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.

The school have been awful but surely after 7 years of this you would've sought advice from elsewhere about applying for an EHCP a quick Google tells you parents can apply, if the school weren't playing ball why not contact the LEA or sendiass. Why hasn't your daughter had tutoring you've sourced? There are several reading schemes recommended for children with dyslexia you could've supported access to those. You've not even kept her school reports despite knowing she needs help? Your poor daughter had been utterly let down.

It’s incredibly rude of them to ignore so many emails. I work in the nhs and consider good communication a priority, however busy you are. They could have at least acknowledged your requests.

I agree with this.
im not sure why you let it go on for so long? There’s so much information online about EHCPs and how to apply yourself. Dyslexia websites with support. If you felt the school wasn’t helping, I’d be booking meetings in with the head teacher.

I’ve recently done this, there’s a template letter on the internet, school have legally 2 weeks to send you all requested information.
you can also ring Sendias for support on applying for ECHP, don’t delay this process get started now.

The school has broken up so nothing will happen until September . Can you get a tutor in dyslexia...I had one since I was 8 until 16. Also continue reading and writing during the summer holidays

To be honest I'd have moved her from that school far earlier. Most of the people i know have applied for the EHCP themselves, schools generally just do not have the resource and in many cases don't have all the paperwork, for example medical notes.

Sadly schools are not resourced for daily reading. Our school do not even hear the little reception ones read any more, i think in the past where this happened it was facilitated by extra TAs and parent helpers.

Tell me you’ve never tried to get help for a child with dyslexia without telling me you’ve never tried to get help for a child with dyslexia.
Mercifully I was very advanced verbally and with reading but DB had severe dyslexia and my DM had about seven years of battling to get him anything like appropriate help and avoid him being thrown on the scrap heap, This was some time ago but still

I don't think you do sound like hard work but you do need to inform yourself more in order to support your daughter. Submit a subject access request. They are formal/legal requests that schools have to respond to. I haven't personally used Toe by toe but do know it's been used in school with some success. Also look up more about deregistering to see if it should have happened. It won't change anything now but will give you more info.

This. I found out I could apply for an ehcpna from the mumsnet SEN boards!

Agree also that op can submit an application herself even without evidence. The LA will contact the school for academic records.

If she has been having 1-2-1 weekly and she has been removed from SATs then she is going to be on the SEN register for the school.
Have a look back through your emails. A lot of schools provide parents with a login for this to enable them to access for themselves - this will include her reading ages through school and will be better evidence for EHCP than the reports.

You don't need a y of ot to request an EHCNA.

Write a letter/email showing

1. She has SEN (state dyslexia assessment report)
2. School has consistently failed to meet needs. State, failure to support learning to read, disappearing from SATs, reports, your evidence that she knew SATs if read out, no info passed to new school.

Get it sent.

Post on the mn SEN board for better help.

Lots of schools tell parents there's no point applying because they won't be successful. Why would a parent not believe what they're told by a teacher/ senco? I've lost count of the number of parents who have told me their child is having huge difficulties at school but they've been advised by teaching staff not to bother applying. Our own senco told us exactly the same. Two years down the line, dd has had one in place for 18 months and is thriving.

If you can’t get any school evidence for EHCP then you can still apply without. Ask a couple of family friends to write letters explaining her difficulties, including her reading age and that she didn’t do SATs. When you start through the EHCP process ask them to contact school for evidence of the school stuff.

Agreed. Have you genuinely not researched anything at all off your own bat? Even if the school were on the same page, surely you'd be doing your own research here on how to help, the best way forward, independent assessments, tutoring, what you can be doing at home etc etc etc? You haven't even kept her reports! You'd have found out 5 years ago that you can apply yourself.

That ship has sailed now sadly, but you need to get more proactive and quickly, especially with a child with additional needs.

Request an EHCNA yourself now using IPSEA’s model letter.

Submit a subject access request to the school. Don’t wait for the information before requesting an EHCNA. However, don’t rely on the school providing the information, so once you have it, send it on to the LA.

Speak to the secondary SENCO again about support at secondary school.

Ignore those saying DD won’t get an EHCP. Sadly, some schools incorrectly tell parents their child doesn’t need or won’t get an EHCP. If DD is working below KS2 level, it is possible. Although you may have to appeal.

At this stage all you have to demonstrate is that your child may have SEN, and may need help through an EHCP. The fact that the school told you it did not have the resources to give her reading help and wouldn't enter her for SATs are very strong evidence, though I suspect your LA may well take the attitude that they will wait and see what happens at secondary. If they refuse to assess, you can appeal and it is a relatively easy process.

I would suggest a fairly early meeting with the SENCo at the secondary school where you don't make any demands of them, but ask if they could collaborate with you in working with your daughter in relation to her literacy. If you can afford it, it would be worth looking into getting a dyslexia specialist tutor out of school.

I think people should remember that that you don't know what you don't know (the unknown unknowns). If a school (the supposed experts) are telling a parent their child won't get an EHCP, why should a parent question that?

I had similar at the other end of education. I had never heard of Supported Internships until a learning support lady at college mentioned it in passing (after it was too late for that academic year to get on the list). Even when I looked on the college website I couldn't find them mentioned until I explicitly searched for that term.

Schools don't offer 1:1 reading on a daily basis. You were lucky it's been once a week. My son struggled to read, and by the time Reception was over, I realised I'd need to step in and help. By the time the end of the Autumn term in Year 1, he'd shot up several book bands. My son isn't dyslexic, just a slow learner and by the time he started Year 7, his reading age was Year 10 level. You need to research online the best way to help your child going forward. By all means apply for EHCP yourself, but don't expect much input from your daughter's primary school until September. Look at the Dyslexia Association for advice, reading material and if necessary a Tutor that specialises in Dyslexia. Does your daughter have an official diagnosis of Dyslexia? Or is this just you thinking she has, rather than an official diagnosis? You then need to have your daughter assessed asap. You can't and shouldn't rely on schools to do or know everything, you have to help yourself, so that your daughter can receive the help she clearly needs.

Sounds like the school has been pretty hopeless.

You will need to be a LOT more on the case in secondary. Maybe it shouldn’t be that way, but sometimes we’ve got to be THAT parent - so be it.

My son Isdyalwxicans he found that the nesay program online was very helpful. You could do it with her over the summer to boost her reading level a bit?

What's the score with her secondary school OP? You nay find that they are more willing to go down the ECHP path. She'll probably be entitled to a laptop or scribe and a reader for exams based on what you've put so far, with or without a ECHP.

A lot of people trust schools as the experts and as a reliable source of information on education over and above google where its easy to get incorrect information and confused too. Until you have been let down, its entirely reasonable to expect the person whose job title is sendco to be knowledgeable and to be working with you for the best outcomes.

Things like dyslexia run in families so berating op for trusting the experts she had access to and not researching better is a bit harsh. She is trying now.

There is still time to get support OP.

The toe by toe programme is good.

Tell me you like to make inaccurate assumptions without telling me you like to make inaccurate assumptions.

I have done plenty of battling thanks, that’s how I know that parents need to make some effort themselves instead of expecting the school to do it all while complaining that they are uncooperative.

Well you’re right that you have to do it but that doesn’t make it easy or mean that you should have to go through so much.

I'm educated and articulate.

But I still let myself be fobbed off by schools for years. I was raising concerns and was told 'not so bad', 'others worse', 'it will improve in time', 'we haven't noticed that'. I was often made to feel that I was being over protective / over estimating what children should be able to do etc; and I accepted it almost because of my education level and my children's background.

I don't think it is constructive to tell posters 'you should have done more before now', 'you should have researched XYZ' etc when quite often they wouldn't even have known to research it.

I didn't know dyspraxia could impact things other than motor skills until DD1 was given her diagnosis and we were provided with a long list of things that might help in school (most of which we had already got in place but didn't realise they were linked).