Formal School Complaint - AIBU

Again nonsense. Just because they are still in school doesn't mean they haven't been sanctioned. Food throwing is at a significantly lower level than defiance to multiple members of staff so clearly the sanctions applied will be different.

The OP knows for a fact that the other pupils are still allowed in school during study leave. This is very important in the context of illegal treatment under the Equalities Act.

Punishment for the bullying/food throwing is irrelevant and I agree that OP has no right to know about this.

Actually I believe the law on suspensions is still entirely relevant here even though the school aren’t calling it a suspension. The DfE suspension and Permanent Exclusion Guidance (2023) is clear that informal exclusions or “sending pupils home” are unlawful.

Other Year 11s are still allowed in school. So there is a discrepancy in the treatment. The OPs child has been sent home because of defiant behaviour caused by his SEN.

It therefore falls under Section 15 (less favourable treatment) and Section 19 (indirect discrimination) of the Equalities Act. It is illegal.

Whether the OP can be bothered to argue with the school at this late stage in the game is another matter. Personally I would because I believe school leaders should be aware of, and follow the law. However, I do agree that the benefits of pursuing it for the OPs son are likely negligible at this point in time given there are only a couple of weeks left.

Your son did nothing wrong. It’s not wrong to defend yourself against bullying behaviour.

I’d be very clear that you feel he is being treated less favourably because of his disability and you will have no hesitation to appeal to the SEND tribunal on grounds of alleged disability discrimination if they don’t have a rethink, that will get the cogs moving.

Who has said the food throwing went unpunished?? Schools will not share details of other students with anyone other than their parents so unless they happen to post on here we have no idea about what sanctions were applied to them.

Who has said the food throwing went unpunished?? Schools will not share details of other students with anyone other than their parents so unless they happen to post on here we have no idea about what sanctions were applied to them.

In an SEN school then yes maybe teachers have the capacity and time to allow students to be defiant in front of their peers. But in any mainstream school you simply cannot allow defiance to go unpunished - it would lead to anarchy.

In this case he HASN'T been suspended - he's just been told to attend for exams only, which is at the schools discretion at this point in the school year with just over a week of exams left. Very few actual lessons are taking place and students are just revising in school.

In an SEN school then yes maybe teachers have the capacity and time to allow students to be defiant in front of their peers. But in any mainstream school you simply cannot allow defiance to go unpunished - it would lead to anarchy.

In this case he HASN'T been suspended - he's just been told to attend for exams only, which is at the schools discretion at this point in the school year with just over a week of exams left. Very few actual lessons are taking place and students are just revising in school.

Why the staff acted the way they did in the heat of the moment is not really the issue to me. We’re all human and it’s hard to make the right decision every single time especially when under pressure, and when faced with an autistic child in fight, flight, freeze or fawn mode.

The issue is the subsequent “punishment” which I do believe is disproportionate to the offence of “defiance” in the circumstances. The fact that the other pupils appeared to receive no punishment also seems unfair.

I also have a major issue with the reaction of the autistic child being described by many teachers on this thread as “defiance that requires punishment”. It just shows a complete lack of understanding of the autistic brain. The child would not have been capable of following the instructions in this conflict scenario after a particularly horrible and distressing bullying attack on them, and in fact, like a PP said, it is highly likely that they wouldn’t have even heard or processed the instructions properly.

If this was my child, I wouldn’t actually be too annoyed about the actual handling of the incident (I don’t agree with it but I have empathy for heat of moment and decision making under pressure) but I would be fuming at the under the carpet illegal suspension.

What should have happened here is a full debrief of why the child became “defiant” and whether it was because of their SEN. Then leadership should have implemented reasonable adjustments to ensure it didn’t happen again. Simply removing the SEN child to ensure it doesn’t happen again is illegal.

The OP is absolutely right to be upset and to take this further.

They never used the word suspension. They just said he’s not allowed in school
other than to sit an exam.

I hope your son is okay.
Gently - the complaint won't achieve anything. He hasn't actually been suspended. Schools aren't obligated to allow Y11 to attend at this stage - many schools are on study leave.
In an ideal world, all of the staff should read and know what a pupil's EHCP and pupil profile says, alongside strategies effective for them. But in a mainstream secondary, there will be circa 30-40 EHCPs, and another 150ish pupil profiles. I'm not saying it's right, because it's not, but I can't see you getting a positive outcome in this circumstance.
I hope your son can use the time to revise and get some good GCSEs so that he can go on to the courses he's interested in next year :)

From a legal perspective it is illegal to suspend or permanently exclude a pupil where their behaviours causing the suspension or exclusion were as a result of unmet SEN needs. I would say it sounds like this is the case for your son.

The school will need to prove that they have made all possible reasonable adjustments before they can suspend or exclude a SEN pupil.

If the behaviour arose because the school failed to meet SEN needs, then it is more likely that exclusion may amount to unlawful disability discrimination. The school must be able to evidence that all reasonable adjustments have been identified and attempted and that the behaviour still presented serious issues that could not be managed with support.

Based on this incident alone, I’d say the school is on very shaky ground. It sounds very clearly to me like this was a one off incident where other pupils and school staff antagonised your son and no reasonable adjustments were made for his SEN needs.

If the suspension is for more than 6 days, you can request a Governor panel meeting. I would recommend doing so. I would then explain to the Governors that I am concerned the suspension is unlawful because the behaviour that caused it was as a result on unmet SEN needs. If they understand the law, they will shit themselves.

FYI - I’m an ASD parent myself but know the above because I have been a Governor at a secondary school (not one my child attends) since 2018 and have sat on many suspension/exclusion panels. Whenever a child has SEN, it means we really need to be confident that the behaviour causing the suspension/exclusion is unrelated to unmet SEN needs.

Hope this helps and good luck!

I hope your son is okay.
Gently - the complaint won't achieve anything. He hasn't actually been suspended. Schools aren't obligated to allow Y11 to attend at this stage - many schools are on study leave.
In an ideal world, all of the staff should read and know what a pupil's EHCP and pupil profile says, alongside strategies effective for them. But in a mainstream secondary, there will be circa 30-40 EHCPs, and another 150ish pupil profiles. I'm not saying it's right, because it's not, but I can't see you getting a positive outcome in this circumstance.
I hope your son can use the time to revise and get some good GCSEs so that he can go on to the courses he's interested in next year :)

NC

Yesterday, I finally submitted a formal
complaint to my DS secondary school.

It has been a long time coming, but I’m having a major panic that I’ve done the wrong thing and they will treat my younger DS differently.

AIBU to have complained?

I won’t go into all the background details as it’s too long, but the catalyst for finally raising a formal is as follows:

DS Year 11, in the midst of his GCSE’s, has an EHCP and a Pupil Profile. ASD Diagnosis.

School phoned me and said:

At lunchtime, two boys were throwing food at him, he told them to fuck off, he was asked to leave the lunch hall, he refused. He explained to the teacher that he would not leave as he hadn’t done anything wrong and food was being thrown at him. This then escalated to three teachers within his space, who were asking him to leave. He was still refusing. He has been suspended for disruption and is not allowed to return to school unless to sit an exam.

The two boys, who were throwing food and their entourage, who were laughing, have received no punishment.

His EHCP and Pupil Profile states that he will not manage public confrontation with strategies on how to manage such events.

AIBU to have raised a complaint on the grounds that his EHCP and Pupil Profile were not followed, that he has been punished when the other students have not and that he is now missing vital support sessions during his GCSE’s?

I don't think I have anywhere said she's wrong to question it. I've posted possible scenarios for why the staff acted the way they did.

I'm not pretending to know the law. I'm explaining why sometimes a child has to follow an instruction. 30% of students where I work in have SEN. We couldn't have that many students refusing to follow instructions. Otoh the escalation wouldn't have happened where I work.

It sounds like he's been put on study leave rather than a documented suspension.

Yes but if that’s the case - it’s not kind to be confidently telling an upset parent that they are wrong to question the suspension,

If you don’t know the law, don’t pretend you do and essentially kick someone when they’re down.

Also - this is not law relating to an EHCP. This is the Equalities Act. A SEN child doesn’t need an EHCP to have full protection against suspension or exclusion if their “bad” behaviour is because of their SEN

I’m pretty sure most NT adults having food thrown at them whilst trying to eat their lunch would use choice words at the perpetrators and refuse to leave an establishment if similar happened to them.

Expecting an autistic child with an EHCP to ignore having food thrown at him and to just leave and go hungry when he has endured bullying, a physical assault and a big injustice is ridiculous.

I don't think you're being unreasonable to be angry about how this was handled by the staff involved but what do you want to achieve with the formal complaint? The tine it takes to process the complaint means that it is unlikely to be concluded by the time the GCSEs are finished. I'm also surprised that any yr 11s are not on exam leave by this point so how much school is he actually missing? I get that you want to vent but the effort involved for all concerned is disproportionate to the outcomes you can expect here. I assume your SENDCO is ineffective or surely you would have phoned them as a first response.

There are no gaps in the CPD offered in my school. We complete regular “check ins” with staff and training is one of our standard questions. Whenever a concern is raised about CPD or lack of knowledge, we find room in the budget to address it.

FYI that we also ask about staff wellbeing in these check ins and try to support with any issues flagged there too.

I maintain that there is a worrying gap in knowledge with all the teachers jumping on this thread telling the OP that she is wrong to challenge this suspension (she is not - the law has not been followed here), and even worse, that her child should be punished for his “defiance” with no thought given to the reason why there is defiance (his autism which is a protected characteristic whether people like it or not).

I’m pleased to say that every CPOMs record I’ve read for an exclusion panel in my school has significant detail on the “why” of each behaviour logged, particularly in SEN children. Then a reasonable adjustment is attempted to reduce the likelihood of this happening again before suspension or exclusion is even considered.

Dont get me wrong - I’m not teacher bashing. I think it’s an incredibly difficult job and schools are severely underfunded. However, I am bashing people on this thread who are spouting unkind and untrue shit at an upset mum and justifying it by saying they’re a teacher so they know…..

Yeah I’d tell them to fuck off, but I’d expect to get in some form of trouble if the police asked me to leave the area to de-escalate the situation and I repeatedly refused.