupil into a full year would be less than the detriment to her of not attending, as well as proving that she is of grammar standard, which the new score - if correct - suggests she isn't.

So you have 2 hurdles - proving she is of the required grammar standard, and then if you do that, that the detriment to her of not attending is higher than that to the school - so what does this school offer that she needs particularly? any specific subjects, specialisms, clubs? Just "its a grammar" isn't enough.

I think you have a right to ask some questions but you are best to find out the cut off school - around us its 121 - and if you are the same with her grammar being 121 and she really did get 101 then sorry she would struggle at a grammar school.

Agree with PatriciaHolm. It doesn't sound like an offer was made but, even if it was, it was withdrawn quickly. An appeal is unlikely to succeed. However, they should be able to explain what went wrong.

Thank you so much. My niece is the Headgirl in her school. But, the mother wants her to be in a challenging environment and she really wants to transition to a Grammar school.
I think the school intentionally changed the mark as they have refused to show us the transcript or any proof.

Thank you so much PatriciaHolm. I will attend the meeting with her tomorrow. We are putting together some questions. I don't trust the school as I think they gave it to someone else. My niece is the Headgirl in her school. The mother decided to change her school as her class Tutor encouraged us that she needed something challenging. She is clever and gets nearly 100% in this school. I pray at this stage for God's perfect will for her. But, I think it is good to challenge things like this especially if you are from the BAME group.
I really appreciate your advice. 😁

Being head girl is not going sway opinion if she has a score which misses the benchmark. Even if she had passed the wl is ordered by admissions criteria. How old is she if applying for year 9 entry waiting list?

She’s currently in year 8 and head girl? That’s very unusual what sort of school is she at?
the way I read it they haven’t offered a place, only to join the waitlist but I think they should provide some evidence/ release the exam paper for scrutiny.

With regards to being on the waiting list, for the 10 years that my dc attended our local grammar school there was only 1 pupil admitted from a waiting list following the managed move of another child. No one gives up the place unless they absolutely have to. Being on the waiting list is no guarantee of a place

Can someone help me with this:
What circumstances make school to remark?
What are the motives for remarking?

I don't know, but can you demand a paper is re-marked by an independent exam marker (All official lingo of course!) At your own expense?

In addition a letter from her current school saying she is capable of keeping up in a grammar helps, also her reports showing high grades and a few examples of her best work.

Its a big mark difference which warrants explanation. I think you arewell justified in asking for more information and to see the exam script orfor it to be investigated by someone independent. Unfortunately they have probably included statements in their admissions criteria to reduce scrutiny such as exam scripts will not be released and their decision on the marks are final etc! However there may be ways to challenge this and some advice from an education lawyer might help if you meet this stumbling block. It certainly seems odd that the mark error was so big. I am wondering if a large chunk of her paper was disqualified after a further check for some reason?

Why on earth would the school change the mark? Whatever else you do, don't try that argument with the appeal panel.

Did they say that they re-marked? It seems equally possible that someone just made a mistake in transcribing or reading the original marks.

I don’t understand why you think the school would change the mark?

She never had a place though did she, they stated she'd passed and made the waitlist. So no guarantee of a place.

Why would the school change the mark? what would their motive be?

Yes, that's what I would have thought, an admin error, not a marking one.
I also can't see why a school would want to discriminate (and if it did to do it in this manner!)

They haven’t withdrawn an offer, they’ve withdrawn a place on the waiting list. I suspect she was given someone else’s result as part of an admin error given the letters were sent in such quick succession.

They should obviously explain to you what has happened.

My sister has refused to tell her daughter as she already celebrated with her and it is difficult to tell daughter that she did not pass again.

I guess as it was only a waiting list place not an offer of a place, the mum could at least tell her that no places ever came up. See how it goes today, but if it's not happening, she needs to let her DD know. It sounds like she's doing very well at her school already and can handle the upset. In a way it would've been easier to tell the truth from the start rather than string this out. But I hope you at least get answers today.

You mention twice that she's head girl - this is completely irrelevant.

I would want to ask categorically what has gone wrong within their admin process. They can give you an explanation but do not have to provide you with hard evidence. Schools (as standard) say that they will not share individual marking or standardisation with parents.

You said that she didn't have an offer for a place, but was on the wait list, so you are fighting for a wait list place?

Accusing the school of "changing the mark" and "I don't trust the school as I think they gave it to someone else" is pretty severe. Ask yourself, would they really change a mark? Very very doubtful as they're accountable to the local authority and why change a mark just for a waiting list space. I think you're barking up the wrong tree with your accusation.

Her mum might want her to transition to a grammar school but if reality is that she didn't pass then rightfully the waitlist place should go to a child that did pass. Around here, there's something like 5000 kids chasing 500 grammar places, many pass but don't get a place as there aren't enough to go around. Some sit on wait lists for years without a chance of an offer. Also, very few get in on appeal.

There is no reason to tell your niece what is going on as it is not as if she has an offer for a school place and now having it withdrawn. If you do decide to tell her (which I personally wouldn't) just say it was an admin error, please don't share with her your unfounded accusations.

No doubt she has an alternative school place offer as she was only potentially going on the grammar's wait list, so support her, encourage her and help her to transition to year 9 in September in this school. Don't taint it for her by making it feel like it's an inferior option.

Aren’t most grammar school tests multiple choice, computer marked?

You need an explanation, but it's clearly something like a clerical error - e.g. letter was sent to candidate 27 instead of candidate 37, letter was sent to "Anne Smith" instead of "Anna Smith" etc.

At the meeting, sit and listen, don't make any unfounded accusations.

It will be a shame for your niece, but if she didn't achieve the pass mark, she would struggle badly at grammar school. She needs to know sooner rather than later that the school has made a stupid mistake and she won't be going there in September.

This was clearly an admin error.

Your sister is within her rights to request to look at your niece's exam paper and see the marking and any comments made. The school can't refuse to do this. She is also within her rights to request an explanation for how she was told her daughter had passed and then not passed within 24 hours.

Assuming this is a racist move on behalf of the school to exclude your niece because she is BAME is rather a leap.

As a former teacher and school exam officer, I can tell you from experience that the systems in place for the recording and reporting of examination results all rely on human data entry and therefore errors can easily be made. I used to get people to double and triple check all my data entry for me and sometimes errors were still made. It's very easy to incorrectly enter a mark, and I strongly suspect that this is what happened with your niece. It would either have been a data entry error with the recording of the mark itself, or a data entry error with the letter - i.e. your niece's name was put on a letter meant for another pupil.

The school is at fault for trying to cover up - they should have been transparent and just told your sister the truth of their error. I would imagine when you meet with them they will have to 'fess up.

I'm sorry this has happened, but please be aware that your niece was never even offered a place in the first instance - it was only ever a waiting list place, and she was never guaranteed entry. Your sister was being very premature in telling your niece and celebrating with her when no guarantees were ever given that she would be attending this school.

Why would the school possibly cheat and change the score, what a ludicrous thought, she was only on the wait list, she wasn’t even offered a place.

I have marked grammar school entry papers in the past. They are very easy to mark, VR and Maths completely objective, and we swap and double mark before submitting the marks to the admin team. There is very unlikely to be a marking error, but an admin error is likely and they corrected it instantly.
I promise you, we genuinely do not care (or in fact know) whether students are BAME or white, we just mark what is in front of us. We don't know these kids, there is no reason at all for us to change marks or lie or give the place to someone else.
FWIW, they will have been very careful to make sure the second mark was definitely correct because having made one mistake they wouldn't want to make another.

It's really sad to read how dissapointed your neice and sister would be, after firstly being informed of a place on the waiting list and exam mark, then shortly after, receiving further advice that there was an error.
It's more particularly sad, that your sister didn't at least attempt to explain a horrible mix up and prepare her daughter for a considerable dissapointment, especially when only one day had passed, informing her of an error/withdrawn offer because of this.
She was notified in May, It's now July. The end of school is imminent.
It really would have been much easier then, regardless of celebration, than now, when it's highly likely your sister would have to quickly & urgently find another school with spaces.
The time from May-July could have been used to source further info about said/other school she will most likely be attending, after school activities, possible friends attending, transport and encouraging and supporting said school and supporting dissapointment much earlier on, for her to get used to the idea. Hindsight is just that.
She has the holidays to encourage & support dissapointment and attendance at a different school.

Your sister is indeed fully entitled to an explanation.

I do wish you luck and hope the faith of your family in reasons for decision making, come to fruition and a place is given on appeal.