Concerns about school, is this ‘off rolling’

[Secsch]

DD is at a ‘good’ secondary school and was diagnosed with SEN this school year as she has processing difficulties. Since then the school have been very punitive towards her. She has repeatedly been sent to isolation for not doing enough work and she gets targeted by the SMT for uniform checks, masks, equipment and having her coat searched. She ended up being excluded for forgetting an item which wasn’t even in the uniform policy. We’ve since found out the school have put other pupils on the SEN register and are punishing them in the same way, and forcing them to wear a different school uniform to their peers to make them more visible. This is resulting in them being alienated by the others and it’s affecting their self esteem. I couldn’t understand why the school was acting like this then a read an article about off rolling. Although it’s illegal it’s becoming more common practise with schools not wanting pupils on their register who won’t give them the top grades that make their schools look good. The pupils who are being off rolled don’t face very positive futures though. I’m actually really shocked that they can do this and get away with it, it’s destroying young peoples lives! Has anyone else experienced this?

Is this an English state school? How are they getting away with having different uniforms for different pupils?

What have they given you as the explanation for that.

I thought taking children off the roll meant them not being in school rather than being treated differently, is that happeneing too?

This sounds very odd.
Could you arrange a meeting with your child's SENCo or/and Head of year?
A lot of State secondaries want their pupils to get top marks but also want to be known as inclusive.

Steps I would take:

1. Download and read through the SEN code of practice legal document that educational establishments must abide by as part of the law.

1. Request a meeting with the SENDCo to voice your concerns. Have it minuted by an impartial person. Have a SENDIASS representative attend with you.

1. If problems are not resolved, request a meeting with the headteacher and repeat the above. At the same time, complain to the local authority SEN team.

1. If still not resolved, follow the formal complaints procedure for the school and await their response.

1. If still not happy, make a complaint to Ofsted.

I would suggest that what they are doing are breaching the SEN code of practice (law) and also safeguarding laws too.

Are you saying the staff are treating students differently with uniform and sanctions and making school an unpleasant place to be? This - as I understand it - isn’t off-rolling. Or are they asking DD to attend a different provision like an AP for some of the day too?

Yes it is an English state school. Their making the girls wear trousers instead of skirts saying they aren’t wearing the skirts appropriately, this isn’t strictly true though. Many of them have just got taller and aren’t rolling them.

Caulkheaded, yes they are making being at school very unpleasant, they’re piling the pressure on with threats of exclusions. This is why I’m not sure if it’s off rolling, I get the impression they want us to remove her.

We have have had meetings with the school to try to establish what the problems are. They’ve said DD is polite and not badly behaved but she is too needy

Off-rolling is when a student hasn’t attended and is removed from the school roll without any other provision to attend or without following the right avenues to permanently exclude.

In your case, if you do remove your DD due to feeling pressured then it could be looked upon by the DFE as off rolling but it isn’t while she’s still at the school.

Could you speak to the LA for advice OP? Hope things get resolved soon for you and DD

If they're doing this to your child they'll be doing it to others. There should be a Governor with responsibility for SEN issues, you could raise your concerns with them. I would also let Ofsted know too. Good luck OP.

@Secsch

Yes it is an English state school. Their making the girls wear trousers instead of skirts saying they aren’t wearing the skirts appropriately, this isn’t strictly true though. Many of them have just got taller and aren’t rolling them.

So if they got skirts the correct length, they could wear skirts? Or are you saying SEN pupils are being told to never wear skirts so they can be identified quickly?

Crosshatching, yes they are doing it to others as well, all the ones targeted are lower ability. I’ll look into who the SEN governor is, I never thought of that

@Secsch

Crosshatching, yes they are doing it to others as well, all the ones targeted are lower ability. I’ll look into who the SEN governor is, I never thought of that

How do you know that? Are there what you class as higher acheiving girls wearing short skirts without sanction or do they voluntarily wear trousers anyway.

I'm surprised you have access to enough information to link the uniform with the academic status of the pupils, how have you found that out?

Parents of SEN children often know each other and compare experiences and knowledge @IcedOatLatte could be as simple as that.

Michelle, I think they’re focusing on the SEN pupils and what they’re wearing

As pp has just said, you don't have access to the SEN register. How are you finding this out?
You say your daughter was excluded from school for forgetting an item, so what happened at the readmittance meeting?

@crosshatching

Parents of SEN children often know each other and compare experiences and knowledge *@IcedOatLatte* could be as simple as that.

That was also my question. You wouldn't necessarily know who was on the register though, even if your child's friends had needs?.

Well, this sounds very serious, and I'd repeat ops advice to contact ofsted

We’ve since found out the school have put other pupils on the SEN register and are punishing them in the same way, and forcing them to wear a different school uniform to their peers to make them more visible.

Their making the girls wear trousers instead of skirts saying they aren’t wearing the skirts appropriately, this isn’t strictly true though. Many of them have just got taller and aren’t rolling them.

So a group of girls who have been wearing skirts that are too short have been made to wear trousers? If their skirts were consistently the correct length they could wear skirts? I'm not sure what that has to do with SEND.

What reason was given for your daughter's exclusion?.

@crosshatching

Parents of SEN children often know each other and compare experiences and knowledge *@IcedOatLatte* could be as simple as that.

I understand that but it wouldn't give access to how the whole school is being dealt with over the uniform and even if all the SEN girls were being asked how would the OP know what was happening to everyone else.

I assume a regular secondary school must have 100s of SEN pupils, is it feasible that all the parents would be in contact with each other?

@Secsch

Yes it is an English state school. Their making the girls wear trousers instead of skirts saying they aren’t wearing the skirts appropriately, this isn’t strictly true though. Many of them have just got taller and aren’t rolling them.

So they aren’t making pupils with SEN wear different uniforms to make them more visible, they are making all the girls wear trousers if they don’t wear skirts long enough to conform to their policy. That would seem fairly normal, and your conclusion seems ridiculously dramatic.

Where are you getting all this information from? It sounds dodgy.

None of this makes sense. As long as the students with extra needs make progression, the school will be doing well.
We're constantly being checked on inclusion, always asked for evidence.

Is this info coming from the school or your daughter re different uniforms?

I remember telling my parents i had to wear x not y at school re uniform... basically if you rolled the fully pleated skirt up it made your waist look huge, but the one with only the two pleats at the front didn't!

This isn’t off rolling. If they were off rolling, they’d be setting up ‘alternative provision’ or arranging managed moves for those pupils. This is ‘just’ shit practice.

I’d echo a PP’s advice: read up on the SEN code of practice, identify the SENCO and SEN governor, then raise issues with them.

(The skirt thing is a totally different issue; it doesn’t sound discriminatory)

Also, you can't get rid of students now, believe me, permanently moving students is very complicated and difficult. It would be virtually impossible with such a group as you say are being targeted.