Hi,
Not posted here before. Bit weird to be doing so now my dd is 18. But here goes. She had required SEND support since she was in pre school - when she stopped talking. We eventually got a Speech &lang pathologist to diagnose selective mutism, it was always in the back of my mind that she was autistic though. Anyway we went through primary with no major problems with great send support & ongoing speech and language therapy. It’s when we started Secondary that things went downhill. Speech and language therapy got cut - it was 2013- and send was really hard to get hold of. She had some 1:1 support in year 7 but it stopped in yr8. I asked for another referral to SLT for dd but to this day have not received anything. Yr8 was horrific for her, she was bullied for the huge crime of being quiet, I would tell the school, the school would tell off the kids bullying her and they would label her a snitch. Anyway got through it, when she was doing GCSEs she took a test run by SEND who recommended she required 25% extra time in exams and rest breaks. There was zero information apart from this. Her younger cousin had been diagnosed with autism and displayed exactly the same behaviours as her when she was that age (2-3). But I was informed that you can’t have selective mutism and autism. I did request more information and support from SEND at school but was met with brick walls. Anyway with the extra time she managed to ace her GCSEs- she had been predicted levels 2-3 and got 7 good grades from 5-7. It was too late to go to the sixth form of our choice & she went to her Secondary’s sixth form. I asked for more support from send again and it was even harder to get. What was concerning even more was there was no info on SEND in their 6th form prospectus. Like it’s not available- or of it is Then it’s something the school needs to hide away. In the meantime doing ALevels she felt picked on by teachers. They would ask her questions and she felt put on the spot, increasing anxiety, the teachers were concerned that she didn’t know the subject and pushed her more which again increased anxiety making her freeze. I spoke to head of 6th form & they advised she see a learning mentor, who was the same person who disciplined students when they got out of line by shouting at them. So completely inappropriate for someone with selective mutism or autism. Anyway since she started ALevels the advice regarding autism and selective mutism changed as well as an increased recognition of girls with autism being missed and misdiagnosed. So I requested a referral for an assessment. Anyway for ALevel results she was very disappointed with CDD. We were informed that these were CAGs. Furthermore we were told she would not be able to resit the year. And we Would have to apply as private candidates to do exams. So I appealed on the basis of discrimination. That was over 2weeks ago and I haven’t heard anything yet, despite reminder emails and phone calls. I went through all her homework which was all As & Bs, questioned her on verbal feedback which was all good. I found her timed assessments were not very good (E-B) but she did not get extra time for these and really struggled to finish them. The teachers were well aware but not too concerned as assessments were just exam prep and she would get extra time in exams (hindsight!). Her mocks were poorly planned and her extra time meant if she had more than one exam per day, she wouldn’t get lunch.
I called the exam board asking info on the way CAGs were calculated, specifically when it came to reasonable adjustments. I was shocked and disturbed to find out there was no national guidelines on this and schools made their own calculations in setting out how reasonable adjustments would affect CAGs. I called OFQUAL to confirm this and was told exactly the same thing. How is this possible? It seriously seems like the school have taken 10 added another 10 and come up with 2. What I’m left with a devastated girl, can’t into the uni she wanted. She wants to do the exams but not in the autumn, she does require extra time for processing and cramming really does not work for her, do autumn is not a good option. We are looking for another exam centre & have started online tuition but it’s not something I can afford. Sorry for the length of this. Anyone in a similar position? What’s the deal with reasonable adjustments? Why is there no actual guidance?
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A Level debacle. Lack of SEND. How did school calculate reasonable adjustments?
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Anamarav · 02/09/2020 11:20
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