Child with SEN had a major meltdown at DC’s school today

[Classroomdisruption]

Child with SEN had a major meltdown at DC’s school today. Last year of primary. Chairs thrown. Tables overturned. A teacher injured as they tried to calm him down.

Class next door to DC. The kid broke away from the teachers and got into the classroom where DC was. Lots of artwork and other things torn off the walls. Equipment thrown. Their teacher told the other children to get under their desks. I asked DC if they can lock the door from the inside, apparently not.

Feel really sorry for the kid who had the meltdown. But the risk of injury is frightening. I anm not overly protective. DC plays a contact sport at a regional level (in Europe, not UK). But this incident crossed the line to violence. Completely messed up a school day.

poor kid who had the meltdown. Poor teachers. Really sad for the other children who were terrified. This is just difficult for everyone.

How did your DC react/feel about the whole thing?

Shocked mainly. Stressed it could happen again. A bit of inappropriate humour about the teachers trying to get control and a kid from their class who tried to join in the chaos. Upset a teacher was hurt.

There is a fairly high proportion of kids with SEN and another group who seem to try to cause them upset and distract the lessons. DC doesn’t join in with this and we have talked about why it is wrong. He helps a kid in his class calm down.

It’s all so wrong isn’t it - mainstream schools are just not set up to deal with the diversity of needs. Everyone’s being failed with this system and nobody seems able to fix it

has there been communication from the school about the incident? I would expect something after a really distressing incident like that which will have impacted on so many other children.

I would expect an outline of the incident and assurance that a robust plan is being implemented right now to prevent this happening again

I work in a SEN school and this is an every day occurance there. Just because we are equipt to deal with it and know it will happen dosnt make it easier for us or the other young people.

It’s extremely upsetting for the poor child involved but sadly this type of incident does not surprise me anymore. It’s a pretty regular occurrence in my school now.

This is the issue @Hiddenhouse
Everyone is being failed. So much lesson time lost. Some kids developing really horrible responses to others with SEN.
The bar for being transferred to a specialist school is very high where we are (hope I said that the right way). There seem to be a few children in each class who really can’t cope with mainstream school. Then another few who obviously need much more help, but are getting left behind and disrupting the lessons.

a bit shocked and scared myself. Had been mainly worried about lesson disruption and a few kids being too rough at break time. The idea of a class being told to shelter under their desks is horrific.

It is difficult and a horrible situation for all - but why are you posting here?

It happened today. Expecting an email. They have to address it. Tannoy announcement for the teachers to go to the class where it happened, kids left alone and scared, an injured teacher.

They really need a plan in place for if something similar happens again. But this is a highly rated, small, rural mainstream school with a nice catchment area. The partner school has a much more difficult catchment area and a huge amount of issues.

Why shouldn't OP post here @Fraudornot ?
Wouldn't you want to talk to people, even strangers, if something that shocking happened to your child?

And having to shelter under desks is definitely shocking.

I agree. Thanks Tony Blair for shutting all the special needs schools.

@Fraudornot just trying to process thoughts I guess. DH traveling so can’t talk it over.

I will bring it up with the school if no follow up, but fairly sure it will be addressed. Seems such a difficult situation though.

The scale of it was shocking. There are regular incidents, but all fairly contained. A teacher telling the class to get under their desks and an injured member of staff is a whole different level.

This was my child a few years ago, huge meltdown at school and he wrecked a display (year one) :( Thankfully his 1-to-1 usually kept things under control but he got out of hand that day. I was devastated and embarrassed (even though there was nothing I could have done and I wasn’t there)

I had already had one request for special school rejected at this point. It took a huge fight and two more years before he got a place at a special school. Please don’t underestimate how many parents are absolutely desperate for their child to be in the right place and with the right support.

Hope your child is okay too.

The school doesn't owe anyone except the parents of the this boy an outline of what happened. Perhaps a message to reassure families, but that's it. With the best will in the world they won't be able to prevent it from happening again.

Not sure what a 'nice catchment' area has to do with it. SEND challenges cut across all social classes

Poor kids must've been terrified.

And yes I don’t understand how the ‘allow all children the opportunity to be in mainstream’ has translated to children who desperately need a special school place, whose parents desperately want them to attend a special school, being denied that!! Surely that wasn’t the point?

”Perhaps a message to reassure families, but that’s it”

Are you joking? This whole idea that everyone else is seen as acceptable collateral damage has to stop.

@ramonaquimby A friend taught for a while in a really difficult area. The school environment was really challenging. In this case the teachers are not overwhelmed with a multitude of issues (compared to say an inner city school). Of course I understand SEND challenges are not related to the catchment.

How can the school reassure parents? Complete disruption, an injury, etc.

How depressing.

This.

He needs to be removed until somewhere more suitable is arranged. The boy having the meltdown doesn’t come before any of the other people present.

I completely disagree.

of course parents of the children impacted have a right to know the basics of the situation. Obviously anonymised. Obviously not every detail. But they absolutely have a right to know that their children witnessed an extremely distressing incident where objects were thrown, they were instructed to get under their desks and they witnessed a teacher being injured. The children will obviously talk (probably in a lot more detail naming names) and it’s important that the school acknowledges the incident and also avoids a Chinese whispers scenario where parents are messaging each other and possibly making the situation more confusing, or misreporting things.

The ignorance and prejudice here is a fucking joke. Just because a child has a melt down it doesn’t mean they need a special school which likely won’t offer a full academic curriculum and offer the child the chance to thrive. This could be the only meltdown like this they’ve had in all
of their primary year. But yes, cart them off to keep them separate forever. Sickening.

So sorry @boujeewooje It sounds so difficult. The parents of the child who had the meltdown must be terrified. He is being completely failed (it isn’t a one off, there has been elopement with police looking, etc). Not so many years and he will be an adult.

I disagree. The school also owes an explanation to the parents of the children who were sadly caught up in this violent episode. Because that’s what it was. An act of violence. Children are going to be affected by it; anxious and worried. Maybe some of their work was damaged. If my child was caught up in this, I would definitely hope the headteacher would talk to the parents of the children to reassure them. No child was hurt this time, but it could have turned out very different.