How can a Subject Access Report help?

[Kodiaka]

We're trying to document the discussions that were had about our DD at primary school. She's now in Y8. The primary HT said they don't have any records bc they send them to the secondary school when they leave. Is this true? I thought there were rules about data retention and a school needing to hold records for something like 6 years.

Someone suggested we file a subject access report but I'm not sure what records exactly this would yield. We still have a child in the school and they are in need of some SEN support (which the school is also dragging their heels on) so I'm worried about them denying DD2 her support if they're annoyed by an SAR.

But if they continue delaying DD2's support, should we go ahead and file an SAR for both children? What will an SAR reveal and how can it be used as leverage? Thank you.

A SAR can capture all data held or a specific item, it depends on what is requested.

What data from SARs can help with depends on why the person want it. For example, it can provide evidence for an EHCNA request or an appeal to SENDIST - although evidence from a SAR to a primary when the child is in Y8 will be less useful than more up to date evidence.

Some information such as the school record is transferred when pupils move to secondary school and then destroyed by the primary. But, the primary should still have some data. How long schools keep data for depends on the specific data and whether they are a primary or secondary school.

They should have sent all SEND information and all safeguarding information to the secondary, so they aren't lying about that.

There won't necessarily be records of discussions. There may be records of their end of year attainment levels, reports, behavior records and intervention records. How much help these would be, I don't know. And many schools aren't great at recording this kind of non-statutory information, so there may legitimately be little they have. Emails about your child should also be accessible, but again, there may not be many.

What do you mean, how can it be used as leverage? What is your aim?

SAR are time-consuming. They take time away from arranging support for pupils.

All information primary schools hold is sent on to secondary, it is secondary schools that have to retain the information into adulthood. But how much information is recorded depends on the school, some might take notes of discussions, doorstep "chats" and some might not.

Mind you, it is amazing how many times parents seem to be told that no information was passed on and they need to go back to the primary! It's usually a delaying tactic

Thanks. I guess there's no point in an SAR for my older child. We have copies of school reports, etc. They just never took our concerns about her seriously and now she's having a hard time and we're struggling to get her support in and out of school, assessed for ASD, etc.

With the Y6 child, it's a similar situation. They say they'll do A, B and C for her but nothing actually moves forward and they've said she's not a priority because other kids have more profound needs, despite that she has clearly fallen behind. So with them, I wondered if a SAR would bring up any internal documentation that we haven't seen that we could maybe use to get them to do more. Maybe if DC2 was a behaviour problem, they would pay more attention.

ATM they have her in weekly small group sessions with a teacher who ridicules and shames the SEN kids with comments like, 'You should know how to do this, you're in year 6!' which just makes DC2 even more painfully aware of her 'failings', so I'm feeling desperate to get something to change!

We have appealed a refusal to assess but this and the EHCNA request was all done with very little input from the school. The SENCO told us the LA would give more weight to a parental request but I think that was just their way of getting out of doing their job.

Focus on the EHCNA appeal.

Focus on the appeal, and reporting concerns about the way the teacher (TA?) is making your child feel.

The school is not required to give any particular SEN support until a EHCP is in place. There won't be a document that "makes them do more" in your child's records. You might see some documents that could help with the appeal, but that depends on their systems and whether any teacher has ever flagged concerns in writing.

I'd suggest an appeal for needs assessment first, asking the school for supporting evidence.

We submitted the appeal a few weeks ago. We asked the school to send us DD''s Sen support plan, which they were supposed to update after our meeting at the end of last school year, but they still haven't sent it and the deadline was close so we submitted the appeal without it. I think we will have an opportunity to send additional evidence at some point so could send it then, if the school supplies it.

Would documenting in email the concerns we have about a particular teacher's treatment of our child be part of the evidence in the appeal too, or did you mean thst we should report it to the school? We have already done that but they have refused to move DD to another group even though there are two of them, including one with her classroom teacher.

I was wondering if we could push them to move her to another group by asking for a reasonable adjustment given how distressing she finds the teacher she's with (semh reason). Is that possible?

Thank you so much, everyone.

You will be able to send additional evidence. A SAR could provide the SEN support plan. You can use emails as evidence, yes. Although you should also discuss it again with school too.

I can't see how the teacher situation would be relevant to your appeal, though I'm not certain.

The teacher needs to understand the impact of her choice of words/approach. Is there an opportunity to speak to the teacher directly? The teacher changing her use of language could be an even better outcome than moving classes (although your dd may struggle to move beyond the negative language that has already been used). Or could you ask for her to be taken out of the small group altogether? It sounds like it's having a negative impact.

It could be relevant if it is because of DC’s SEN as the OP suggests.