Grammar School Appeal

[jenmac79]

@prh47bridge @schooladmission and other admissions experts I would be grateful for advice :-)

Currently writing an appeal letter. My son passed the Grammar exams and is on the Reserve list for a Grammar School. We are in the residual catchment area, not priority.

I have read the admissions criteria in detail and whilst I understand the effect of us being in the residual area, I've recently become aware that the exam pass mark is age adjusted. This was not disclosed on the admission criteria. I understand that my son had to achieve a higher pass mark as he was born before Christmas in the school year, meaning that a lower pass mark with a child born in the summer would receive priority on allocation of a place.

Does anyone know if I could use this in my appeal?

I would need to take a look at the school's admission arrangements to say for sure, but my initial reaction is probably not. Children's scores in the type of tests used by grammar schools change rapidly at this age. It is therefore not necessarily unreasonable to adjust the scores to reflect this. If you want me to take a proper look, PM me the name of the school and LA involved.

@jenmac79 are you referring to the normal age standardisation for 11 plus tests, or is there something more extreme in place for your school/area?

In our area (West Midlands) this is the relevant info about age standardisation:

"The scores for each section are standardised to take into account differences in age, meaning younger children are not disadvantaged compared to children in the same cohort who could be almost a year older."

That info is easily found in the entrance test info section online, and doesn't seem controversial at all. It is simply there to make sure summer-born children are not disadvantaged.

My DD was born in November but she was very premature and her due date was February. I guess I could have argued that she could have had her score standardised with the February children, but I didn't. It is a small adjustment and no big deal.

I'm interested to understand why you think the fact that you have only recently become aware of age standardisation would strengthen your appeal.

I've recently become aware that the exam pass mark is age adjusted.
All 11+ tests are age standardised. Did the 11+ instructions you followed not make this clear? School admission criteria wouldn't list this but the test criteria will. I'm unsure how this would be grounds to appeal? These test are standardised to make it a bit fairer for young dc in the year.

It seems unlikely that it would be relevant to an appeal, given that all students are impacted the same. Some of the eldest kids in the year are more than 10% older than the youngest, which is what this is trying to mitigate.

How are places allocated? Is it based on score within the priority area or is it a case of passing and then on distance? The age adjustment is not that much. Would it have actually made a difference to him getting a place?