SATS adaptations didn’t happen

[SENsupportplease]

My DD is taking sats this week and I was told she would either be in a separate room, or a small room with partitions. This is so she can use her ear defenders (very socially conscious and won’t use them if others can see)

ive found out this hasn’t happened, she is in a normal room and her only adaptation is movement breaks. She broke down last night and told us she isn’t able to concentrate because other children are sniffing and coughing.

she also is scared of coughing because she has emetophobia and in the last one of these children was sick due to a coughing fit.

she has au-DHD.

is there anything that can be done or is it too late?
SEN

Speak to the school. It can be provided for tomorrow.

For KS2 SATs, the school failing to provide previously agreed access arrangements is not a reason for special consideration to be given. It is specifically mentioned in the “Other circumstances where special consideration does not apply” section of the KS2 special consideration guidance.

I spoke to them about tomorrow the only thing they can offer is the corridor.

No staff available for prompting either (something else she was meant to have).

I suspect DD will decline the corridor as she hasn’t tried it yet and she will be conscious that other kids will question her. she does often have to do classwork in the corridor but having not used it for SATS will put her off.

I’m just gutted she didn’t get what she needed. SATS adaptations are used as a benchmark in her secondary school as well for potential assessment adaptations, so this may also result in her being overlooked .

Have you already spoken to the secondary SENCO? The secondary school should only be used KS2 access arrangements as a guide. They should still be looking for others who need support. Especially because most secondary schools base exam access arrangements on JCQ’s guidance even in KS3 rather than one the rules for KS2 SATs.

Only at the open day, not had any transition conversation yet. No EHCP in place so getting support at high school is heavily based on primary SEN plan.

Request a meeting with the secondary school’s SENCO.

The secondary should use primary school SEN plans as a starting point. They should not be refusing support based on what support was or wasn’t provided at primary.

I would not send her in / remove her from the remaining papers.
If the school have no staff that can’t be helped,but barring an emergency, they must have known this and should have prepared dd accordingly.
I know it’s hard but really she should be encouraged to wear the ear defenders if needed also.

I very much encourage it. As does school and wider family. DD hates acknowledging her diagnosis and getting her to
accept movement breaks has taken the best part of
two years. Hence the plan for partitions. It was also outlined as a way to remove visual distractions for her.

She would be very upset if I withdrew her tomorrow. Not following the rules or being like everyone else.