First time I've posted here...
I posted last night about deciding whether to keep DD at the school she is at or move her (will copy post below) advice was to leave her where she is, which is what my gut instinct was anyway. Can anyone please advice on what I need to ask the head teacher to be doing now? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Original post......Changed username as outing details. Will try and keep as short as possible without drip feeding! Thanks to anyone who gets to the end!
DD is 7 and has been at very small village school for nearly 3 years now - coming to the end of year 2. Was in a class of 8 in reception, in a Yr1/2 class last year of 18 and then the same class group this year as Yr2/3 with 16. Has had a different teacher each year and all have been NQTs.
I had a few concerns about her progress in reception and asked a few questions but was reassured that they all learn at different paces and she was doing well. End of year report showed she was meeting expectations in all areas.
In Year 1 I got more concerned and raised this with the class teacher who reassured me she was doing fine. I was increasingly concerned and spoke informally to the acting head at the time and again was reassured she was doing fine. End of year report said she was meeting expectations in half of the subjects but working towards in the other half, which included English and maths. Parents evening we were told she was doing really well and there were no concerns. Got the report less than a week before the end of term and teacher was leaving and new head was starting in September so thought it best to leave mentioning it until September.
Spoke to new head in September about my concerns and she said they would look into it but she thought DD was doing ok. After a few weeks I asked again and was told she was doing well and they had a few concerns but nothing major. I asked for an ed. psych. Assessment and head agreed. This was done in January and results came back saying DD was on 5th/6th percentile for processing speed, working memory perceptual reasoning and verbal comprehension. The report was 4 pages long and suggested interventions which would help etc. spoke to class teacher and head after receiving the report and they were surprised at the results. They mentioned the intervention strategies they were going to put in place and that we would all get together fortnightly to see how they were working. After 2 weeks I asked about getting together and head said she would look at diary. I asked again a few days later and she suggested a date the week after, so 4 weeks after first meeting. I was then told that they had tried all the strategies and none of them were working and needed a different assessment. This had to be referred through the GP and was rejected. Since then, nothing seems to have been done. DD has done her SATs and has not done well - head told me to expect that she would get working towards in all areas but in one subject she has actually got pre key stage so is still working at the same level as in reception.
Now to the dilemma....there is a school in a town not too far away and they have space to take DD in September. It is a much bigger school with 600 pupils to the 65 where she currently is. They would be able to work with her in small groups, have a full time senco, more staff for intervention etc, but I think DD would really struggle. When I met the head she told me that while they could offer all this it wouldn't be as soon as she started and they wouldn't be able to throw lots of help at her and she might struggle with it being a bigger school and it might be better to leave her where she was happy and comfortable. DD has almost certainly got ASD among other problems and she would struggle with the change, as well as there being so many more people all the time. She is blissfully happy at the school she is at now and I love it too, but she doesn't seem to be making much progress. The other school are having a transition day this week and have said she could go and then move in September but it feels a bit rushed to me. I'm speaking to the head in the next few days and don't know whether to really push things and push for more assessments and an ehcp and keep her there or move here. The school she is currently at is trying to increase numbers, but assuming they don't grow dramatically, DD is set to be in a class of about 30 with Yrs 4/5/6 in September 2018, so could be an option to keep pushing where she is and then plan to move her at the end of yr3 and take a bit more time over it to hopefully make DD happier. She would be having the same teacher for yr 3 as she has had this year who she really likes.
I have briefly mentioned different schools in a hypothetical way with DD over the weekend to see what her reaction was and she was adamant she liked her school and her friends etc. If I knew it was the right thing, I would move her but I'm not convinced. All I want is for her to be happy, and she is and I think that is the main thing keeping me there.
If you've managed to get to the end, thank you and if anyone has any advice on what to say to the head or if you e been in a similar situation, what did you do and how did it go? Many, many thanks.