Has anyone had to request SAR from their school due to lack of transparency?

[dadmumplus10]

I'm becoming so confused - my son has moved around schools a couple of times and was home educated for a period of 8 months. He is now in state school and has been since middle of year 1. We think possibly twice exceptional/2e profile - we're experiencing hostility from teachers and parents. The school are not being open about his profile, but I know they know. It's a very insular school/local cliquey village and many of the local parents are also TA staff.

I want to request an SAR - is this a good idea or could strain relationships further? Also, I know they could hide stuff if wanted (offence) but they still could.

What does any of this even mean?!

This isn't a term used in education in the UK and it's not a diagnosis, so it wouldn't be recorded.

Does he have a diagnosis of a learning difficulty or neurodiversity? If he does, then you will have passed this information onto the school.

If he is also working above expected ability the school will know this too.

I'm not really sure what you're hoping for them to do/say/record or what your son's needs have to do with the nature of the village.

I’ve made SARs to schools. In our case, it hasn’t ever damaged the relationship. However, I know some schools can be funny about it.

You need to be clear about what the purpose of the SAR is, I think. A SAR isn’t suddenly going to mean an unsupportive school becomes supportive.

A school should not refuse to disclose something just because they don’t want you to know. If you go down the SAR route and know/suspect that happens, you can complain and go to the ICO.

What do you mean by the school not being open about his profile?

Although not a diagnosis, twice exceptional/2e (or DME) is used by some within education in England.

They are not being clear about any need he may have but are instead skirting around it. I asked directly in a meeting 'is he on the sen register?' the response was, 'not unless you want him to be' - what does that mean?? We faced a very unsupportive teacher last year, majorly effected my child's confidence, anxiety, school resistance. I don't know exactly what's going on, but his educational journey has not been easy to navigate and yet his school report is glowing, good behaviour, highly capable etc.,

I feel as his parents we are missing a piece of the puzzle.

we suspect inattentive adhd - he isn't disruptive but struggles with transitions and very spacey at times, but very strong in maths, reading and sport.

I would take that to mean DS isn’t on the SEN registered now, but the school is willing to add him if you want him to be.

If you suspected ADHD, has DS been referred?

I asked the teacher to complete the conners 4, she did and it was done in a highly unusual fast time of 1min 30 secs which was flagged to me.. I got the responses and they were very negative, but were indicating that he does not have any type of adhd..? Although at his previous setting they asked me whether it ran in the family. So confusing!

So DS has been referred for a diagnostic assessment? The school doesn’t diagnose/refuse to diagnose. HCPs should take into account the whole picture when assessing, not just the school’s questionnaires.

Where did you get these from? I assume this is part of a test undertaken by a professional and you have the test results? I don’t think it takes someone very long to complete a Connor’s either. The problem may be they don’t know your child well. Mine has inattentive adhd and it wasn’t until I picked them up and pushed it that they looked and saw it.
Let us know some more. Twice exceptional is a phrase used by many now - but I’d just concentrate on what they struggle with and what they need help with and then also add their strengths…I wouldn’t focus on this as this is often a way of us trying to making any difficulties more ok and gets the schools back up.
A SAR is also quite confrontational and I don’t think will get you anything you want. I can’t really imagine they said “hey they’re not on the Sen register but they can be if you want them to be”? I feel this is your interpretation as you weren’t happy about their reply.

I think you need to consider what you want to know and ask some questions because I'm not sure what a SAR would achieve. I'm also not clear what hostility you've received, based on what you've written here. The comment "not unless you want him to be" isn't great because it is confusing. But not hostile. I think they were trying to say "we don't think he needs to be, but are willing to add him on if you feel it is necessary". As a SENDCo, I've added some borderline cases at parental request.

Here are some suggestions:

• How is my child performing academically?
• Do staff need to provide any extra support for my child?
• I am concerned that my child might have ADHD. I have noticed X, Y, Z. Do you notice anything similar at school? Do you have any similar concerns?