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Secondary education

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Can I do anything about extra time for GCSEs this late?

29 replies

wonderstuff · 25/03/2024 19:48

I suspect dd16 has dyslexia. She reads very well but struggles with spelling and has some issues with speech which I think maybe phonological processing difficulties.

Shared concerns with school at start of year 10, she’s struggling with English despite being fairly bright and a reader. Chased a couple times and they said no, her reading comprehension is fine, took them months to get back in this. I said I disagreed, I’m a SENCO myself and feel she needs to be assessed for speed of working. When I got a bit sharp elbowed they gave ET for last set of mocks. They didn’t however do any assessment. Her English teacher seems bizarrely unbothered by her attainment, despite her being well below her target grades. He maintains she’s careless and needs to improve technique. Today the senco has emailed saying they don’t have the evidence for extra time, largely due to the teacher dismissing it. They have done no assessment other than monitor her use of extra time.

Can I do anything at this point? I’ve told the SENCO I will have her privately assessed and consider my options, which I will, but it’s all a bit late now. I’m so cross as I raised concerns with plenty of time and they’ve just refused to engage. I said from the outset if I’m wrong fair enough but I don’t think an assessment is unreasonable.

OP posts:
Littlemissnikib · 26/03/2024 07:12

Could you maybe ask for a scribe instead? My son has an EHCP but he did spectacularly badly in his pre-mocks. All his teachers said he started well but then lost it so I asked for a scribe. This set of mocks results have just come in and the improvement is immense.

You don’t have to have an EHCP to get a scribe so might be worth pushing for that?

HollyGolightly4 · 26/03/2024 07:20

A scribe would be much harder to evidence than extra time!

OnceUponARainbow88 · 26/03/2024 07:21

I teach mainly year 11-13 and received an email last week saying no more requests for access arrangements will be processed for current 11s and 13s. We spend years gathering evidence for extra time, if we think a kid needs it during assessments across KS3 we let them have extra time but they change their own colour so we see what value it adds. Also, I get about 2 round robins a week asking for feedback for certain kids in regards to AA. So, I think by this stage yes it is too late and I’m surprised as a SENDCo you’ve let it get this far.

Bartholomewphilipswasrobbed · 26/03/2024 07:30

My DC gets extra time, rest breaks and a desk at the side of the room as they don't like students sat behind them. Our paperwork etc for this went in months ago I'm afraid. And to the pp who asked why dyslexia wasn't picked up in primary. That's common to not know - we had a formal diagnosis at age 16. Most of my friends with dyslexic children only found out in secondary or later. It is NOT necessarily easy to diagnose.

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