Parent's right to information from school

[cflops]

Does anyone know what rights I have to information/communication from my son's primary school?

Two incidents recently have concerned me.
1 - He's recently been identified as having some special needs. He was put into a special group on a Friday afternoon for improving social skills. But we weren't informed about this.
2- There was an behaviour incident that resulted in several boys including my son going to the headteachers office. A letter was sent home to us briefly explaining what had happened. I've since spoken to the parents of two of the other boys involved. They are disputing the schools version of events and making a complaint. While I think these parents are making a bit of a fuss about nothing, I still wanted to get some more information from the school about what happened so I emailed asking for more information and was totally rebuffed. They said that the incident was closed and they don't need to speak to me about it.

I really don't want to make a fuss and make enemies of people I need to work with on my son's IEP but the outright dismissal of me and any need I might have for information about my own child is making me absolutely furious. Does anyone have any thoughts?

[inthename]

Make an appointment to see the headteacher and state exactly what you have said here.
Its not acceptable for them to do this.
The social skills group should have been notified to you, even if it was after the group due to timings and updated your ds IEP accordingly.
As far as the other incident is concerned, my ds school would have said they couldn't discuss it over the phone or by email but would have offered a face to face meeting.
Even my ex husband has the right to information from school about our son!
Speak to the school and list your concerns about communication in writing.

[DeWe]

1. What special needs has he got? Is it relevant to the group he's in?They often put some children who are good at social skills to model the social skills, so it isn't necessarily aimed at him.
   

It's more slight extra help. Sort of thing the teacher might mention at parents' evening if it was at the right time, but not a big thing.
I wouldn't expect to be told for that sort of thing unless outside help was coming in. I know 2 of mine have been involved in little groups like that, and I've known because they've told me.

1. I'm not sure exactly what you want here. You've had a letter explaining what had happened.
   

If people are making a complaint, then their hands may be tied in discussing it until the complaint is looked at anyway. If you needed to know more about your ds (they can't discuss any other dc) then much better to nip in and ask the teacher involved specific questions than emailing.

[cansu]

The school will do all kinds of groups and activities to help meet your dc special needs. This is a good thing and is part and parcel of normal school life so that is probably why they didnt make a big thing out of it.

The incident was dealt with. Why should you need more info? You seem to have jumped on the coat tails of the parents making a fuss. Honestly again schools deal with these kinds of incidents regularly. they informed you of the problem and the sanction. I dont really know what else you want. Save your ire for the important stuff.

[JodieGarberJacob]

If your child's version matched the school's version then I don't see that any more information is necessary.

[cflops]

Thanks for your thoughts. I've decided not to take it any further this time.
I'm not objecting to the special needs group at all, I think it's great. I just would have liked to have been told about it! My son is not very communicative about school which is part of the problem. I don't get much information about things that have happened in school from him and the school are aware of this.
Again with the incident my son doesn't say very much or doesn't realise what is relevant so I'm not sure if I've got the whole story from him. The other parent's seem to be saying their son's versions of events don't match what the school is saying. Rather than jump to conclusions I thought it was best to ask the school for a fuller account. They basically told me to f off. It's not the first time something like this has happened, the headmistress has a very bloody minded attitude and is hostile to parents. It's got alot of parent's backs up understandable. Anyway I've decided there's no point in pursuing it.