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Transparency of information in schools

EllenMS

My 13 year-old daughter currently attends mainstream school; she is in Year 8.  Following sleepless nights I argued for a follow-up EP assessment; her last one being in 2004.  According to her school, she was making good progress in most areas with 2 years of data indicating an increase in levels in all areas.  However, following her recent EP assessment, the levels given to us by the school have been blown out of the water by the EP report - the school has inflated her levels by two whole levels. In laymans terms, her English score on paper was a 3a - in reality, she is 1a/2c; the equivalent of a child aged 6 - 7 yrs.  I was incensed at this information and the seemingly incompetence of her school to notify me of any concerns, and depsite her statement, the systematic faliure of any of her teachers alerting me to any serious issues with her learning.  I am now fighting to have her removed from the school immediately having identified a special school sympathetic to her needs.

Have any other parents experienced anything similar with their childs school?

I am keen to hear from anyone in this situation, as there appears to be a systematic lack of transparency and honesty in terms of dealing with parents of students with SEN when it comes to communicating concerns or indeed putting the childs best interests at the heart of the matter; instead it appears to be a system of concentrating on attainment levels so OFSTED are pleased and the league tables are favourable.

  • Hi

    I am in the interesting position of working myself in an outstanding secondary school and have heard of similar practice elsewhere.  The SENCO at my school fights daily for her students needs to be heard.  There is a real sense of nervousness that I see daily in my role as year 6/7 transition co-ordinator and pastoral year head for professionals to put their reputations on the line and speak out when they have serious concerns about a students progess.  I finally obtained my daughters file and there are clearly chunks of information 'missing'.  Her file is not in chronological date order (as it should be) and considering the severity of her situation highlighted since her annual review in Feb - not one single piece of correspondence 'exists' in her file.  There  also appears a reluctance to provide me with the school's complaints procedure, SEN and assessment policies. I can only assume they have something to hide? Perhaps the head of the LEA will be able to influence them...!

    On a more positive note, my daughter is viewing the special school we have identified for her this morning so hopefully we will be able to move her quickly so she can start to grow again emotionally, socially and academically.

    I wish you the best of luck with your daughter. I hope her secondary school experience is a positive one.

  • Hi EllenMS,

    My 9 yr old daughter(soon to be 10), was diagnosed with autism a year ago and it has been her educational needs that have been the most concern to us. Your experience sounds shocking in the least. These league tables for schools are causing more damage to the more vulnerable students and put  pressure on teachers as well, I have heard of a case in my daughters school a few years back where the teacher altered the sats papers.It was quickly brushed under the carpet and the teacher "retired". I have also heard of teachers giving the answers out, as that happened to my son when doing his gcse s and his school is "outstanding" according to ofsed. Another way schools used to alter the  scores is to have the " strugglers" absent on the day of the tests. Its scary, my daughter is due to move up to senior school next year, and we worry that all the excellent work that has been done for her over the last year will be wasted.