Advice needed - school not co-operating

[JulyBlue]

DD has just finished year 6.
Officially diagnosed with severe dyslexia.
I consistently asked school from reception through to year 6 to provide daily 1-1 reading practice with her and they told me for years that they were not resourced to provide this. Instead, they provided 1-1 reading once a week. School told me for 7 years straight that I had to teach her to read at home for half an hour a day, which I did and continue to do.
DD showed no reading progress throughout her school years.
Every school report in every school year listed her as not being able to be graded in her academic ability. Every subject listed 'not applicable' in her attainment and progress of every subject in every school year, with no reading progress.
I asked school to apply for an EHCP every year for the past 5 years, based on the fact that they were telling me they were unable to provide daily 1-1 reading practice.
School refused every year and I had a total of 7 different teachers and 2 different SENCo staff telling me they would not apply because she did not meet the criteria for an EHCP.
School deregistered her for her year 6 SATS. They told me in person in a meeting that she would be unable to access the SATS papers because of not being able to read them. She was not offered a reader or any provisions whatsoever by the school to enable her to partake in the SATS.
My DD is a bright, engaged, intelligent girl.
I found some exaples of year 6 SATS test papers online the week after the restvof her year group sat their SATS, and when I read a couple of papers out to my DD, she listened to me and could correctly verbally answer the questions asked. Her recall of information that I'd read and her interpretation and ability to answer was excellent.
2 weeks ago, I found out that parents can apply for an EHCP. School had never told me this.
So I told her teacher in person that I am going to apply myself and I aked her to send me all of DD's ANP reports and her end of year reports from every school year so that I could use this as evidence that she has not made any progress with her reading. I also asked the teacher for an email stating that the school deregisterd her from her year 6 SATS on the basis that they assessed her as unable to access them. The teacher told me that she would request this to be sent to me, but then I received nothing from them. I waited a week, and then emailed them to request this information, stating that I had already asked the teacher but had not yet received the information requested. I received no reply. I sent 2 emails at the same time - one regarding the above, and one about needing to know the time of the leavers assembly. I sent them within a few minutes of each other. Oddly, I received a prompt reply about the leavers assembly, but no reply to my email requesting the information I have asked for. I emailed again a couple of days later last week - by now my 3rd time of requesting this information, and again, no reply. And now she has left. Her final day was Friday.
So I have not yet applied for the EHCP because I've been waiting for this information from them to use as supporting evidence.
What's strange is that when I email school about general enquiries and they always answer incredibly promptly. Yet suddenly to this I'm not getting any response from them.
And now I don't know what to do.
As her last day was on Friday, has she officially been deregistered from the primary school now? Or does that happen at the end of the summer holidays?
Are the school under no obligation to provide me with what I have asked for now that she has left? I started asking whilst she was still a pupil there, but in the time they have been ignoring my request and my emails, she has now left.
How long does a primary school keep a child's records and reports for after they have left?
If I apply tomorrow, can the LEA still request information from the primary school at this stage? Or is it too late now because she left on Friday?
I have spoken to the SENCo at the secondary school she starts in September, and she told me that if the LEA contact her for information re EHCP she won't have anything to give them, because the primary school have not given her any information or passed on any ANP information about her.
Am I now in 'no man's land' during the summer holidays?
I tried calling the LEA for advice but it has been going to answerphone for the past week.
I really need some advice from anyone who might read this and be able to advise me.
I would be extremely grateful for guidance.

Surely you have all her end of year reports, though?

Send a Letter Before Action. That should shift them.

Contact SENAT team at your local authority. Its normal for schools to state they need 2 terms of evidence but they don't. Contact SENDIAS for further advice. Once you've completed the EHCNA (the request to assess for an EHCP) ,the assessment period is allowed to take up to 20 weeks, unfortunately in many local authorities its taking much longer.
You need to make a Subject Access Request to the primary school/local authority (direct to the school only if its an academy) The acronym is a SAR.
They have to comply with this request.

I should have added - essential to know - her reading age is categorised by school as year 2 upon leaving year 6. She is still working her way through the stages of the Monster Phonics books, aged 11.

What is a Letter Before Action?
And what action would follow?
Thank you.xx

No, I don't have them unfortunately.

A letter before action is a legal letter from a solicitor and completely pointless at this stage. You want the information they have about your child, then it's a subject Access Request you need. Theres no point or need to threaten legal type action before the fight has even started

Thank you for explaining.
I hadn't hesrd of that.

It's often used in legal disputes (for example if you had boundary dispute with a neighbour about a fence and they started taking the fence down etc) but doesn't really cover schools because educational law is quite different and often doesn't really achieve what a parent would want. You don't need to involve solicitors or legal speak to achieve the information you want.

It is unusual for a Y6 child to be considered unable to access the end of KS2 tests in both maths and English but for there to have been no SEN support during their time at primary school.

You are able to submit a parent request for your DD to be assessed for an EHCP. You will need to give details of her dyslexia diagnosis and how it affects her learning as well as any other difficulties she has with accessing the curriculum. If she has had weekly 1:1 reading support you will mention that and the fact it hasn't had a positive impact.

Your DD will have been marked as B (below the level of the test) for the Y6 tests. The school will need to provide evidence of why this is the case and why access arrangements would not have been appropriate. In your application, you can refer to her Y6 report, the reading level and the level she is working at in maths and science.

At the moment, your DD is still on roll at her primary school. Her records won't be transferred over until September. Apply for the EHCP now but be aware the process is extra slow over the summer holiday - it's the only school holiday where a delay is permitted. If the local authority decide your application should progress to the next stage, an SEN officer will write to the school and other professionals involved to request information.

Make a formal subject access request

Submit the EHCNA request yourself, don't wait on corroboration. And submit a Subject Access Request tomorrow to school, but again don't wait on getting a response to this as they can take a while to come through.

I wouldn't get too exercised over the fact that they respond to simple admin requests more quickly than bigger requests that need more work to answer. I wouldn't be totally surprised if they stonewall you and use the fact she has left as a reason to deny you the information. But whether they do or not, the correct way forward is to get the request in asap. You can only control what you can control.

Include in the EHCNA what you have said here about her reading age being Y2 etc. Even if you can't back it up in writing (yet).

My DS has severe dyslexia, he’s working through the book ‘toe by toe’ and making great progress. This was recommended by my son’s school and they have been teaching him to read via this method for about 12 months, he’s doing better. The school have applied for a EHCP on the grounds of his dyslexia. It’s an uphill battle tho. Try getting a psych assessment and an occupational therapy assessment to support your application. I’ve had to pay for some things myself but have everything crossed I can help my little boy.

A subject access request (SAR) allows individuals to request access to their personal data held by an organization, including schools. To draft an SAR for a school record, include a clear subject line, the date, your name, contact details, and a description of the specific information you want (e.g., educational record, correspondence). Specify the time period for the request and how you'd like to receive the information.

Here's a more detailed draft:

Subject: Subject Access Request - [Your Name] - [Child's Name (if applicable)]

Date: [Date]

To: [School Name], [School Address]

Dear [School Contact Person or "Data Protection Officer"],

This is a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK GDPR.

I am requesting access to my personal data held by your school. Specifically, I would like copies of:

[Specify the information you want: For example, "My complete educational record, including academic transcripts, reports, and attendance records," or "All correspondence between the school and myself/my child's teachers regarding [specific topic]."]
[If you have specific dates: "From [start date] to [end date]."]
[If you have a specific format preference: "I would prefer to receive the information electronically via email to [your email address]."]
Please confirm receipt of this request and provide an estimated timeframe for its fulfillment. If there are any costs associated with providing this information, please let me know. I understand that I may be entitled to receive this information free of charge under data protection legislation.

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

[Your Address]

[Your Phone Number]

[Your Email Address]

[If acting on behalf of a child, add:]
I am [Your Relationship to Child] and have parental responsibility for [Child's Name]. I am requesting this information on their behalf.
I have attached a copy of [Child's Birth Certificate/Adoption Certificate/Other relevant document] as proof of my parental responsibility.

See above for draft SAR. if no response within a month then follow advice here -

https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/getting-copies-of-your-information-subject-access-request/what-to-expect-after-making-a-subject-access-request/

You in parallel can reach out to the many agencies who are there to support children with dyslexia. Please see below resources for parents seeking an EHCP for their child with dyslexia. It’s easily available via web search and auto AI on the webpages mean more targeted responses come up.

https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/advice/children/my-childs-education/education-health-and-care-plans

Call their helpline and ask for guidance.

You don’t need all that information from school. The LA will request it from them as part of the process.

Shocking that parents don’t know that they can apply for an EHCP themselves… LAs seem to hide this right

You sound like a very hard work parent for the school.

You never had the right to demand that they do 1-1 reading every day. You never had the right to demand that they apply for an EHCP. Especially when you did no research yourself and expected them to tell you that parents could apply.

Stop thinking you need the school to spoon feed you and do everything for you. You already have copies of your child’s school
reports so you don’t need to create a load of extra work for them at an already busy time.

Can you really not understand the difference between admin sending a quick response to something they already know the answer to compared to your other requests that need time to decide on how to respond?

Find a tutor who specialises in dyslexia and get your daughter some focussed support so she's not going into highschool so far behind her peers.

Then keep on at the school but sadly you're not going tonight much joy during the holidays

I don't understand why they would withdraw her from SATs entirely, rather than provide a reader and a scribe. That's very odd. (Obviously, no reader for the reading paper, but can have them for anything else).

"Toe By Toe - A highly structured phonics-based reading manual" https://toe-by-toe.co.uk

My DD is the same, is now at her correct reading age after 3 years tutoring and using toe by toe. Once I knew she was having difficulties there’s no way I would leave it to the school to support her learning. There are lots of parent led resources to help with dyslexia and specialist tutors - an hour a week made all the difference. My DD went from reading age of 5 aged 9 to her correct reading age at 12.

Absolutely argue for an ECHP but this is something you cannot however run support your child with in the meantime.

Im no help with school but look at a reading pen for high school. My younger dc both use them. One dc also uses a laptop to touch type. And the other has dictation software on a smart phone.
Look at assisted tech while you are chasing the school.
Also can I suggest word hornet/word wasp books. If you look on website dc can do a quick test to see which book is suitable and you can pick books up second hand or from loads online retailers. You work through it 10 mins a day with dc and it really does help.

I can’t advise on her actual school situation but I can give hope. At year six, in says my dd scored 2, should have been 4 or 5 so she basically was at the same stage she should have been in year 2. BUT age 12 something clicked and her reading improved remarkably, her written work still left a lot to be desired but started to improve more gradually and… she passed all GCSEs with grades required for 6th form then passed a levels with stars and A’s 4 of them! (Extra time given, sciences and maths, always was good at maths). Gained a good Russell group degree in a very difficult job and has a highly technical engineering job. The kid who failed year 6 says, that primary gave up on, that we thought we end up in a job where book learning wasn’t important … hang in there, if you can get a private tutor once a week (got ours through a dyslexia charity) and never give up hope

Secondary have seen it all OP - including children whose primaries applied for EHCPs literally in their last week and kids who are a key stage behind.
They test themselves in the second week back and will put interventions in place. They will also have been liaising and getting primary records ready for transition. I'd be getting hold of your new SENDCO and asking for a meeting in the new term.

You will not get an EHCP for your daughter. Also you will not get any response from schools until Sept. Do some reading with her over the summer. Request a test for dyslexia (push for this). Get her a tutor with experience in dyslexia. This is written from experience and not AI.