Formal School Complaint - AIBU

Yes, yes, that is what I said.... Or not. Sorry but you are the millionth poster to have read words I did not write. How about responding to what people actually write?

These children are being allowed into school where OP's son is not. On any count it doesn't look as if they've been punished proportionately, does it? Surely ganging up on and physically attacking a disabled pupil is infinitely worse than swearing.

So you'd tell your own teens to just sit there and take having food thrown at you while being mocked?

Highly doubt it.

Are you saying it is a school's first duty? What is the source for that?

He can’t have been officially suspended then because if he was then they need to issue you paperwork. Sounds like they’re chancing it to be honest

I've been a teacher for 15 years. Have been a Head of Faculty for half of that time. I can count on one hand the CPD sessions I've had on SEN in that time.

We don't get adequate training on SEN. We don't really get much training on anything, to be honest.

Everything I know about SEN I have learned from working with SEN kids in my classroom, and working out through trial and error how best to support them. Usually with some help from the SENCO, and Google, and advice from colleagues, I muddle through. I've never learnt from an external expert or taken a course or had to pass an exam in SEN provision. Schools are utterly reliant on SENCOs for expertise.

If you’ve read the thread, you’ll have figured out at least a few of the reasons why they weren’t able to just leave the hall in those circumstances. What’s depressing is the lack of understanding of neurodiversity (and SEND in general) on here, particularly from those who appear to be working in education.

You think it doesn't have that duty?

OK, on reflection the first duty is probably safeguarding pupils - another respect in which this school failed.

But KCSIE only covers SEN safeguarding not suspension/exclusion law. Same for ECT.

This is my point. There is a CPD gap here with understanding what sanctions are legal or illegal under the law.

Teachers are on here confidently telling the OP that she’s wrong to complain when the law says that she is not. Please remember that this is a very upset parent and a very upset child. A complaint will simply ensure that the Governors review the decision and decide whether it was correct.

It is the DfE Exclusion Guidelines, the SEND Code of Conduct and the Equality Act that are relevant here not KCSIE or ECT

That is exactly why we have EHCPs: so that pupils with SEND can be given the best help possible to learn to cope with the big world outside. But if schools don't comply with EHCPs, that won't happen. OP's son won't have learnt anything beneficial from this in terms of how to deal with life outside school. If anything, the lesson this school has given all its pupils is that you can get away with bullying vulnerable disabled people.

I don't honestly believe that the law on exclusion makes any real difference to teacher retention rates. Other countries manage fine with exclusion rates way below England's.

These threads are so depressing. Equality act blah, blah, blah. The kid should have just left the hall. Hardly even a punishment. Problem solved. But he escalated it by refusing so has been given an actual punishment. School's can't function if kids can't be sanctioned.

So iv had a child suspended under similar circumstances. Im a bit bemused that suspension hasn't been for a limited period like a couple of days.
Yes he should have left the hall and no he shouldn't have back answered the teacher when he was asked to leave even though he thought he was in the right. My dc exceeds in righteous indignation and caused many issues. What did the staff do when he refused to leave?

It’s actually quite shocking. I’m genuinely surprised. My school has a very high SEN population so perhaps I have unreasonable expectations of what I expect other teachers to know as a result.

I see where you're coming from, but the reality is, the world needs to be educated on how to support people with ASD so that they can successfully take a full part in society and flourish.

It's the 21st century. We have to stop expecting everyone to fit into 19th century models of acceptable behaviour.

I think it's fantastic that we have so much training as teachers in how to support children with ASD. It's helped me hugely and made me so much more understanding of and accommodating towards the adults with ASD in my life.

Workplaces should provide the same support to people with disabilities as the support children with disabilities get in school. We are starting to get somewhere with this in terms of EDI policies and reasonable adjustments etc but there is still a lot of work to be done. Attitudes like yours don't help in this matter. As long as we continue to expect people to fit the mould rather than trying to change the shape of the mould, we will have a world that doesn't work for huge numbers of people. As teachers we should be part of the call for change, not trying to perpetuate the norm.

Is English schools gcse pupils not on study leave already?

This, can imagine op wouldn't be happy the school telling the whole year her sons punishment, so expecting to be told others punishment is a bit skwefiff!

All ITT routes include a lot of SEN training, teachers get yearly KCSIE CPD, and the ECT framework includes SEND. That's just the mandatory stuff. Ime schools have at least one inset day per year on SEND.

Suppose OP's son had been in a wheelchair and the staff punished him for defiance for failing to stand up when told to do so. Would you be saying "rules are rules" then? This situation is no different.

If rules are rules, the law is the law. The school should comply with the Equality Act in applying its rules, and it is failing to do that. What sort of appalling example do you think that sets to its students?

So what happened after his refusals to leave the hall?

No absolutely not. Telling someone to fuck off is never an appropriate or acceptable reaction. Ever.

The trouble is that teachers don't get adequate training on SEND during standard teacher training, and as you say training on SEND subsequently has to compete with training on numerous other subjects. In particular, training on basic SEND law tends to be variable at best and some teachers have a really worrying ignorance about basic legal duties around SEN provision, equality and disability. The attitude displayed on here that discipline policies cannot make exceptions for disability is a classic example of that.

This is the great unknown. What happened to escalate the situation to suspension?

What does the paperwork say OP?