Requesting educational records

[sugarcandymountain]

I've made two previous requests for DS's educational records by letter, but both of them have been ignored. I think I copied a model letter from a website which said they had 15 days to respond. I made the last request back at the end of August (and it's taken me until now to chase it up). But the school have basically ignored it. If they don't respond, what am I supposed to do? DS is still attending the school so I don't want to get too confrontational.

I sent the first letter to the headteacher, but then read somewhere that it should have gone to the Governors, so I wrote again to them (this time by registered post). I'm still not sure (from Googling) whether it ought to go to the head or the Governors, but you'd think they'd pass it on to the correct people!

Have had lots of trouble with DS in school as he's had numerous exclusions before getting statemented. The school have never done things 'by the book' (unofficial exclusions, not notifying me about incidents etc) and I suspect they have a lot to hide.

An official letter stating that you are entitiled to see them under the freedom of information act addressed to the chair of governors and you could always type on the letter that there is a cc going to your local MP. otherwise you could contact your local officer at the LEA who will have all copies of the statement and review papers. If its something else you wanted to see, the LEA officer request might produce a faster response.

you can complain to lea or Information Commissioner, but I would start with saying your data access request remains outstanding and you require the information within say 7 or 14 days

Thanks, I think I will call the LEA to check exactly who to address it to and then send another letter.

Did you send any money in with your request? School do and can, in some circumstances, charge for the photocopying. I never got a response from the school until the day they were doing the photocopying. School have 40 days in which to comply.

I also wrote to the LEA and requested that they send me all the data that they held on my child too. Again, you have to pay a fee.

You will be amazed, when you compare one file to another, how many pieces of VITAL communications are missing. It is great fun to then ask one or other of them for these missing documents!

This is the letter I used last year when requesting school records - make sure it is headed "request for information under the data protection act". Not sure where you got your 15 days from as they are supposed to have "reasonable" time in which to do this, hence the 40 days.

Dear Headmaster

Ref: Request for Information under the Data Protection Act

I would be grateful if you would provide me with a copy of all information held on my son xxxxx dob xx/xx/xx of the above address.

In particular I would be grateful if you would provide me with a copy of all information held which should include all notes, e-mails, records of conversations, telephone notes and office notes & memos plus all formal reports, assessments and letters and notes sent or received.

I confirm that I am acting on behalf of my son in this matter and assume that you do not need proof of identity or address, but would be happy to present anything you require, in person, to the school office. I also include a cheque in the value of £10.00 for this service made payable to xxx School.

I would appreciate this information as soon as possible but in any case within the maximum period of 40 days from the date of this letter.

Yours sincerely

You need to send it to the director of education of your LA, rather than the school. Try that - it's what I did and I got ours no problem.

This is the one I used when requesting info from my LEA. Make sure you address it to the Data Protection Officer. If you google your own county, you should find that info out and they may possibly have data protection forms on their website - mine did.

Dear Mrs xxx

Ref: Request for Information under the Data Protection Act

I would be grateful if you would provide me with a copy of all information held on my son xxxx dob xx/xx/xx of the above address. This should include all notes, e-mails, records of conversations, telephone notes and office notes plus all formal reports, assessments and notes sent or received.

I confirm that I am acting on behalf of my son in this matter and enclose proof of address by way of a copy of my driving licence ? if you need other proof, I would be happy to present it. I also include a cheque in the value of £10.00 for this service made payable to xxx County Council and my completed data protection request form.

I believe that the 40 days applies from your receipt of this letter and look forward to receiving the information requested.

If you child is of senior school age, they will write to you to tell you to obtain your child's WRITTEN permission to see their file. They treat children's privacy very seriously.

Yes you have to say that you are requesting under the DPA.

Thanks for the replies. ACE definitely say that it's 15 days on their website so I'm sticking to that. I've called the LEA who said I need to ask the school, and the school who said that the letter needs to go to the head, but the receptionist sounded a bit baffled tbh and I doubt many other parents have made the request before. I'm just going to write another letter and mention the information commissioner for now, and then get in touch with the IC if they ignore me again.

Hi
We had similiar problems, it took 6 attempts to obtain full records. After 3 requests the school sent partal of our childs educational records quote from the head "examples of some of his IEPs". We didnt get anywhere until we started quoting the Educational Act "they have 15 working days after the written request" and coping in the LEA etc.

I do think it is a good idea make it clear what information you expect as candlewax suggested. Dont be surprised if they dont have all this information recorded. If general practice is poor, then probably their written records are also poor. We discovered that our child had been assessed by an outside agency without our consent or knowledge.

We didnt offer any payment and no payment was requested.

Good luck

Hi just come across this thread. I too have requested my DC school records it did take over a month to eventually get them. Very disapointed in what I have as there is lots missing, I have copies of IEP's sent home and they don't have any record of them. Also I have yrs missing and their response is that the school amalgamated and that they only have to keep them for a period of time. ALso lots of things had been recorded on a computer system and when they had a change over lots of things got erased.

I'm not sure what my next step is?

Hi sazZ73. The problem is poor record keeping and if the records are of a poor quality them their practice is also likely to be poor. Have a look in the SEN Code of practice it has a section about the school maintaining appropriate records / IEPS. The school should be working within the SEN Code of Practice. I am unsure why a lot of data could have been lost, as most systems have a back up system to retrieve information.