I feel sick. I'm on my way to

[StarlightMcKenzie]

pick up ds' school file. Yes they have used some delaying tactics for the solicitor to edit it found it, and now I am about to get it.

Just a normal day in a SN mum's life of course but it still makes me stressed about what I might find.

Good luck xxxxx

I sympathise - had to do the same with my Gp's records the other day. The only suprise for me was how slack their record keeping is. Hope you don't find same.

Slack record keeping would be good actually, detailed fabricated progress reports would not be.

I should be at the school now really but I'm in a posh cafe drinking ginger tea trying to get rid of the sick feeling ( which is probably a bit of morning sickness thrown in).

I got my DS' file when he was in Secondary and it was awful seeing exactly what he had said (and written) in relation to various incidents, and what he had done. Somehow those letters that say "your child is being excluded/put in isolation etc because of violence towards another pupil/ swearing at a member of staff etc" don't convey the full horror.
They do tippex out all the names of other students so some of the editing will have been justified I assume.
My favourite bit was where some hardpressed teacher had written "I need a fag" and they had forgotten to delete that bit!
I hope yours isn't as traumatic.
Good luck.

My favourite bit was where some hardpressed teacher had written "I need a fag" and they had forgotten to delete that bit!

Love it!!!

Starlight good luck!

Good luck star this is the moment you were waiting LONG time for :)

Hope that ginger tea did the trick, you can do this we are all behind you x

I feel for you i think i did that i wouldprobably give up

Good luck Star, thinking of you x

Good luck - remember they are at fault. You are doing what you have too!

Thank. Collected and read.

Don't know whether to be relieved or furious tbh. It is a pretty empty vessel. All those wonderful things they told the tribunal they would do with him, social groups etc do not appear anywhere in his records. Just his EYFS learning journal and correspondence with me.

Can't see any evidence of differentiation or work particularly addressed to his needs or difficulties.

As I said, don't know whether to cry for a week or open a bottle!

Bit of both I would say. Cry that the school couldnt be bothered to help and told a pack of lies. And open the bottle because you finally got the file and it surely would be obvious to a tribunal now that the school have been lax at everything x

None of his home-school book was there.

Need to get into old school I think and demand they also send me all.

You wouldn't expect evidence of differentiation in his school record, would you?

That would be in the teachers plans, which you can't get.

I think a school record mainly contains formal correspondence, and formal end of year levels.

Have got medical records, next step after Tribunal will be school records requested by myself at end of every academic year so nothing gets "lost" in case I need it for future battles. I'm gonna do it every single year as lessons have been learnt on my part as to how dishonest these people can be. I also quietly photocopy the homeschool book at regular intervals "just in case".

Sorry to crash your thread but tribunal is coming up (1st timer!) & I have a few queries.

1. Why ask senco to speak against me?

After Xmas I return to work and will NOT be available to come and collect if DS melts down as having fought this hard to get THE SCHOOL the support that they need to handle him at school, if I lose I'll consider it SCHOOL'S PROBLEM not mine! (obv I'd come get him for medical emergencies I'm not a total biatch!).

1. EP that's never met DS? Fully expecting a miracle observation to be done 2 days before tribunal that supports lea case.

1. same salt that did his ados and thinks he's NOT autistic is speaking at hearing - bit daft considering her team refused to allow 2nd opinion or tertiary assessment wouldn't you say? she'll have to explain what "social communication with autistic traits means" in plain english to the tribunal at some point. Will be interesting as noone else (inc SW's etc) has understood it.

Trying to work out what the LEA "strategy" is and coming up short.

To me it all seems bog standard, it's not a residential, private school, mega expensive or aba request that will cost a fortune iykwim. I'm going for adequate not gold standard. Is asking these people to do their jobs really such a challenge that they have to fight so hard to avoid doing the flipping obvious?

The senco bit has got me worried that the school are just being nice till after tribunal and if I lose poor DS will be treated like shite again as per the norm for his previous schools. That would destroy me & him as he's really made progress and been so much happier this last half term. Please tell me I'm not paranoid. The whole "fight the system for basic human rights like an education" is the part of DS's disability that really upsets me. It's more disabling than his actual disabilities iykwim.

My last query is how enforceable is it if you win tribunal - what happens if they don't implement the tribunal instructions. Is there any comeback?

Indigo, so where would the evidence of his social skills group attendance and progress be recorded?

Where would the work specified in his IEPs be recorded?

The Senco probably won't be speaking against you, more likely selling her school as a fab place with massive experience.

EPs that have never met your child is pretty shockingly normal. Again, the sell their provision for children like your ds. They praise the school and tell the tribunal that provision is great.

If something is ordered by tribunal but not delivered you go to judicial review.

Would social skills attendance and especially progress be recorded in SALT notes? Is the SALT responsible for setting these targets? Progress (or lack of) may be in the NHS notes. If you ask for the NHS salt notes you will have covered ALL bases so it's worth a shot. If they aren't there then you've shut off one line of defence iyswim.

Star - There's NOTHING in my arguments that criticises current school, as compared to the last it's like night and day. LEA know this. Is she just there to waste tribunal time so there isn't enough time left to listen to "my" side? Not like her time couldn't be used more productively in school for the kids is it?

I've seen almost everything in DS2's school records as they give me copies of literally everything. (which reminds me, we should be due for an IEP review soon, will have to look back and check when last one was )

Now my son's MEDICAL records are another story. I'm sure they have me listed as a paranoid mum that is worried about everything. I probably am. I've gotten a few raised eyebrows because I tend to ask a lot of questions when speaking to the doctors. But I really don't see why people act so surprised by that... ?

The school told the tribunal that THEY were going to do it. They said s lot of things that I have seen no evidence of.

The thing is I don't believe altogether that they didn't do them, only that whatever it is they have done has had no marked improvement for ds. But with no records how can they say a)they did it and b) it has worked?

Aaah well some of the lies my current lea are telling (DS's issues only noticed late 2010) are clearly refuted by GP records that show MUCH earlier dates for referrals lol! GP's talk to schools ya know and then log the letters/calls.

Think "team AGAINST the child" and then track down ALL records from the beginning of time from as many sources as you can think of for everything. I'm wishing I'd thought to do this 18 months ago, as some of the crap I've gathered has missed this tribunal deadline and would have been well handy. but hey ho another bitter lesson learned.

These people have meetings about you, you'll never hear about where they cross reference things to invent their tall stories. All you doing is saying "right back at ya!"

Starlight - I could be wrong (need someone who works in a school to come on and clarify :) ) - but I honestly don't think attending a social group would or should be in his school record.

We got a letter confirming that DS would be attending a social skills group Star that we had to sign and return to confirm that we were happy for this to happen (erm, yes! that's what we have been asking for). Also they keep a 1 page sheet in the front of his file that has all interventions that they have been doing each term with him. We don't have an IEP (long story) so don't know about that but yes I would expect it to be in his file or for the teacher to be able to provide it.