Requesting school records

[Mreid]

Hi, Can anyone tell me how I request looking at my daughters school records. I have asked verbally on Monday but still waiting for a reply. Should I put it in writing to HT or governors if so how should I word it. Can I look at everything about my daughter? More special needs and levels obtained in past years.
Thank you

Make an appointment to see the Head and discuss it. When you asked did you give reasons or just the request?

A request has to be in writing and they have to respond within a set amount of time (I believe this is 3 weeks, but am not sure)
I requested DD3s last year, but have to say they had been definitely doctored before they got to me!

You will get the best result if you keep it friendly-discuss you reasons first.

Thanks everyone...PositiveAttitude How could you tell they had been doctored? I have a feeling this is going to happen to me.

Hi Mreid, the one man that we had had a lot of trouble with over a 2 year period had been eradicated from the notes and when I asked who put them together for us, guess who it was??? Plus there were letter answers from us missing, or an on-going email trail, but all the emails to and from him were not there, making it look really weird that things did not flow as they should and even made me look as if I was being freakily paranoid because the "evidence" of his side of a conversation wasn't there.
Still, it must have given him a bit of a harsh time to have to go through the whole lot and get it to look as if he had never even known DD and had never had meetings with DH, emails from me and everything else.

Thanks PositiveAttitude,
The reason that I want to look because my daughter as had iep's since starting Primary and is now YR 4 and only been told 6 wks ago. I have had only 1 meeting with senco which was a month ago and she made me feel so small and said she is making progress. Only 3 of the 9 iep's had the outcome/evaluation filled in. My point being how can they tell she as achieved targets. I was told she is working at Level 1 which I know isn't good progress. So I want to see what's going on in her records and if senco have been properly involved (which I feel isn't the case). I asked for her to be assessed (because i feel she as a learning disability) and was refused straight away. Going to have meeting with HT and want to have as much info on me as I can. No success with her then I'll request one myself. When all this came out the senco refused another meeting as she felt it was not necessary. By the way why did he do that...what was he trying to gain or avoid.

Sounds like a bit of a hard time for you. Be prepared to fight. Sorry to be blunt but if your DD has had 9 IEPs and you had not been told, the school obviously are aware that there has been a problem and have been making decisions and deciding things without YOUR input. The one thing that I always thought when I was facing a something that I thought might be unpleasant and make me unpopular was "If I dont speak up and fight for MY DD, then who will?"

Have you contacted Parent Partnership? I suggest giving them a call and discussing what you have written here. They can give you advice about where you can go from here.

In my situation I feel the man who was erased from Ds notes was worried about his professional life. IF everything had been there we would have had serious cause for complaint and he would have been in a lot of trouble. To be honest though DD has now left the school and we did it to give him a bit of a shake up and get him to think that we were going to take it further. >

That's really poor that your daughter has been on the special needs register for so long and you didn't know! You are more than entitled to see her records and to have a meeting with her class teacher and the SENCO. Ask the class teacher to organise it for you, and if you don't get any joy, go straight to the head. There should be a governor with responsibility for SEN, ask who it is and involve them if need be.

PositiveAttitude I have tried Parent Partnership and I found her ok when she came to my house. She asked me if the iep I showed her was her first and that the iep shouldn't have been typed up and handed over to me like the way it was. Also it must have been the first one because there was not a previous date wrote on and if she had anymore they would have been stapled together. Then she showed me the SA and what it meant. I was happy to have somebody on board with me because all this was new to me. Anyway after she spoke to senco that's when PPO said she as been on iep's since Reception.She just seemed to be a diff person after talking to senco and that's why I won't use them again as I felt she wasn't impartial.That's when senco said she felt no need for another meeting. I don't want to fight with the school I just want her to be assessed but I am putting in a formal complaint because code of practice mentions many times about parental involvement which in this case is the lack of...I am using IPSEA's advice and when I arrange meeting with HT I shall be talking to them. School have dragged their feet a little bit about me going in to see them but finally go next Fri morning,had to be arranged for HT to be there. Not going to tell her anything yet though because I want to be fully prepared and not be made to feel imitated and small...like I felt with senco and 2 teachers at the last meeting. Husband coming with me from now on to every meeting.

Also..I totally agree with fighting for your child because nobody else will.It's our child at the end of the day and it's our job as parents.

You do need to fight for your DC. Start by being pleasant but you may need to be forceful. You should have seen and signed every IEP -and so seen the Senco at least once a term. She shouldn't be saying that there is no need for a meeting, when you clearly feel that there is. How many IEP's have you seen?

piscesmoon I got 9 copies altogether, not sure if there are anymore.

Oh by the way piscesmoon only 3 of them had wrote about outcome/evaluation on them. But struggling is clearly wrote on every iep that i have seen. And the reason I say 9 copies and unsure because Reception there was only 1 and 2 for each year except year 3 when she got 3 in that year.

She should have had at least 3 a year and you should have discussed and agreed them.
I am not too clear exactly how it works-as a supply teacher I don't get involved. When I have done a whole term's work I have had to write them -and my DS had one all through school.We had a dodgy time when he went to secondary, before they got their act together. I had to be forceful at that point. Hopefully a SENCO will come along with advice.You must fight for your DC.

Thanks piscesmoon...I would love to hear from a senco. Every intention to fight.

I will bump it up for you, but it might be a better idea to post again under 'special needs' and then you might get people who really know how it all works and what should be happening. You really need to go to the meeting armed with facts.

Yes I know and I have this thread on in special needs. I am dying to have meeting now but I know I have to have facts and all that. I feel my heads going to bust. I eat, sleep and I am constantly thinking about it. But if it gets overwhelming I remind myself who it is for and determined for the school to take responsibility for their failings. A BIG Thank you to all.