No access to student support in September

[katalex]

Dd (15yrs - currently y10) suffers with major school-related anxiety. She had a breakdown in November and was off school for most of December and one week in January. She then did 6 weeks of half days and 2 weeks of 3/4 days before returning to full time (this was about one week before the schools closed due to lockdown). These 8 weeks were very difficult for her and she only managed to go in because she knew that she could leave lessons and go to student support if it got too much for her. Even then, she cried most mornings and some days she was either still too anxious to go in or she would go in sobbing.

I asked the school to confirm the plans for student support when she goes into year 11 in September and they said that it would not be available because this would mean that bubbles would mix. If she needs support then one of the staff members would come and talk to her in her bubble. If she needs further support then they will escalate upwards. No student will be allowed to complete work elsewhere in the building.

I completely understand that they need to do everything they can to keep everyone safe but this is not enough. Talking to someone will not help. When dd has an anxiety attack, she needs to leave the lesson in order to calm down. I want to discuss this with them on Monday but I was wondering if anyone knows what their school has put in place for students like dd, who need additional support.

Please be gentle with me. This news has really upset me because I know that getting dd back to school in these circumstances is going to horrendous.

[Bobbybobbins]

I work in a large secondary school and we will have our support area open from September but it will limited to students with the most need - I think they have deliberately kept this definition quite broad but I think your DD would be able to access it, for example.

[okiedokieme]

They will be try to work out how to manage your DD's situation and several others the same. Saying initially they will come to her is fair, escalation only if needed. They aren't saying no, they are just changing the system. My dd was rarely in lessons so I do understand

[KoalasandRabbit]

I have a DS with ASD currently in y8 and he is normally allowed to leave lessons when anxious. I'm trying to find out what system is from September but senco is leaving, his tutor is leaving and the school has masses of regulations it now has to follow. What I've been told so far by SLT is he has to stay in his rooms.

He will be in a year bubble which has a set area but there are overlapping bits and from what I can gather no corridor is restricted to just his year. We are being sent further details over summer holidays and his year isn't back for first two days.

I've no idea what happens if he leaves / won't enter a room, which is highly likely as happened a bit last year - maybe they send him home. The impression I get is they are flat out working on the general plan and haven't considered SN yet. The bubbles thing is a bit ridiculous at whole year groups with teacher going between groups and half the kids coming in on shared buses but it's what the instructions are. I'm worried especially as we don't know his tutor, the senco, his timetable, the rules, what happens if he can't cope but the school is overwhelmed at the moment and just having it operating face to face is a big improvement for us.

[katalex]

I will have to find out what they mean by 'escalate the support' but the way it is worded implies that she will not be allowed to leave the teaching area. The exact wording they used is 'Students will not and cannot have direct access to student support as that would mean bubbles would mix.' and 'No student will be allowed to complete work elsewhere in the building as there simply is no capacity to allow this.'

KoalasandRabbit - that sounds really tough. I strongly suspect DD has ASD and I am planning to get her assessed but it sounds like, even if she was diagnosed, they would not be able to accommodate any exceptions. I totally understand how hard it must be for the school to arrange all of this, it just means that they have to cater for the majority and dc like ours are likely to suffer. I fully expect my dd to refuse to go to school if she is not allowed to leave a lesson when she needs to.