Can't sleep wont' sleep

[MarklahMarklah]

DD is 7, going on 8, and seems to be getting worse and worse about actually 'switching off' to go to sleep at night.
To be fair, she gets up for school every morning and is generally on an even keel, but as we get toward the end of the week, tiredness catches up with her and she becomes teary, irritable, and what used to be called 'highly-strung'.
When she was a toddler she'd have daytime naps, but when she hit 3, pretty much overnight dropped them completely and used to be bone-tired by bedtime.
I thought that once she started school, she'd be more active in mind and body (she's an energetic child at the best of times) and be able to sleep better, but she seems to have become progressively worse.
Things I've tried -
Cut down screen time
Starchy snacks before bed
High-protein snack before bed
Bath before bed
Running around/cycling/swimming late afternoon or early evening
Making bedtime earlier
Making bedtime later
Warm milk
Lavender on pillow
Lights on
Lights off
Music on
Music off
CD player with story

At the moment, she's getting up at around 7.40am (plenty of time to get ready for school and out), and going to bed at 7.30pm. On a weekday she is allowed to read/listen to music/whatever wind-down activity until 8pm, and then it's time to settle down. On Friday & Saturday this is pushed back by half an hour.
At the moment, she seems to be finally succumbing to sleep at around 10pm. Whilst she's trying to get to sleep she'll get out of bed to find a blanket/take a blanket off/go to the toilet but generally doesn't call us to go to intervene, and she doesn't get up and start playing.
Unfortunately we're seeing the overtired behaviour beginning to recur now, and I'd dearly love to be able to do something to help her sleep.

We have blackout blinds up but there is some light around the edges of the window which I can't seem to block out. The room is neither hot nor cold. The house is quieter but not silent, once she has gone to bed.
None of these factors have changed since she was a baby.
She's not anxious about school, or worried about anything - I've asked about that and I'm confident she'd tell me if there was something amiss.

Short of chloroform what can I do to help her get to sleep a little earlier?

The NHS recommend 10h15m - 10h30m sleeps at night.

I think your bedtime is significantly too early, she's probably just not tired at 8pm as much as she tries.

My DS (aged 8) loves his sleep. He gets up at 7am, often wakes 6.30am. His bedtime is 8-8.30 (8.30pm when he is at sports clubs, 8pm other nights).

I would say if you wake your DD up at 7.40, then bedtime wind down probably wants you start at 8.30pm.

Thanks, Fate. I had tried making bedtime later after the Easter break, but didn't notice much difference. However, I am quite willing to give it another go.
Ill try 8.30 tonight and see what happens.

We had great success with a similar thing with DS when a friend suggested just asking him to lie quietly with his eyes closed and listen to his story "so his body could rest". You know what it's like when, as an adult, you can't get to sleep and you lie there getting more and more cross about it! DS was getting into bed and we would do the normal "night night, off to sleep now", but he couldn't drop off straight away and would start to get wound up which obviously makes it harder to get to sleep.

MarklahMarklah, you'd need to give it a good month of being consistent with the change, before you should expect to see the difference.

Definitely need some 'wind down' strategies too. She'll lay in bed but will have 1001 questions when you're tucking her in.
Will start on later nights to see what happens.

So far the earliest she's fallen asleep has been 10.45pm. Hoping she'll succumb to the new routine soon. At the moment she's going to bed, settling down, etc., as before, but still can't seem to actually drop off to sleep quickly.

We had ongoing sleep problems issues with our 6 year old. Same as yours not dropping off until 10/11pm. We tried all the above too, even paid twice for a sleep consultant over the years with no success.

In the end i realised he was anxious, partly about going to sleep and partly other stuff. He had some play therapy and it fixed it, finally!

It has made such difference to our lives being able to get him to bed at 8pm without all the drama/requests/questions.

Last night was better - asleep just before 10. We may be seeing a breakthrough.

There may have been a little hint of anxiety about a fortnight ago as there was talk at school of some upcoming changes (new building to go to in September, and new teacher) but we have talked about this, and the school have a very good strategy for managing the changes.

Of course, now I am suffering with insomnia - dog tired by 9pm, still awake at 1am.