Your child has passed the 11+, but has not been offered a grammar school place. Or perhaps your child has narrowly missed the required mark or has not performed as expected in the tests. What can you do?
Unfortunately passing the 11+ does not always guarantee you a place at a grammar school. Some will select by the highest score, others by proximity to the school. Every year a substantial number of grammar ability children are not offered a grammar school place on National Offer Day. If this has happened to your child you will, understandably, feel both disappointed and, probably, that the system is unfair.
By law, you are entitled to challenge this decision in an appeal. You may appeal if you believe your child is of grammar school ability and the test result was not a fair representation of his/her academic level, or if your child has passed the 11+ but not been offered a grammar school place. You may also appeal to a school named higher up in your priority list when you have been offered another grammar school place.
It is possible to appeal to one or all of the schools named on your secondary school selection form. But how do you go about it and on what grounds can you legitimately appeal?
It is essential to accept the place at the school you have been offered, otherwise you may find you have no place at all come September. You should not rule this school out anyway. A bad local reputation can linger after a school has improved under a new head. Go and visit and see for yourself.
If you’re still keen to pursue your grammar school appeal, follow our step-by-step guide here to lodge an appeal, prepare for a school appeal hearing, what to do on the day, what evidence you will need and when you will find out the outcome of your appeal.
Note that for a selective school appeal you will need to supply compelling evidence showing that the child is of grammar school ability, and evidence to back up claims that your child's performance was affected by events on the day or immediately prior to the test.
We can advise you. But we must tell you, at the outset, that unless your case is truly exceptional, there is a less than 50% chance of success. However, we have long experience in advising parents honestly, frankly and expertly.
Our expert consultants offer a ‘telephone consultation’ which will:
Our consultation can also help you to decide whether an appeal is the right route for you, or whether you would like us to help you investigate alternative schools.
The fee for our service is £390 (inclusive of VAT) and includes a phone or online call for up to 90 minutes, research into your situation, the school you’ve been offered and the school you prefer, prior to your call, plus a follow up written summary.. You will need to pre-book it by emailing: appeals@goodschoolsguide.co.uk with ‘grammar appeal’ in the subject line.
You can also find out more about the service by contacting us beforehand. It is sensible to have all relevant information and your questions ready before you begin your conversation with your consultant.
Finally, before opting for a telephone consultation it can be helpful to ensure that your child’s current head teacher will back your claim that your child is of grammar school ability – without this your chances of success at appeal may be very low.
NB We can only offer advice and no guarantee of success at appeal. Success or failure is very hard to predict and varies enormously between schools, and from year to year.
Contact us at: appeals@goodschoolsguide.co.uk to arrange to speak to our administrator.
Grammar schools are state-funded, academically selective senior schools. The education a child receives at grammar school is paid for by the state unlike at private schools which provide education for a fee. There are currently around 163 located in 36 English local authorities, with around 167,000 pupils between them. Northern Ireland has a further 67 grammar schools, but there are none in Wales or Scotland. A word of caution: there are private schools that have the word 'grammar' in their name but this is purely for historical reasons.
The 11+ is the entrance exam procedure for getting your brightish little button into a fee-paying or state grammar school. Much of the country abolished the 11+ several decades ago for state schools, but a few local authorities, such as Bucks and Kent, retained a large number of grammar schools and run county-wide entrance tests. In some other areas, such as Barnet and Kingston, a few grammar schools exist in tandem with the comprehensive system found in most of the country. These grammar schools set their own entrance exams. Sixth Form
We examined the value-added from KS2 to GCSE for 2022 to see which state selective grammar schools added the most value to their offspring. A note of caution - the more highly selective a grammar school, the less scope there will be to add value.
State grammar schools are located in 38 UK local authorities, including Barnet, Bexley, Bromley, Enfield, Kingston upon Thames See complete list
State grammar schools select pupils by ability. Children are usually tested in the final year of primary school (aged 10/11), by an exam commonly known as the 11+, (see Understanding the 11+). A few schools test for entry at 13+, and many re-open their books at 16+. Some grammar schools now give preference to qualifying children on Pupil Premium. Read more