Gdpr request - lack of information

[Sohumdrum]

Looking for some advice. Put in a request for all files, notes, emails for my 5 year old to her school. First email they pretended that they didn't recieve. Second email all i receive is a copy of her school report. No observations, emails, accident reports, attendance records etc

Surely there should be more records! She has completed one full year in school so far. Plus there have been comllaints made by another parent against her (unsubstantiated and made to just be hostile towards me). Please could someone advise on what records I should receive and what action i can take. Feeling completely frustrated right now!

Anyone?

You can ask to see the school's policy on subject access requests and then use that to show them that they haven't fulfilled the requirements. They should have a notice somewhere showing who is their data protection officer - go to them although all staff should know what to do with a SAR.

I can't answer all of your question, as I don't know what your school does - and your email does make it sound like they haven't really had a good look and don't want to help - but

I can confirm the files we keep on pupils are fairly sparse at the school I work at. So they have the admissions forms in them and school reports, which have the attendance report in them. We keep any requests for leaves of absence. Some children have an additional SEN folders that would have any notes of meetings, records of interventions and professional reports in them.

We tend to shift and shred as much stuff as we can so we aren't holding unnecessary things for a long time - so parents get all their books at the end of the year, once results are verified and no longer needed things get shredded.

We don't have many emails about specific pupils, safeguarding forms are exempt from being shared - accident reports do have to be kept but only for reportable accidents.

they should have a data schedule thing which shows how long stuff is kept for.

Please make sure you've got a good reason for doing this. Subject access requests are yet another resource burden on crazily overstretched schools.

First email they pretended that they didn't receive

What makes you think they were pretending? Unless you had a read receipt you don't know for sure. Email is not 100% reliable.

Surely there should be more records

As a previous poster said, many schools don't keep much in the way of records. It makes GDPR compliance easy if they don't hold much! Also, they can't disclose information to you if the records concerned include personal information about other people. So if, for example, you were expecting to find information about the complaint made by another parent, that may well be excluded on the grounds that it includes personal information about the other parent or their child.

Why do you want all this info? There are policies about what info is kept about children. You look a bit paranoid op!

Actually there are numerous reasons for my wanting this information. If you have a child with additional needs you have every reason to be concerned with your childs situation particularly if you have a girl who you believe to have asd. No this is not a google diagnosis! I have one dc with complex needs (who has an ehcp for full time one to one - which he doesn't recieve - however I am not overly concerned about this and feel that we are at a stage where I feel he needs to develop further independence). I also have one dc who is completely neurotypical.

Not that I should actually have to justify wanting information about my child. However if you look at any reports you will see that girls are underdiagnosed and in my opinion my dd is left to struggle due to a lack of funding. We have toyed with the idea of private education but I think they would refuse her entrance due to her challanging behaviours. We need all information held to help us decide where to go next! If we need to arrange private assessment then so be it. As we all know early intervention is key and if we leave the situation as is then we may completely lose our opportunity to assist my dd as fully as possible. So I really don't give a shit if I come across as paranoid when my dd's future is at stake!

Thank you to everyone else for your help. I just needed to know wether there was information missing or not and whether I needed to escalate the matter or not. I take it in this instance the answer is no. Although I have already requested copies of accident reports as my dd has had several occasions where she has endangered herself due to a lack of fear of danger.

Again thank you to the posters that gave up there time to provide me with this information.

Hello. I’m a teacher and have a good understanding of GDPR in schools. You are not unreasonable to want information about your child. Can I please ask if you have requested specific information before putting in a subject access request? I would far rather be asked for the info that a parent actually wants than to go through any number of class files etc and redact other pupils’ details etc.

The types of records we would have to share would be:
Attendance record
Internal assessment data
Reports
Any emails mentioning the child (although we absolutely avoid this at all costs now with GDPR - not that we are hiding anything but just the process of having to trawl through so many staff email accounts would be a logistical nightmare - we do not have staffing for this).

First aid records (again a complete trawl through these would be a nightmare for a school and would take teaching assistants, teachers or admin staff away from their actual job of working with children and running a school).

We would not have to disclose safeguarding records. Nor do we have to disclose anything that could put someone at risk (the complaint you mentioned could be classed as this potentially).

I would happily share any (allowable) specifically desired information with a parent. But a subject access request would be extremely overwhelming and would take me away from teaching my class for several days.

If you really do want absolutely everything then did you formally submit your request as a subject access request?

I see you mentioned autism. You could seek a referral to CAHMS through your GP. Their waiting lists are long in most parts of the country and referral via GP or school doesn’t make a difference to this as far as I know.

I did submit my request formally and I did request everything (I used a standsrd letter from one of the SEN websites).

However this was after numerous requests for meetings to discuss various red flags and her genetic predisposition and being left feeling dismissed.

I am left feeling because she is not complex and is female that it is not a concern. Since submitting my request I have chatted to the headmistress about my concerns and to be fair she has seemed far more concerned about my daughters behaviour than the SENCO. (This may have been helped by the fact that she had to assist me in controling my dd so that she could talk to me).

I don't want to fall out with the school or alienate myself from them. It is important that I maintain a working relationship with them particularly considering the circumstances.

The reason I mentioned the complaint previously is because I was advised by the school that they had completed 3 seperate and independant evaluations of my dd and another child due to the volume of complaints by another parent (I was aware of this due to the other parent being quite vocal in the playground). I was advised that there were no issues. However I thought that these would be included with the other pupils name redacted. If I am not entitled to this then that's fair enough I just thought that there would be more information than onr school report.

If your principal concern is potential asd I would speak to the school and explain the material you need for an assessment (camhs takes a while so if finances permit private may be a better option) but I do caution you that a diagnosis is no panacea- there's no specific help they get at school because of a diagnosis, sen is all about observed needs in the classroom. We didn't get proper help until high school tbh.

The gp has made a referral to our community paediatrician and we are waiting to see if this is accepted. I presumed previously (probably mistakenly) that as school took the lead on everything with my ds from obtaining a diagnosis to getting a statement that it was school that would need to start the process.

Schools must fund the first £6000 of SEN support per child from the school budget before they get access to any additional funding (and this is very very hard to get). So unless the school feel that there is the need for more than £6000 of support for your child then there is no need for them to pursue an EHCP. And nowadays EHCPs seem to only be going through when their is a need (or high likelihood of future need) for non-mainstream provision. A diagnosis will not automatically get your child any additional support either.

Does your child have any support at present? Is there a support plan in place at school? Is she making progress?

I understand this is very frustrating as a parent. As a teacher I am very frustrated at the lack of SEN support and the difficulty that primary schools have in funding and accessing support for children. You have the right mindset that you need to keep a positive relationship with the school. Your DD is lucky to have you in her corner and having her teachers there too will help.

*there not their! It’s the weekend

The school my son went to seemed to keep no records for SEN! We've really struggled getting support as they only started making decent records after a year of problems and us cobstantly asking. Maybe focus on getting them to start writing things down- date, time, trigger, incident, strategies used, did the succeed. And ask to be sent it weekl so it doesn't disappear. Goodluck. It's so frustrating to have yo fight but experience tells me you will.

I’d just head towards private diagnosis to be honest.. or look at pushing for an EHCP?

Op I didn't mean to be unsupportive, and YumYum put it much better than me - asking for relevant info is fine, asking for all info is an administrative nightmare that will take staff away from the care of your child and others for potentially tens if not hundreds of hours. Our LA told us a horror story of a SA request which took a member of staff several months full time to fulfil. And then the individual repeated the request a few months later. All I was saying was, be careful that you're not impeding the school's ability to provide the care that you're criticising them for not providing, IYSWIM.

Thank you so much to everyone for your messages.

I hope that we will be realistic in our expectations if we do obtain a diagnosis. Unfortunately I am aware it is only those who know the system and shout loudest in our local education authority that get the assistance needed. It doesn't appear to go on level of need so much This isn't right I know.

I believe having a diagnosis may help ensure that we do receive some help and that if we do need to pay for private therapists so be it. We already pay privately for music therapy for my oldest child at school as we were aware that otherwise the budget for this would have to come from a personal budget (ie the schools pot of money).

It's a case of wanting to make decisions based on facts. Also I do need to know for me that it's not just me being a crap mum and not coping with her behaviour.

I have a 7 year old DD going through the very slow diagnosis process. I also have an Autistic DS (full EHCP in special autism provision) and an NT DS. With DS1 school supported the whole diagnosis process. With DD she's not disruptive enough - but I'm working with school to keep a decent paper trail should we need to go EHCP route. She wouldn't meet thresholds at present.

I'm just wondering if you've managed to engage with the headmistress over this is there are other ways/ ways in parallel moving forwards to help your DD so I'll list so e of the things that have helped us.

I'm keeping my own folder paper trail to show the extra support DD is having. Every school meeting, whether it's a discussion at the door or sitting at the desk, I email a thank you for meeting and sumarise my understanding of any actions from the meeting.

I have chatted with the SENCO about padding out DD's SEN file and she's been great at adding extra notes.

Have you had any support from speech and language? They've been great with DD and I have been in and done talk about training so have several of DD's whole classTA's. They do regular small group work with DD on social communication. They storyboard events with her to help her look at things that have happened and look at how they could be approached another time. They have also produced assessment reports. My favourite little quip was DD was shown classic happy face and sad face emoji type images on A4 sheets. She was asked about how they feel. After much deep consideration and with a furrowed brow she responded 'like paper'.

In class, DD has her own quiet desk (since yr 1) that she can go to to do her work if feeling overstimulated, she has tried ear defenders but doesn't like them, she can go to the book corner or library if she needs quiet time at break, sometimes she eats her sandwich in class with the TA/ teacher rather than the dining hall. Her teacher writes the days activity list on the board. In year R we used words and pictures to create a week timetable. I'd run through it each day with DD before school and she had a copy in her book bag.

Other early school life little adjustments that made life more comfortable were having her peg at the end of the coats so she didn't get into a scrum with other children, same with her tray, being encouraged to go to the toilet/ go get her water bottle/ get her coat 2 minutes before the rest if the class were sent - again to avoid the rush.

Budgets have been so significantly cut in the last few years that support available for our elder children isn't their for those entering the system now. It's a whole new game to play. Gool luck.

Thank you RippleEffects. It's such a horrid situation to be in. I think I will go into school with some of your ideas.

Any tips for the school pick up . This is our worst time of day as she has semi held it together and from the moment she sees us is quite frankly awful. This only lasts for about 15 minutes but it's 15 minutes of hell! Plus lots and lots of hideous looks from the judgey parents in her year (not all of them luckily!).

No help from speech and language but they weren't any help with my eldest. I don't think there is much provision in our area.

Nothing like a bit of mummy bashing.

If it makes you feel any better DD once lost the plot when we were in the changing rooms after school attempting some me teaching her to swim sessions. Swimming has been a great relaxation activity for my eldest. She bit me and drew blood through my swimming costume. I stood and cried. It took me a good half hour to get her dressed without hurting herself or me more and then quite a long time to bend her in the car to get home. There was a fair bit of tutting in the changing rooms. The thing is she doesnt appear to have recollection of events when she's lost the plot. She knows she's been angry and becomes very insecure and in need of comfort but actual things said or done dont seam to be remembered.

If school are up for working with you I'd be tempted to see if you can break the pick up stress behaviour pattern by completely changing the routine. In reception year I used to drop and pick DD up from school reception - a few moments early in both instances. It ment she put her coat on the peg whilst it was quiet and was settled at her space before the hoards poured in. We slowly moved to picking up first from the class room at the end of the day. Then we added going in a few moments early from the classroom door in the mornings the same way in as the other children just early, then the same time but first. Now, in year 3, she's not formally first anymore but still like to go in first and generally does.

If you're doing a please could we try list, then to request a different pick up for this half term might be worth considering.

At pick up I try not to ask any questions and generally have a drink and a snack ready for her, I take her bags and we walk at her pace. It is the time things fall apart - I've not solved that. I do find if things are smoother in the day with more opportunities for stress relief like quiet time at break and working in her own space then the pressure cooker effect is reduced and resulting explossions not quite as dramatic.