Headteachers use open days to dissuade 'undesirable' families.

[Diamondsgreen]

I've worked in schools for a long time. The challenging schools used open evening to try and persuade families they wanted their DC to attend - empty places cost money and add even more challenge to the school.

However, in every one of the "good", oversubscribed schools the HT used them to put off families they didn't like the look/feel of.

E.g. in a small infant school the HT insisted on doing all the tours herself. Then at any mention of SEND would be most unethusiastic about how the school might be able to meet the child's needs, even suggesting other schools locally who might be better placed to do it.

A Grammar school made a big deal of all the expensive trips and extra curricular activities, you may think to show depth in their offer, but the strategy was to put off less afuulent families.

The one doing the rounds currently is behaviour. The school's (often Trust's) behaviour policy is designed to create a positive learning environment, but the school won't suit pupils or families who will challenge that....

Sensible management or wholly unethical?

Head teachers don’t want too many pupils who behave poorly. Given a pupil occasional reminders to focus is not seen as a big hindrance to any teachers, and that is obviously not what head teachers who want to dissuade some SEN pupils from attending have in mind. What they have in mind are the pupils who are loud, disruptive and sometimes verbally aggressive towards teachers. Like it or not, some pupils with ADHD do present with very disruptive and loud behaviour which does affect others’ learning. I am not saying all, but in my and other colleagues’ experience, some. I think headteachers don’t want additional behaviour issues alongside the poor behaviour they will already have from neurotypical pupils.

It's clear from the PP experience that giving the occasional reminder IS seen as beyond the call of duty.
But maybe the answer for parents of kids with ADHD is not to seek diagnosis or ask for reasonable adjustments. That way the school will just have to deal with "poor behaviour from neurotypical pupils". Schools are never held to account for excluding pupils with disabilities anyway so there's no point in a diagnosis.

What's the relevance of where my child goes to school? She she should be welcome in any state primary or comp. Just like other children with SEND.

The head was specifying stuff like turning up on time and wearing uniform @Redisforme. Sounded like they’d had parents complaining about sanctions for not wearing the uniform.

No, the vast majority of teachers (almost all I’d say) don’t see reminding a pupil whose mind has drifted to focus now and then as a big deal.

Teaching must have been very different in the 1990a I’d imagine.

It is relevant because I dont think you actually have any idea how stretched schools are these days.

I've been a primary governor for 8 years, I absolutely understand how stretched schools are, well beyond the average parent's experience. But fortunately at a school where the governing body, head and staff believe in inclusion and serving the whole local community. It's the school that other heads suggest when they don't want to be inclusive themselves, the school with so many EHCPs that the notional send budget is overspent with just those "first £6k". But also a school where the attitude of teachers to making adjustments for my send child has been "oh, it's no bother". They have been uniformly warm and welcoming, before and after diagnosis. And I know parents of children with a wide range of send at the school and they have experienced the same. That includes the children who have been there while the parents and school fight the LA for a special school place.

Being inclusive can be part of the culture of a school, part of the tone from the top and valued by all of the staff. But it is clear that some schools opt out. That shouldn't be a choice a school can make.

Our LA wanted my son to attend an enormous secondary school where he’d have had to arrive at each lesson 5 mins late, leave 5 mins early, and learn standing in the corridor looking through the window in the classroom door. The school robustly fought the LA’s decision and refused to take my son, but still the LA insisted until we started the tribunal process for an independent special school.

It’ll be interesting to see what changes Labour makes to mainstream state provision to safely and appropriately admit more disabled children.

Thats not a yes. So I assume its "private school for me, ever increasing pressure for thee".

Both my children went to that state primary. As I say, both warmly welcomed. Maybe some governors do have children at an independent school when they could be going to the school they are governor of, but that wouldn't feel right to me.

OP is clearly describing that schools deliberately try to ‘manage out’ SEND applicants during open days

I know what you mean OP, I’ve extensive experience of this with my DC with disability.

I also heard of this being done in primary schools to children with severe allergies

Its really important to have a mix of governors that also includes people who arent parents at the school. They are supposed to have relevant skills to look at long term strategy and being a parent can create a conflict interest in some situations such as hearing exlusion panels, complaints or other decisions that might impact thier child class. Governors who are parents are valuable but so are those who send thier children elsewhere. As someine who recruits governors im more than happy for a professional with the right skill set who wants to join an board even if they decided the school wasnt right for thier child.

Schools are stretched. The situation is hugely challenging but schools arent silos they should really be looking at thier whole community and working together with othdr schools rather than trying to offload difficult pupils onto another school.

Yes, a mix is important - non-parents, people with children of that age but not in the catchment. But do you really want someone who does live in catchment (in our case pretty much the only state primary available) but has specifically avoided that school, who has effectively said "this school isn't good enough for my child"?

I think my credibility in the local area, as a school governor, would have been damaged if I hadn't sent my children there.

I was a governor at another school before I had children, specifically because of my skill-set. Not having children, I wasn't visibly rejecting that school. I could have continued as a governor at that school, even with children as I am not in the catchment, so couldn't have sent my children there. It was an excellent school, I would have happily sent any children there too.

I dont really agree. I think somone who felt a school wasnt good enough for thier child can still be very invested in .making sure it improves so that other parents dont feel like they have to leave thier community to get a good education.

Sometimes the schools struggling most really struggle to get good governors because of this idea that you should send your child there even if you have skills that can really help them. It can take a long time to improve a school. Its a shame to put off a good gover that can help them on the journey

It probably depends on circumstances. For us, it's the only school in the village, you really have to go out of your way and visibly reject our village school.

In some cases a school genuinely can’t meet the needs of a child. When this is actually the case, I’d rather the school be honest. Our village school thought they could meet my disabled child’s needs. However they couldn’t - but they refused to admit it.

We had one say "EHCPs aren't really a thing, no-one gets them", but we now have one via a different school

I can well believe that. I’m glad you got one eventually but sorry you had to change schools.

We were told DS1 wasn’t autistic and I was lying and paranoid. He is actually severely autistic and will never work or live independently.