in year transfer/probable second appeal

[foreverton]

Hi, some of you may recall my thread from a few weeks ago saying ds,12 and in year 7 is being bullied.

The school have isolated ds at lunchtime( when the majority of the bullying was happening) and are allowing him to leave school early to avoid any "situations"

There has been no talk of disciplining the 5/6 boys involved, even the one who posted pics of ds on social media.

I've come to the firm conclusion that the school are not doing enough to safeguard and are masking their bullying issues, ds isn't the only one and these are two separate groups.

I've managed to speak to the school education welfare officer from the LA who has been very helpful and she's got back to me and said the school are willing to support us in our request for last years appeal school.

She said the SENCO will word it so that it gives ds the best possible chance.

I went to see our parish priest who knows ds well and was his primary school priest too and he wrote a letter of support naming the appeal school and said ds will benefit from a Catholic education/pastoral support as he was used to at primary. Ds has ASD and anxiety and was recently diagnosed with IBS.

What else can I do? The ed psych involved last year has left, He's not due to see his ASD doctor for a few months but has this week been referred to CAHMS via our GP.

The current school is affecting his self esteem/health/anxiety/sleep.
I'm reluctant to keep him there at all but feel if I keep him home he will not want to go to any school.

Any ideas how I can maximise our chances, appeal school is full so pretty certain this will be another appeal.

Thanks for reading:)

[mariejo]

From your previous posts, I suspect I know the school you are appealing for which is extremely popular and has many appeals both for Y7 and in year. The key thing is to remember it is an appeal for the school so while the importance of moving schools is a factor, your evidence needs to be clear why it is this school not any other. There are many Catholic schools is the area so why not one of those? Why is a mixed rather than boys school so important? What about the schools in your own LA? Are there any other schools which would be better than the current one if not as good as the one appealed for? Would it be out of the frying pan into the fire - ie is it the transition to high school that is causing some of the problems and how will the appealed for school solve them? I would expect the schools case to be vey strong and anything you can do to chip away at it will help.

[foreverton]

Hi mariejo, it probably is the school you're thinking of:) ds was at a catholic primary and had a class full of girls and only a handful of boys so the school and I realised he would be better suited to mixed sex for continuity/consistency reasons if you get me. There are several boys catholic schools in the area but for the above reasons we discounted them. In our LA, there is one mixed sex catholic high school that ds could possibly attend but it's twice as far as his current school and the travelling is a major issue with his anxiety. He went to this school on his own and seemed to settle down well and make friends but ended up with two close friends, one has already left due to bullying and the other one is in the same position as ds but for different reasons, ie no sen or weight issues. I feel very strongly that the other school is best suited for him as it provides a similar environment to his primary that he was so used to and comfortable with, for example they said prayers and had religious assemblies and current school does not, everything is alien to him. Whether or not we get anywhere with the appeal school, ds will not be remaining in current school. Thanks for your reply

[prh47bridge]

Whilst in theory you are not appealing against the current school this is a situation where you need as much evidence as possible around the current school's failure to deal adequately with bullying. The supporting letters you mention will also help.

Your chances of success depend on the strength of the school's case to refuse admission. If you share that when you get a copy you will get help with looking for the weak points. But you should also think about a plan B - what will you do if this appeal fails.

[foreverton]

Thanks as always prh! Luckily my brother kept everything from last year so we will also build on that from our perspective . There is one other school I'm looking at that does in fact have places so that will be our fall back.

[foreverton]

Just to update, the school sent home the back page of the in year transfer form for me to sign, I sent it back with ds and the letter from the priest.

Spoke to the education welfare officer for current school who said she believes the form will be sent (electronically) on Monday and the school have 20 school days to respond.

We break for Easter here on Thursday so technically we may not hear until May.
Have contacted everyone I can think of to help, ASD doctor has slotted us in earlier than our appt in June, her Secretary remembered our situation from last year and was very helpful.

EWO asked if the police have been involved over the cyber bullying which they havent, she was surprised at that.

I have looked at the anti bullying policy and school have not adhered to it at all. Ds is still being isolated at lunch and has again been verbally abused several times this week.

I'm preparing for another appeal. EWO seemed to think there's a chance ds could get a place but I'm being very realistic and think it will be a no.

Other school Said something along the lines of " we look at the individual case and usually it's extenuating circumstances that we take in year "

I can't think of anything else I can do now until we hear back. Any suggestions?
As always, thanks for reading.

[foreverton]

HOY rang me back today and said in year transfer form was sent on Monday.I asked her what information they had included on the form, ie the bullying and she said no, they concentrated on travelling/anxiety issues and ds's need for continuity with Catholic school.

I queried why nothing has been done over the social media issue and she said that unless we have a screenshot to show her then there's nothing she can do. Also implied that because ds didn't tell us at the time then it's too late to deal with it.
Ex dp (ds dad) has tried to access the account but it's private.
Ds is still being isolated at lunchtime and this week has been on "desk duty" helping with admin etc, I only found that out earlier.

I think the school have dealt with this pretty badly, no repercussions for the boys involved or parents called in.
Easier to get rid of the victim I suppose:(

[foreverton]

Ds broke down crying last night, told me everything that's been happening at school, he was hysterical.
I went in his wardrobe and got all of his uniform ( that I'd just ironed!) And threw it all in the bin.
So now he definitely won't be going back after Easter.
We met a school friend of his on the bus back from town the other day who told us that he had gone to HOY to tell her that ds was assaulted in P.E and has been getting bullied.
She said she will "deal with it"
They've known for weeks and done nothing.
I'm relieved that ds has opened up and knows he won't be going back.

Any thoughts/advice?

Thanks:)

[admission]

Whether you want to or not, you do need to involve the school. Your son is registered at the school and if he is absent, then eventually the school and the educational social worker will contact you.
Clearly there has been a lot more going on than you knew and presumably the school. I think the first thing to do is to talk with your son and get as full a story as possible from him and anybody else you can and then get it down in writing as a formal complaint to the school. You need to be telling them that your son is afraid to come back to the school and you need to be getting that message to the educational social worker if you know who that is.
What happens in the future is up to you. You could home educate but probably not applicable, so you need to find another school or work it out with the existing school. But from their reaction so far I do not get the impression that is likely to be very successful.

[prh47bridge]

I agree with Admission that you need to get as much information as possible from your son and making a formal complaint. This school has let your son down badly. If you are not happy with the outcome from your complaint (and, to be honest, I would be surprised if the school is able to redeem itself at this point) I would consider complaining to Ofsted.

Looking at your appeal I would add your complaint and any recent correspondence with the school as evidence. I would also send the HoY an email setting out what was discussed in your phone call. You can then include that and any reply she sends as evidence of the school's complete failure to deal with bullying in any sensible way.

Your case is that your son needs to leave his current school as he is being bullied and, instead of dealing with it, the school is, in effect, penalising him for being bullied. In view of this he needs a different school that will deal effectively with any bullying and provide good pastoral care.

[foreverton]

Thank you both for taking the time to reply.

I've been looking at IPSEA and the NAS for advice.

Just a case of waiting now until we hear back from other school.
Current school goes back on 20th, I will be ringing the education welfare officer, i have her mobile number and she has been very supportive.
Obviously I will have to tell the school I don't intend to send him back.

This just all seems so extreme but I can't see another way, don't want to put ds through any more.
I can't believe this is happening, surely this will be taken seriously now?

[mariejo]

I agree with Admission and PRH that you need evidence of the current school's failure to deal with bullying and to have it in writing. In my experience it is not uncommon to have a 'safe haven' for any pupil to use at lunchtime and breaktimes. These unstructured times are the most difficult for a school to manage and all schools will have some bullying. It is how they deal with it that is important.

Showing that the relationship with the current school has broken down is a strong reason to move schools. I am sure that you can show that the school appealed for does have good pastoral care/reasonable travelling etc but to make the prejudice of your DS not going to the school as high as possible, the panel will need to be clear why other schools cant provide this or near it. In particular, discounting all single sex school without looking at them in detail (in particular the pastoral care) would be a concern for me as the situation is very different in high schools. Girls can be very unpleasant as they go through the transition to adulthood.I have two DD's, as well as a lot of experience on panels considering cases based on bullying.

If you do not want your DS to go back to the school, do you have a plan for the time before the appeal? It will be some weeks.

Good luck

[Wooddie]

Had two children who found the move to high school very difficult. One was desperately unhappy and the other refused to go to school. Had other children who were fine. Was pretty fortunate with the pastoral care but spent a lot of time at the school making it work - I was working but had to manage to do it.

Your DS sounds like my son. He was happy at a Catholic primary and went on to a mixed Catholic High school. His form group was a nightmare with a lot of low level teasing/bullying/winding up. He was taught with the same (difficult) students in low ability groups. Initially I battled for what was right but in the end decided I couldn't change it and went for what worked. He moved tutor groups, was given some where to go at lunch and break times and had a kindly adult mentor. I knew that buses would be a problem so we had moved to be within walking distance of the school. When my other child refused to go to school, I said that was not an option, but I would go in with her to try to sort it out. We went into school and sat there until I discussed the situation in detail with someone senior and was happy that it would be sorted out. It was better but had more problems in later years.

Both children left school as confident individuals - a real achievement - and I am sure would have found any high school difficult going. They much prefer life after school with groups of people of varying ages.

I hope it works out for you and your son. It was not a good time in my life.

[foreverton]

Thank you mariejo and wooddie:)

This is affecting me very badly. I'm trying to be pro active and do everything I can but my mh is suffering.

Out of curiosity mariejo, how serious do panels take bullying issues?
I don't want to put myself through this again for nothing.

There is another school ( mixed sex but not catholic ) that has a place.
I plan to home educate until I know for sure as I don't want to start ds in another school even with the slim possibility we may win our appeal.

We will get the chance of another appeal won't we?

Thank you all.

[mariejo]

Re a second appeal, you can have an appeal each school year so you can appeal for entry into Year 8. Appellants do not have the right to a second appeal in respect of the same school for the same academic year unless, in exceptional circumstances, the admission authority has accepted a second application from the appellant because of a significant and material change of circumstances of the parent, child or school but still refused admission( Section 5.1 of appeals code). In my experience it is the school (as the admission authority) which will decide if there are exceptional circumstances.

Re consideration of bullying by panels. In my experience, it is frequently raised as an issue in mid year applications. The panel has to look for corroborating evidence eg that the issue has been raised with the current school and what has been put in place, any medical evidence (eg a referral to Child Mental Health Service), any evidence of actual bullying - have seen screenshots, texts and photos of injuries for example.

It can be clear that the situation is such that the child can't stay at the school but if there are a number of other schools that are accessible then the panel needs to be convinced that the school appealed for has what is needed. Exploring other options and being able to articulate why the chosen school is the best fit can help significantly. In the end it is the balance of prejudice so if the schools case is strong you need more to be successful.

Please take care of yourself. It may well be you will have a difficult few years whichever school you DS goes to.

[foreverton]

Thank you mariejo:)

The last time I spoke to HOY I asked her what the process was after they sent the form, she told me I should hear directly from the school itself, given as its not governed by the LA.
Does that sound right in your experience?
I wish I had seen the form but was only given the back page to sign and that's all there was on the page.
With the Easter holidays, this could take some time, I am completely prepared for a "no", school is full and took 8 at last year's appeal.

Again, thank you for your reply, I'm calming down a little bit:)

[mariejo]

In year applications don't need to be coordinated by the Local Authority but many still are doing them. Some have agreed arrangements with the schools. If I am right in reading your posts, both the school your DS is attending and the one you want are in the same Local Authority but not the one you live in. I would google in year transfers plus the name of the LA and that will tell you how the system works in the LA. I think you will find it helpful as many within LA transfers have a lot of information going to the school applied for.

[foreverton]

Yes you're right, both schools are in L and we live in K, that should make sense!
I just don't know who I'm going to hear from.

It's been hard as my LA were unable to help much as both schools are in the other LA and the other LA firstly directed us back to home LA as we're not their resident.
It all became clear that the LA where both schools are were the ones to advise.
If all else fails then the other school we've looked at but would not necessarily choose normally is in our borough and I have their in year transfer form already.
Sorry to sound stupid but from your other post I'm unsure as to whether or not we will have the right to appeal once the school have informed us of their decision or would we have to wait until he's in year 8?
I really don't want him to go back to the original school.
Thank you, you've been a godsend.

[prh47bridge]

If you have appealed for a place in Y7 in this school before you will not get another appeal until Y8 unless there has been a significant change of circumstances. If you have only appealed for other schools you can still appeal for this school.

[foreverton]

Thanks prh, that's what I thought.
This is last years appeal school.
However, under the circumstances, we may be given an appeal or we may not, it depends on whether or not they deem our situation to have changed significantly, which it has.
Oh well, just got to wait.
(This time next week I will be waiting for dd's primary application e-mail, hope to God that one is ok:) )