Unsuccessful grammar school appeal

[Will2]

Good morning all,

I'm looking for further advice from people who have found themselves in this situation, or any advice from ex panel members which may prove beneficial please.

We got the awful news that my we didn't win my son's grammar school appeal on Friday, with my son being devastated.

We felt we put a compelling argument together;however the panel we had must've felt the schools case was heavier considering our of 39 cases only 1 case was upheld!

My main argument was around a rare medical condition he has and how this impacted him on the day of his first test. He scored above the pass mark on his verbal reasoning test but didn't perform to the best of his ability, citing how he was struggling to focus and concentrate which connects to his condition (NHS diagnosis letter of his condition was provided as evidence) - this is the main reason why he didn't achieve the historically high entry score because he achieved a brilliant score in his spatial reasoning test.

We are waiting for feedback; however the panel didn't ask us one single question about his condition during our individual appeal hearing which my wife thought was quite strange. I just thought they must've researched it and understood how this could've affected him.

The other point I felt was strong in our argument, was how our son is musically gifted and what the school we were appealing for could offer him. He has a grade three certification from the trinity college in London (soon to be 4) and this particular school has a recording studio (his allocated school doesn't have this) as well as opportunities to represent the school in this field.

We highlighted other points during our appeal and I'll be honest, I came away from our appeal quite positive, boy was I wrong!

Any advice from this point forward would be much appreciated. I'm waiting on the feedback which I hope will give me closure. Such an awful process to go through. Thanks in advance!

I think if your child has a medical condition you are meant to evidence it well in advance before the tests to get extra time and a separate room (if the medical condition warrants it). You can’t wait until after and claim it impacted them. There has got to be a process that is followed well in advance that has some objectivity in it.
So many people are now chasing grammar places and they are rightly allocating some places to pupil premium with lower scores (that is objective too).

Also, just like tutoring, people have now caught onto the appeals tricks system too. If everyone is now claiming they eg need their kid to get in to study Japanese/Latin (because they did it on Duolingo for six months) or play their clarinet etc the schools can’t go over the numbers they can accommodate safely!

There are loads of musical and intelligent kids around who also have health conditions but these grammar school places are just extremely limited and competitive. It’s a bit like the elite uni system. You don’t need to get in to do well in the long run though it’s just one opportunity of many.

How come he didn't get schools 2 & 3?
Were they also grammars, or just long shots non-grammars?
Did you appeal for them too?

I cant offer any practical advice but try and think of this like the burnt toast theory - the allocated school may be just what he needs, or the grammar may have been awful (they already seemed to dismiss his medical/support needs!) try and be positive, whats for him wont go by him as my gran used to say 😊

Our area have been clear that appeals are purely based on whether scores took into account an issue or not at the time of the test So if they had allowances (extra time) for something already then the appeal won't go through or if there was an issue known about before the test then again it won't go through. It's mainly for people who have got medical evidence that their DC was vomiting through the test or broke their arm on the way to school in the morning of the test as far as I could see. Nothing to do with extra curriculars.

They weren't grammar schools no. They were non-grammar schools. No idea why he didn't get given at least one of his preferences. I think that's why everything has felt even more so difficult. I don't understand how the local authorities allocated the places. I know certain children who put our 2nd choice school as their second school choice and got it. My son's friend, who lives 7 doors away from our second choice school and put it down as his first choice didn't get allocated a place either! We only live just over a mile away from the school as well. My son's allocated school is just under 3 miles away.

We have appealed for option 2 school as well.

Thank you 😊

. My son's friend, who lives 7 doors away from our second choice school and put it down as his first choice didn't get allocated a place either!

That is quite surprising unless there is a system of feeder primary schools, or random rather than distance based selection, or faith.

ETA the admissions criteria for each school should be on their websites, as you say you don’t know how the LA allocates.

I've heard of this in our area and I think it's because there is one very very unpopular school and several schools within a mile of each other so the nearest ones to them became over subscribed.

@Will2 you should be on the waiting lists for the 3 schools you didn't get. There's quite a lot of movement so you may get a place through that.

Your letter should state why he missed out on a place. The Admissions criteria might include ehcp, lac, siblings, faith, feeder school all before distance for example.