Grammar School Appeals
I am currently arranging secondary appeal consultations. See other pages for details.
I recommend that you first read the general information on school appeals here.
Kent and Medway grammar school testing take place in September and October, but parents need to be aware that if their child is unsuccessful in the test, in a Kent Headteacher assessment or Medway Review, there is no right to appeal until after school allocation, 1st March 2010. Your right to appeal is then to a particular school. You cannot appeal against a non selective decision in general. Whilst appeals usually begin in April/May, some may not be heard until July 2010.
Medway parents are offered a Review of any non selective decision in November, but are still allowed to appeal if they have not gone to Review. Many Kent children are put forward for headteacher’s assessment in October (without parental knowledge), but parents are not bound by this. These stages take place before the selective decision is confirmed.
There are three main situations with regard to grammar school appeals:
1) The child has not passed the eleven plus and there are spaces available
2) The child has passed the eleven plus and the school is full;
3) The child has not passed the eleven plus and the school is full.
First piece of advice is – don’t panic. You will not get an earlier appeal or a better hearing by sending in your case early. If you are not ready, make sure you record your appeal by the closing date, using such words as “I am appealing for….... I will send in my detailed case when it is ready”. This enables you to take advice or plan your appeal without additional pressure (it is already stressful enough!). In any case, the rule is: "Parents should also be informed that there is no statutory time limit for submitting information about their appeal". However,if yours is one of the few Foundation schools that organises early appeals, such as Rochester Grammar School and Chatham Grammar School for Girls, it is important to get the appeal lodged in good time, as a late appeal may find the school full after others have been heard.
There is a basic division between grammar schools run by the county (community schools) and the foundation and voluntary aided schools that form the majority. Foundation grammar schools each have their own approach to appeals; some using an independent appeal panel set up by the county, others choosing their own panel members. Some wish to admit additional pupils, others resist strongly. These produce a wide range of success rates, both from county to county and for individual schools within counties. I advise you, in the case of Foundation or VA Schools who provide their own Independent Appeal Panel, to contact the headteacher who may be willing to offer the school perspective. Some grammar schools are regularly oversubscribed with successful candidates, particularly in West Kent. If you are deprived of a place on this basis, you still have the right to appeal.
Parents can only appeal to a school they have named on the application form, so choice of schools remains critical. However, in Kent if you choose not to apply for a particular grammar school, you still have the right to apply after 31 March 2010 and if turned down because your child has not taken the test, or has not passed the test, or the school is full, you can appeal. However, this route carries additional risk if the school is likely to be full.
The situation for Medway is far more complex. Historically, Medway has not accepted late applications. However in 2009, given the pressure on grammar school places in West and North West Kent, I initiated a media campaign to get Medway Council to open up vacant grammar school places. Eventually Medway Council caved in for late Kent applicants allowing them to apply up until mid August although falsely claiming this had been an option for years. If unsuccessful they have been offered the right to appeal. Strangely, Medway children are denied the opportunity to make late application and appeal to their own grammar schools. How can Medway Council allow their own tax payers to be discriminated against in this way, in favour of chldren from outside Medway?
The current prospectus repeats the previous policy that late testing is only available for out of Medway residents and then only if the Admissions Manager decides that exceptional reasons apply. I suspect this will change if pressure is applied once again.
I am often asked what scores are likely to be successful in a grammar school appeal. This is an impossible question to answer for Appela Panels will wish to take other factors into account. These may include: what special circumstances do you have that will convince a panel there has been a miscarriage (there is no point in producing peripheral issues); what alternative evidence do you have to demonstrate that your child is of grammar school ability; is the school a Foundation School - is the school oversubscribed or does it need additional pupils; is the school 'superselective'; is it in East Kent or West Kent; what support is forthcoming from the primary school? Or even, what is the make up of the Panel members (not known until a week or so before the appeal)? You are most unlikely to achieve success at any Kent appeal if no score is above 120. You are most unlikely to achieve success in West Kent without scores close to the cut off point.
Possible relevant factors that parents may put forward include: (1) the selection panel was missing information which can lead to a different decision – e.g. medical condition or family circumstances not reported which affected the child's performance, but can be demonstrated; (2) independent proof that your child is of grammar school ability (3) information provided was incorrect – you have the right to see all relevant documentation. I am happy to advise clients of other possibilities when I have discussed individual cases. You may also succeed if marks are near the cut off and you find a sympathetic appeal panel. If none of the above applies, your chances are low; so plan an alternative route for your child’s secondary education – although each year I am delighted by successful appeals which originally looked unpromising.
Kent Grammar Schools
At all Kent grammar school appeals against a non-selective decision the Kent test scores and any headteacher assessment report will be distributed to the Panel and parents. This also has the effect of eliminating false parental claims about the results. Some parents have not seen the assessment document before, so make sure you ask to see it before writing your appeal, as this is likely to have an influence on your case.
Medway Grammar Schools
The Report on any Review decision will be included in the appeal papers for Chatham Boys Grammar School and Sir Joseph Williamson's. The other grammar schools are Foundation schools and will decide themselves whether or not to include the documentation.
The following paragraph applies to Medway Appeals only. You have the right to go to Appeal whether or not your child was entered for the Medway Review. However, Medway grammar school admission appeals have been made more difficult for parents to win following publication of the most recent Code for Admission Appeals. These regulations mean that Independent Appeal Panels are required to reject appeals for grammar school places if there has been a local Review, unless they consider the process has been unfair! Where there is no satisfactory Review, they can consider all circumstances. YES, THIS IS CORRECT. Medway parents therefore face special difficulties in deciding to whether or not to go to Review. For more information go to New Code Grammar Appeals, or Medway Grammar Schools. This situation is the result of a new Code of Practice for School Appeals, issued by government, which came into law two years ago. You will find this at Code.
Over the past two years, Appeal Panels for Rochester Grammar School and Rainham Mark Grammar School judged the Review process to be fair, objective and consistent. Fort Pitt and Chatham Grammar School for Girls Panels judged the process to be unfair! Chatham Boys Grammar and Sir Joseph Williamson's were also found to be fair in 2008, but unfair in 2009. The significance of these rulings can be seen at Medway Grammars.
In the past two years, all my clients were able to convince Panels of the unfairness of the Review process, following my advice, or else had a fairness decision overturned by the Ombudsman. Medway Council works hard to rectify the faults each year and this block succssful appeals, but I believe there is still a case to be made of the inherent unfairness of the Review process and will be advising clients accordingly.
Medway parents who applied for a Review have often included documentation such as School Reports or medical evidence in the past, as the Application form invited documentary evidence to be attached. Medway Council has now admitted it does not consider any additional evidence. Following successful ombudsman cases, Medway Council is now reviewing its procedures.
My Services
My work draws on eight years of extensive work across Kent and Medway. Probably the most important lesson I have learned is not only that admission patterns vary across both Authorities, but that appeal practice, best strategies and likely outcomes are equally variable. My tracking of appeals over the years means I have a wide experience of different scenarios and panellists, although even I am sometimes surprised by decision making, hence my extensive experience of successful complaints through the Local Government Ombudsman.
As you might expect in Kent and Medway, the majority of my work is supporting parents with appeals for grammar schools, using my unrivalled knowledge of the local situation and my expertise and lengthy experience in Appeal work. I have now achieved success for places at every grammar school in the County, although the level of difficulty varies, and I am happy to advise parents of this before they engage me. Make no mistake, a school appeal is time consuming and stressful, but my expert service takes much of the strain off your shoulders and maximises your chances of success.
I am often asked why my service is so different to that of other consultants you will find advertising on the internet! This is one area where I don't profess to know the answer. What I do know is that I charge a fair price for a professional service built on expertise, local knowledge and experience. My many satisfied clients bear testimony to this.
As with all pages on this website, this page is packed with free information to support parents. However, getting on for 1000 clients will testify that my professional service does make the difference!
If you wish to contact me regarding a Kent grammar school appeal, please first speak to your child's primary school to obtain their scores in the Kent test. Feel free to email me with a brief outline of your situation (including test marks) and a contact phone number, and I will get back to you as soon as possible. I will confirm whether or not I feel it is worthwhile going ahead with an appeal, and my fee if you wish to engage my services.
If you decide to go ahead, then at our intial consultation I will advise on the expected appeal pattern for each school, and the best strategy to achieve success, together with exploring all suitable alternatives in the state system. I will ensure I have all relevant information and prepare a personalised appeal letter in co-operation with yourself, that maximises your chances at appeal. Then a few days before the appeal, when you are in receipt of all relevant information from the school or Local Authority, I will go with you all relelvant factors on the telephone taking as much time as is necessary to esnure you are as well prepared as possible.
I do not normally attend appeal hearings, as Panels are more interested in talking directly with parents. However, I am happy to represent parents where appropriate. I ensure that the best case is put forward and have a very good record of success where I can establish supporting evidence.
There are number of websites and books offering advice on how to succeed at appeal. Most of these offer general advice, not tailored to specific schools or local authorities, and so are of limited value. There is no substitute for local knowledge, which is why I confine my operation to Kent & Medway. A good website for general information on admissions and appeals is: eleven plus exams. However, you need to treat the contributions with caution. It is Buckinghamshire based but whilst the school appeal advice varies considerably from the many varieties in Kent, it can be very helpful. There is also a lot of forum discussion about West Kent issues, often different from those in the rest of the county. You will find older contributions from me under the name of Peter, but I have removed recent contributions as I don't wish to be associated with some of the unedited comments on the forum which can be mischievous Many grammar schools admit all applicants who have achieved the selective standard, or those living nearest where there is oversubscription; but others select the highest scorers in the assessment tests. It is more difficult to win appeals to the latter, but I have also achieved success for parents at such schools over the past three years. I am sorry I am unable to comment on appeal letters as my first priority is to those clients who have already engaged my services. Reminder; I only take on clients resident in Kent and Medway for state schools in those local authorities, as my work is heavily centred on local knowledge of how our schools and appeal systems work. My furthest enquiry this year is from a family living in Malta, wishing to appeal to a school in Northamptonshire!
Bexley
Bexley secondary schools appeal statistics are given here. Just 2 out of 113 grammar school appeals were successful in 2008. For 2009 2 of the 26 heard at the time of going to press were successful, another 32 being awaited, confirming both the difficulty in Bexley and the variability in the process.
Appeals News as it happened from Last Year