Some school advice please

Still follow up with what was said and agreed- you need that paper trail. You never know what you might need for the future, so evidence it now in an email thanking them for their time and support and bullet pointing the agreed points.

After your meeting, follow up with an email so you have a paper trial should you require it as evidence at a later date.

It sounds like you need to request an early review of DS’s EHCP whether you look at a change of placement or not. 1:1 can be provided over lunchtime too. On their website, IPSEA has a model letter you can use.

What other support is DS receiving?

Have you considered independent schools?

At primary 45 mins is typically considered the max recommended travel time. Although many travel further. 1hr15 at secondary.

As PP said (and I said down thread), there are SEN units in mainstream schools where children access mainstream provision with extra support. And can potentially rejoin mainstream at any point (just call an early annual review and name mainstream in Section I). It’s just a slightly windier route to the same destination.

My DS is similar.
Firstly i really hope your son is ok, both physically and emotionally.
This is what I would do;
He needs to be and feel safe in school. Keep him off today. He needs to know you have his back. Spend the time today talking to school and making sure that the kids who did this to your son are being dealt with and ask for details as to how they are going to stop this happening again. That is probably going to be providing him with a 1-1 over social times, unless they have a different solution which you are happy with. Take photos of his injuries. Do not send him back until they are able to provide you with a workable plan for him. If they cannot do this they are unable to safeguard him and he should not be there. They need to accept this and signpost you to people who can help you find a school that will support him, whether that is mainstream or in the SEN sector.
Good luck. I will be thinking of you both 💐

There are SEN schools for academically able children as one of my kids goes to one. They teach the full curriculum in small classes with extra support and therapies like speech and language on site.
There aren't many of these schools but they are out there. Can be hard to get named in an EHCP but can be done.
If it's on the cards I'd look around now as it's much harder the older they get as they all get full

Sorry for what's happening to him

That is the problem. My son is very bright but can't show that on paper. Maybe with a scribe. So for us it was a question of knowing he could continue to love learning and knowing more than all of us but it probably wouldn't translate to amazing exam results. But his mental health and happiness was more important.

I can see that if your son is thriving academically it's a really tough decision.

The bottom line is the school has a duty of care to your son. It failed in this. What are they doing to change it and why shouldn't you take it to the police?

I agree with everyone, take this as high as you can. Bring someone to the meeting with you . Do you have a copy of the schools policy on bullying? He was physically assaulted on school grounds and they are minimising it to protect themselves.

Take photos of injuries.
Report to police, as a log if nothing else. Those student's behaviour is escalating.
Your son needs support at lunch.
You son was left alone for 5 mins before he went to thr SEN room and these student's decided to take matters into their own hands. If your son was annoying another student, then she should speak to an adult. At no point is it okay for anyone in a school environment to push another student.... never mind the rest. They are minimising their behaviour and I would be concerned. Talking about dinosaurs can be annoying... pushing and then kicking is assault.
Have the school given the class talks about different needs, how we should celebrate differences in school, it helps when we have issues in yr7 at the school I work at. In it we talk about famous being who have autism, the challenges they may, their super powers, how wording can matter and what to do if there are any concerns.

I’m a secondary SENDCo, and we currently have a Y11 child in our ASD hub who is going to join mainstream for sixth form. Having specialist provision (albeit within mainstream) has been a complete positive for him, and he’s proof that needs change and it doesn’t have to be forever.

Do not take the heads word.
this is absolutely awful
I would take photos of the injuries
I would put in a complaint if the school has not investigated properly and contact everyone.
children with sen needs are at at greater risk of harm and bullying and this bullying not being addressed has resulted in your child being physically assaulted

you can lodge it as a police matter as this is assault

you should not let them brush it under the carpeT
contact your LA about changing the EHCP

And finally if he left 5 minutes early then he should have still been supervised as it wasn’t officially lunch time?

Please DM if you need help with the complaints process.
I wouldn’t send my child back if it was an option.

It's so important to belong!! I went to this brilliant talk by this autistic adults who said inclusion is the journey, belonging is the destination..I personally feel "inclusion" doesn't work for some SEN kids in mainstream.

Yeh it got harder for my son the older he got. He's.a clever boy, but can't access mainstream.learnimg and socially he was isolated. We went to a local SEN youth group and I saw how much happier he was with other ND kids. It was a real moment of clarity for us. He's a lot happier in specialist and it's made a big difference to the rest of us that his needs are met properly.

This sounds like an appalling situation...your son has been physically assaulted because he was 'annoying' a girl by talking to her? Have the perpetrators been dealt with? School clearly not managing the situation.
Get hold of the school's bullying/behaviour/sen policies and ensure they are being correctly followed.
Take photos of the injuries (was an injury slip completed by the school).
Go to a meeting - ensure notes are made/follow up with an email etc so there is a record of the discussion.
Get a plan in place to support your son going forward.
If not happy escalate to school governors - again there should be information about on school website about filing complaints.
Worst case, consider changing schools.

Op my son didn't have that sort of physical situation, that is completely unacceptable. But he is autistic and was in mainstream until yr 6 when I managed to get him into a specialist school. I wish I'd had the option to do it sooner as mainstream wasn't right for him and he was very isolated.

This is where I would focus attention. If they are trying to suggest he started the situation by 'annoying' the girl, then surely he shouldn't be allowed to be left alone. The school now needs to address this by updating his plan to state when moving around the school an adult needs to be present and that lunchtime is covered. If it is just getting him to another room then that is relatively easy as any adult could step in. If it's covering the TAs lunch, then the school need to look at TA lunches and set a rota. Get the sendco involved on this.

I'd take photos of injuries and have a meeting with the head where you share calmly that you'll be speaking to the police because the schools description is inconsistent with the injuries.

I agree that he needs adult supervision from the SEN room.