To be annoyed at school for banning DS from an educational trip

[GhostInTheBackOfYourHead]

As they conducted a risk assessment after he "escaped" from school.

This "escape" is rather open to interpretation
as at no point did he leave the school or indeed go through any doors leading to outside. He remained inside the inner part of school the whole time.He was not restrained either . However, in a hurried meeting after school following a telephone call from the Head after the event, i was given the impression that he had left the building and therefore wouldn't be allowed on the trip on Monday (tomorrow) which is an all day Learning experience tying in with their class work.i even volunteered to go with the trip as I'm DBS (crb) checked so that DS8 could still go. Not possible apparently.
It was only later on, after school, i realised from the parent who was collecting her child at the time that my DS didn't actually go through any of the doors, he just said he wanted to escape. He also told me that he didn't leave the school but i wasn't sure if he was telling the truth. I am pretty cross at what seems like yet another example of prejudicial treatment of my child. Not wanting to drip feed but school being very heavy handed with DS. He is being assesed for SN and recently lost his DF. Any behaviour not deemed acceptable is punished very harshly. For example, he was given an afternoon exclusion after picking up a chair to hold against himself after repeated attacks from another child, attacks witnessed by teacher. The other reason on the exclusion letter stated he "made a telescope out of his page". I mean, wtaf???
Anyway, back to my reason for posting..
How can he be deemed a flight risk and miss out on a trip when he didn't leave the inner part of school building? I say inner to clarify that he didn't go into the foyer which needs a keypad to access. School are not being honest. I completely trust the word of the parent who witnessed this.

What can i actually do about this now anyway, given the trip is tomorrow? I suspect nothing and i do feel very sad and frustrated for my DS, who also feels very hard done by.

How did it go OP?

I think being in an unfamiliar environment of an out of school trip, if he's going against instructions, they are probably right in erring on the side of caution. I can understand why you are annoyed (quite rightly as a mum) looking at it from your son's point of view, but they have to look at the bigger picture of the amount of children they have and the ramifications if something were to happen, given that they had this concern in the first place. It's not a nice feeling your child is being left out, I see where you're coming from. Also, it must be a terrible time for your DS losing his father, really horrible for him.

Wish you luck this morning.

In fairness to the HT at ds1's school she did acknowledge that it was wrong to permanently ban a child with SN's from school trips. In this case the trip is not a jolly but part of the educational experience so they are depriving your child of this opportunity. And if this is not important why are any of the children going on the trip?

Whilst I fully appreciate special schools have additional resources and training my point was that providing a child is supported well there would be very few who could not go on a trip. The question should be, therefore, how can we support the child to minimize the risk rather than the easy option of just banning.

ds1 and ds2 are probably more challenging than your ds OP but adjustments schools did make over the years to enable them to attend trips included asking dh to accompany them on a residential (luckily our HT was not obsessed with being sued), additional TA support, provision of alternative activities that they could cope with and were as close as possible to the experience that the other children had (and by this I mean alternative venues not stuck in the next door classroom), parent transporting to venue rather than going on the coach etc.

Good luck op

Please do lodge a formal complaint with governors, though I appreciate that you are caught up in the super fun game of trying to get support ( me too)

They have excluded your ds from a important part of his education and he does have a right to access curriculum. He has been excluded from the collaborative learning with his friends. There will be follow up work in the classroom which he will find harder to do.

It also sets a precedent of not taking him on trips, or any other children with sn. Will they take him next time?

The correct protocol is for the parent to come and be prepared to take the child home if it goes pear shaped. Y'know same as we cope with everyday life.

I've taken loads of challenging children on lots of trips, very few problems. Easy to make arrangements. Quite frankly, kids ( no SN) stealing from gift shops is as bad as it's ever got.

I'' so sorry this has happened, and your analysis of the school is correct. Can you talk to ipsea?

Maybe post in sn - lots of experience there.

Oh btw your son doesn't sound remotely challenging to me. I'd have popped him with his best friend as a partner, given them a lead position, had a brief chat about being responsible. Then I'd ensure he had a really nice day. No problems, no drama.

He wouldn't slip off or wander off to the toilet! He would have 1:1!! Any child Sen or not of that age should be closer supervised than that anyway as all have the potential to wander off when something arouses their interest. This was a WRONG decision!!

DS being excluded from trips for the most spurious of reasons was one of the deciding factors for us removing him from school and home educating. That and him being taught in a corridor alone.

I am so sorry for all you're going through, hope things start looking brighter for your DS very soon.

Does the school have an attending educational psychologist? (I haven't read full thread, have to run). But my nephew has SEN and the Ed Psychologist at his school has been brilliant in getting him support. She's taken a lot of stress off my sister in term of having to liaise with and explain things to staff. She doesn't have to fight anymore.

I think it would be useful to separate 2 things.

1. The treatment of DS in general, the lack of support.
2. Exclusion from trip, even when you offered to come.

I know you said you were crb checked, but i think it has to be administered by the organisation you are volunteering for. So my girl guide crb couldnt be used for anything else. Having said all that I dont live in the uk anymore so dont know if the rules have changed.

Waiting for people to call isnt good enough. You need to put requests in writing so there is a paper trail.

The thing is it sounds like this school is a bad place to be for a normal kid, let alone one on the spectrum. Do you really want to fight them for something they are never going to give? Even if you get statements and senco etc do you think that your son will ever thrive there? From what you have posted I dont. Is homeschooling again an option? At least until a space becomes available at another school.

And could I recommend you have a look at winstons wish. They do summer camps for children who have lost a parent or close family member

I have worked at a school that sounds rather similar to yours. Staff and children leaving. Writing to governors is likely to be pointless. They were even more useless than the head. Personally I would contact county and OFSTED.

Your son has recently lost his father and has only been back at school for 4 weeks. What he needs is a lot of understanding and kindness from the school staff.

Unfortunately things like this are so teacher dependent. I would fight for a child in my class to not miss a trip, stick him in my group with his friend and keep him close. Others wouldn't want the extra stress. School trips are incredibly stressful to run to be fair.

This term is the hardest of them all I think. Routines are lost and children are all a bit bonkers.

Enhanced Dbs can now be filed on a central database and looked up by anyone with a legitimate interest. I used to have to get separate ones for school, scouts and youth club, but now all can access the same one online and all would be updated if I there were ever reason to change my approved status.