Just received a copy of ds's school file

[Claw3]

What would you make of this, first thing i have seen when quickly looking through:-

At Tribunal in May, school only provided 2 IEP's, no targets were met. I then asked school to clarify that ds had met his targets in writing, they then produced an IEP for Feb, 7 months later, which was also not provided at Tribunal in May.

Now on school file, is a copy of the letter i wrote requesting this and a post it note has been stuck to this letter, which has then been photocopied "say that Feb IEP carried over due to changing criteria etc? To cover no IEP in July"

Well its prove that they are not measuring progress and without that how can they say your ds is progressing?

*proof

Sorry Wassup, i got sidetracked flicking through papers, there is nothing at all on his school file to monitor progress.

For example ds is supposed to have 1:1 3 times a week for SALT, shouldnt there be some notes or something of these sessions? All there is a programme from SALT dated a year ago and lots of blank work sheets ie as if ds should have filled them in.

Also social skills group, motor skills group but nothing about these at all.

Lots of comments about me mind you, they seemed more concerned with me than ds!

Best one is from SENCO observing ds's ASD observation through 2 way mirror prior to him starting at his new school and first time i had meet SENCO, where i was asked to interact with ds, while everyone watched "mum is very anxious, but with ds is calm and quiet"

How did she reach the conclusion i was over anxious! (from previous school) and perhaps the fact that i was calm and quiet, might suggest that i am actually calm and quiet and not bloody over anxious

Its standard school defence - anxious mum = child with problems.

Blame game.

However you have every right to be anxious (if you did remotely show you were and they could prove that) as you have a child with additional needs and the school are not showing you how they are meeting those needs.

Whereas the school have no excuses for their complete incompetence and failure to meet the needs of a vunerable child.

Better still someone at the LA who i have never met before or spoken to, made a referal to social services following a statutory assessment panel meeting to "help mum with her anxieties", applying for a statutory assessment = over anxious mum who needs the help of social services

Yes Claw, parental application for statement can sometimes lead to SS referal. In my case it was for disagreeing with professionals. Luckily though SS 'eventually' wrote lots of notes about how great my parenting skills were and that I was simply a pushy parent and should not be given support.

Claw, how are you feeling reading it? I think I warned you it was a double edged sword and you'd have to manage you emotions.

Quite calm actually Star, almost laughable, the 'over anxious' allegations have been flying about since ds's old school, so no surprise. Laughable, as SENCO observes my demeanor as 'calm and quiet' but still concludes 'over anxious'!

Not only is she an expert in OT, SALT, EP etc, she is now qualified to assess my anxiety levels upon our first meeting and conclude, calm and quiet = over anxious

Claw, you know you can ask for any factual inaccuracies to be removed. You can perhaps suggest that since you have not been dx with an anxiety disorder this needs to disappear as it's presence on file can impede you ds from the help he needs.

Oh i will do Star, im just knocking up a letter to CAMHS asking them to comment on my parenting skills.

Out of over a 1000 copies, i have filtered out 7 documents, all the rest was from old school or copies of reports, IEP's etc.

Now i have never seen a 'good' school file or what it should include, but im guessing if ds has social skills group for example 3 times a week, there should be some kind of programme and method to monitor this?

Now claw don't be silly the school probably has 20 other kids with SEN in school to deal with - how dare you expect them to do their job!! After all none of the other parents probably do!

No wonder none of the other parents dare to expect them to do their job, you get reported to social services!

SENCO has already commented on file that i have written to her twice and she doesnt have time to keep sitting down and replying to my letters! Blimey what an effort, replying twice in a year and half, must have really taken it out of her, poor thing

Claw

It's a good job your school doesn't have me as a parent I sent in 21 letters to the school during the 2010/11 year in a attempt to uncover the lies. That's not including emails between the SENCO and myself; usually initiated by her.

Yes, there should be a brief outline in her file of the tasks covered with the SALT. I'd ask if the school has a record of this elsewhere that they have forgotten to give you.

Minx, i was very explicit in what i asked for. They also 'forgot' to include a copy of ds's social skill programme, copy of ASD recommendations, copy of ds's motor skills group programme, copy of ds's learning mentor programme to name a few. I have requested these twice now in writing and specifically by name.

They also 'forgot' to include any of the above in the evidence they presented to Tribunal, despite stating at Tribunal that this was all in place and he had met all the targets.

I think its safe to say now they dont exist! Now all i have to do is work out how best to handle this

That's crap. Sorry missed in the first post that you have already been to tribunal.

Could that give you grounds for appeal?

Have you brought it to the attention of school governors - unlikley they will do anything, but at least it goes up the chain. Makes them aware.

Appeal deadline has passed. I can reapply for SA at the end of this month.

My experience of proving people to be incompetent, is they lie, no matter how far up the chain you go!

Claw, perhaps give SENDIST a call and ask them if you have any grounds for appealing late!?

The thing about a new hearing however, is that you get a new panel. If you appeal, the old panel have to agree to it.

Thanks Star, will do, perhaps the old panel will be a bit more understaning when faced with the no getting away from evidence i now have. The Decision Notice states quite clearly exactly what SENCO said at Tribunal, school have already tried to wriggle out of some of what she said and actually said in writing that this wasnt said and "Tribunal made a mistake"

Claw

I fully agree with you re 'proving people to be incompetent, is they lie, no matter how far up the chain you go!', but the alternative is to allow the information to stop at head level, ie the governors are unlikely to be aware at all.

One of my big mistakes, I feel, was not going sooner to the governors. Instead I let everything build up, by the time I put my complaint in it had got too big to manage. While the GB came down on the side of the school, I do believe I managed to discredit the head somewhat.

At the moment your complaint is manageable and you can break it down.

School have no evidence of attainment/progression for SALT, motor/social skills group - linked to Aims and Ethos Policy. Curriculum Policy if they have one.

Lack of IEP's, progression mapping etc linked to SEN Cop, Schools SEN policy, also Aims and Ethos Policy.

If your school told the tribunal they have this info then the GB should ensure the school actually have this, or look into why they say one thing then do another.

Your school are now saying Tribunal made a mistake, did they attempt to rectify this with the Tribunal at the time?

If you don't have them get hold of your schools policies, always try and link your complaints to their policies. This will also help give you additional evidence if you go to tribunal next time you apply for a statement.

Sorry if I'm teaching you to suck eggs.

Minx, no not teaching me to suck eggs at all, i appreciate any advice.

I am torn between complaining or just applying again for SA at the end of the month. I suppose either way, i will have to prove incompetence.

I have been thinking long and hard about what i want from this, what do i want to achieve.

I want structured programmes put in place for ds and im not sure that proving incompetence and forcing school to do so, is in ds's best interests (although i will resort to this, if i have to)

I have had meeting with PP (being fully aware that what i say will probably be reported back to the LA and school) which is what i wanted to happen, so they are aware, that i am aware, without actually having to accuse them of anything.

I will have a meeting with school and PP and try the 'nice' approach first and of course I want copies of all programmes, outcomes, progress, review dates etc, etc.

If i do not receive the outcome i want, i think i will then just apply for SA again (which i cannot do to the end of the month anyway)

Should add, i havent told PP about the evidence i have found on ds's school file. Just that i had concerns about how progress was being monitored, as i had requested copies of programmes twice and school had failed to provide them.

I have drafted a response to school, but i am hanging onto this for now. It really does prove incompetence and lies, but i am waiting to recieve files on ds that i also requested from PCT and LA before i do anything.

Claw, did you apply for the file under the Education (school records) Regulation Act? Did you address it to the Governors? The GB is responsible for the records and in my experience, because all queries were to the governors, they were handled relatively well.

Also, what I found really useful was to ask for an informal meeting with the school governors. Could you ask for one? You explain why your concerns. After that, with relevant e-mails, I used to cc them in and got quite reasonable replies from HT and Senco ( I used to sometimes get dismissive replies or non at all.)