What exactly is in the file about a child that goes from one school to another?

[LynetteScavo]

I had a meeting with DSs school this week who tell me they have no information about DS. He has been at this school since last September.

I have had to contact his Junior school to ask if they have the file. They told they would forward anything they have to his current school. (So obviously I will have to chase whether anything is received). If not where the hell is the file?????

I could photo copy every thing I have....but there is a huge...do I include every school exclusion and end of year report? Or do I edit it?

Records will include (at a minimum):
Admission form with parents' details, medical records, ethnicity, etc

Any relevant assessments

SATs results if appropriate

All reports for all school years

SEN records / anything to do with SEN assessments, observations, etc

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This should accompany the parents to the new school (or, if within county, be transferred by county bag). I would worry about it being missing since September.

Thank you. What's county bag?

There are details of several fixed term exclusions and three psychologists reports.

I'm wondering if the Junior school "forgot" to send them so he could have a fresh start.

The school cannot forget to send them. It is a legal requirement that a child's school records follow them. Your previous school should have sent them within 10 working days of your child moving.

This site will give you more information regarding Educational and Curricular Records.
www.education.gov.uk/b0065507/gttl/providing-information/parents/curricular-record

Do you think it is a possibility the new school have them but don't want you to see them? Just a thought because this did happen to me.

A county bag is just a kind of post bag we have in our county that takes folders, letters and parcels from one school to another in the locality. I don't know whether all counties have them.

If you told the school about the exclusions, etc, the new school should have phoned the previous school for information AND psychologists' reports,m to use in future assessments. Is you ds on the SEN register? If so, did they start assessments from square one?

Is ds having a problem at the moment? If so, IMO it is the current SENCO's job to access old records, not yours. S/he should be chasing info fromt he previous school.

I don't understand why they're asking you to do this.

Did you move schools within county?

That's an excellent link, thank you.

No, the school he is now at were bemused by his behaviour. We had a meeting and they were interested to find out what we told them about his history. They said based on what we've told them the way he has been behaving now makes sense.They explained the only info they have on him is the forms I filled out when he started, and asked me to send in copies of any psychologists reports.

Now, I had one school he attended not show me anything, and claim to have nothing. Despite his infant school over the road saying the had sent a big file over. And last time I looked through his file there was nothing from the infant school, it was all from Y4 onwards.

I'm not too happy about confidential information just suddenly seeming not to exist.

So he went from Infant school to a junior and the infant reocrds have disappeared?

And he went from junior to a new school (junior or senior?) and no records went with him?

So all records from infant to the present have disappeared?

What year is he in now?

(Have I understood right?)

He went from infant to junior school - junior school said no records held, only home address, and emergency contact numbers. I asked about SATS results, which they assured me had been passed to the teacher.

A year later he went to a different junior school. At the end of Y5 I asked to see his school file. There was only information from that school, nothing previous.

He then went to high school last September. They tell me they have nothing but his contact details. But instead of them chasing the junior school...I am doing it.

When DS2 moved schools, it took a while for his school record to be forwarded. It was only chased up when I mentioned to his teacher he had an IEP.....

All seems a bit slack to me.

He's in Y7, and they don't stream, so theoretically they didn't need his SATs.

They may be with the local authority.

I only say this - and not wanting to stir the shit - because I once had a horrendous temp job in a branch of our local authority trying to send child records out to the relevant schools. In the borough I worked for, the records didn't go from school A to school B, they went from school A to the completely disorganised vortex local authority to be forwarded on to the new school. This was 10 years ago but the administration was ridiculous and lots of records became stranded in the central office with no idea where to forward them. It was really upsetting.

But anyway, try your local authority. In the place I worked they were handled by the same department that handles the records of looked-after children and special needs provision.

Missing records between schools, not once but twice?

I would phone your LEA education department on Monday for advice and lodge a formal complaint.

Not from school A to school B? I hadn't thought of that! I had imagined the school secretary possibly sending them to the wrong school.....

Yes, easterbunnyhopsback, all school are in the same county.

Yep between Yr 6 and Yr 7 is when all the records would probably go via the LEA - where I worked all schools forward them to the LEA who then bundle them up and redistribute them to the secondary schools iyswim? Give them a ring on Monday.

I agree that it sounds very slack.

His SAT results would be sent to the senior school electronically, so that is not a problem. I would imagine they do internal assessments at the beginning of the year as well.

I think you ought to organise a meeting with the senco at his senior school ASAP to explain missing records and then insist that the admin staff chase them (or search for them??). It would be a good idea to take along copies from ed psychs, and any other assessments from external agencies that may have gone missing. And yes, I do think you photocopy everything - if you should have cause to complain in the next few years, you need to prove that you provided the school with all information.

Perhaps you could phone the junior school to say that you will collect the records at a specific time, and see what they say? (This is weird as all our Y6 records are sent to the senior schools at the end of the summer term.) I'm not sure they'll have them to be honest.

I agree with easterbunny in that I would give the school copies of the most recent records you have. It could help them to understand and meet your sons current needs.

If you have a meeting with the school you could always take along all your documentation, see what the school deem to be relevant/what they need information about and just copy that rather than everything.

If you have lots of relevant documentation, you could always try to recoup the costs from the school (bearing in mind that if it was the other way round you could be charged up to £50 for copying).