Should school contact me or should I contact them?

[OverExpectantParent]

Situation: child with ASD/dyspraxia. The school know from previous years that he is not safe cycling on road and cannot swim. Admittedly not the same class teacher as previous years. Child was withdrawn from previous swimming lessons because the school could not guarantee adequate supervision.

School sends email on Saturday - school trip Monday afternoon, bring bikes, will be biking to local swimming pool and back.

No email or explanation to me about staff ratios, plan for how DC will be kept safe, if his TA is going etc.

Is it on me to call the school and ask arrangements?
Or should the school be contacting me first?

I'm sorry but you do sound a bit of a pain. I have no idea whether your DS could/ should be doing any of the activities, but the obvious step is for you to contact school and say 'this may be tough for him, is there any other arrangement'. Its a bit precious to demand they get in touch first.

@ZebraScarf yes and I also wondered about helmets as well. Some kids might not ride with one normally, what will the school do about that? They can't let them ride without one in those circumstances.

This sounds a very unusual activity as cycling is harder to supervise than walking. Depending on the age I wouldn't have given consent for that myself as you'd want to know they were very well supervised.

Just get in touch asap to start the conversation.

It sounds like you don't trust your son in their care and you are doubting their ability to adequately keep him safe.
Ideally you should be able to presume everything is being taken care of, but realistically, especially given that your son has changed teachers after the last swimming lesson, I would contact the school to remind them about his capabilities.

Is this in the UK? The bank holiday response/other details made me think maybe not?

but the obvious step is for you to contact school and say 'this may be tough for him, is there any other arrangement'. Its a bit precious to demand they get in touch first.
Ok, that's what I wanted to know.

It sounds like you don't trust your son in their care
no, not really.

The bank holiday response
lol didn't realise MN was closed on a bank holiday!!

and I also wondered about helmets as well.
it says helmets are obligatory. I assume those who don't have one borrow from the school, same as bikes. I don't know as we've always cycled as a family so my Dc have the equipment. The pool is too far to walk in school time and buses are irregular during the day.

This whole thing is really strange and I do wonder if you're in the UK? I just can't imagine any school here proposing this kind of trip. It's really ambitious to do cycling on the road plus swimming.

Some schools organise cycling training but it's usually provided by an external organisation with trained instructors. I've seen them out on the roads with children in small groups with high vis jackets etc. I don't understand how the school could take a whole class out on bikes when they'll have different ability levels and presumably a large number of children v not huge number of staff.

i would be less worried about swimming - when DC's class does it, they split 30 kids into 3 groups so there are 10 children in the water with 2 adults. So I'd want to check that they have that kind of arrangement but if they do I'd have thought it would be fine (even if your DS needs 1-2-1, the other adult could reasonably manage up to 8 children as long as none of the others have SEND).

How old are the children?

We do get quite a lot of that parent on MN, but I really don't think OP is one of them.

It's completely reasonable for her to expect that the school should ring her to discuss the implications of this trip for her DC.

It sounds like a little village school that H&S (and possibly decent SEND provision) has bypassed. Cycling a whole class into the village for a swim sounds like a trip from the 1950s.

@OverExpectantParent - as you are clearly aware, school should be organising support. Your child’s needs should be clearly laid out on the school’s SEN register and the school should make reasonable adjustments for him. It sounds like you don’t trust them to do that (I empathise; I don’t trust my DS’s school to either. They’re awful). In this particular case, I would email now. Someone is clearly checking/sending emails over the weekend and you need reassurance.

@AAT65 - I’ve reported your horrible post

Having a child with SEND necessitates being ‘that parent’. Because if you aren’t ‘that parent’ then who else will fight for your child with their oh so inconvenient needs for adaptation? Who else will care? You have to go into bat for your child because no one else will, IME. So you are quite right to send a politely worded email asking about arrangements for your child and how their needs are going to be met.

Oh, and describing a teacher as ‘suffering’ a child with additional needs is repugnant, and I am reporting that post.

All these messages suggesting the OP is expecting too much and is ‘that’ parent don’t seem to have much of idea what it is like to be the parent of a child with SEN or school’s responsibilities under the law and COP for children with SEN.

OP - yes they should have contacted you in advance if this isn’t the type of trip your DC has had before/ you’d have discussed with the SENCO or teacher to inform you of the reasonable adjustments for your child. As I’m sure you’ve discovered in lots of schools the reality is they won’t, so you will need to be proactive and contact them to ensure your DC is safe and catered for. I get how frustrating this is and how draining having to constantly be on top of everything, with any provision for SEN children being an afterthought/seen as some kind of favour.

My DS has been removed from swimming twice in his primary school time (he's now in Y5). "We can't keep him safe". He's been refused all trips as well "He'll have a special day at school".
Are they really proposing that 25 children cycle on the road with maybe 2 adults supervising? My DS' Cub leaders are a bit gung ho over H&S but even they only plan cycle path outings.

It sounds like a little village school that H&S (and possibly decent SEND provision) has bypassed. Cycling a whole class into the village for a swim sounds like a trip from the 1950s.
I said this a lot when we first moved! I knew we were moving out to the countryside, but I didn't realise we were time travelling!

It's completely reasonable for her to expect that the school should ring her to discuss the implications of this trip for her DC. Just occasionally would be nice.

I get how frustrating this is and how draining having to constantly be on top of everything, with any provision for SEN children being an afterthought/seen as some kind of favour.
This really sums what I feel right now. It is so frustrating to be made to feel as if I'm begging for a favour. every. single. time.

Sounds like our school! It’s lovely, and there are many advantages. But I have found that I have to chase a fair bit to get DS’s needs met - or at least I did have to initially, they’re doing ok at the moment. But you do have to be on it to make sure things don’t slip.

It is bloody exhausting and you have my sympathy. We have a meeting every term with one of the class teachers and the SENCO to catch up on how things are going and to discuss any changes that may need
to be met - something that I instigated. It really helps with keeping things on track. I’m sure there will be plenty on here rolling their eyes at me and putting me down as ‘that parent’ but so what? I’m there to get my son’s needs met so he can reach his full
potential, just like any parent should want for their child - not to be the teachers favourite Mum at the gates.

I would like to believe that school have everything in hand, and would have phoned you to check their provision for your child, but it sounds like you will have to be the one to phone - just so you can be certain his needs are being met.

The fact they are taking a whole class on a cycle is ringing alarm bells with me as bit everyone will have the same level of experience - eg my kids are great at handling their bikes but have no road experience as we live rurally and the roads aren't safe to cycle on (fast traffic, windy roads). I would be keen to find out how many staff are going to supervise this part in particular.

Unfortunately it all seems a bit last minute and forgetting about your son's needs doesn't seem beyond the realm of possibility.

I would email back with the words someone suggested upthread. Going ahead I think you need to have a meeting with the sendco about how your child is kept safe and is able to access the curriculum and what adjustments can be made to facilitate this.

Also, if my kids' school let me know about this type of trip so last minute it would take massive organising to get the bike to school - bike rackput on car, someone would need to drive him to school and pick up bike again.

1. Is this a UK primary school? I cannot imagine that one teacher would be allowed to take a primary school class of 25 on roads on their bikes to a swimming pool with no lifeguards and one other swimming teacher.

2. If it is a UK primary school, does your child have an EHCP, and has this been updated with a meeting with the class teacher and/or SENDCO this academic year?

If you are in the UK and your child has an up-to-date EHCP, and you have had a meeting with his current class teacher or SENDCO this year, in which you have explicitly discussed and agreed his supervision needs and they know that he cannot swim or safely cycle on the road, then they absolutely should have planned an alternative from the start (and then ideally contacted you).

If you let the school know several years ago, expecially if it was pre-COVID, it would definitely be worth getting in contact and making sure his current class teacher is aware of the situation. The person you spoke to initially may well have moved on, and even if they haven't, things move quickly in schools, and the disruption of COVID has thrown so much up into the air. If you are living somewhere where there is a culture of everyone cycling and swimming then the general assumption might be that while some children might not be able to do it in e.g. Year 3, they will have learnt/improved by Year 5.

I would follow @JanePrentiss's suggestion with @TeenPlusCat 's wording.

I would also ask for extra supervision to be put in place rather than withdrawing my child from an activity. You mention a TA - is that a named TA for your child? If so, are they not supporting in sports lessons?

If your child is still at the same school next year, could you ask for a meeting with the new class teacher at the beginning of the year, so that you and the school can work together effectively to give your child the best possible experience?