Is this illegal exclusion?

[ClaryFray]

I need some advice, my son is currently being flexible schooled due to his SEN needs. He currently has no EHCP or diagnosis, both due end of the month. He's currently being taught in a small group of 8 pupils and 2 TA's.

There was an incident on Monday where he hit a teacher who prevented him from leaving the room (wrong I agree) however, he'd got himself so worked up he was asking for me. And the Senco refused to call me, later reasoning that he was misbehaving so she didn't want to reward him with what he wanted (ie me). He is very frustrated at school, he can't do the work, we've had issues of the work not being differentiated as per the EP report. And he feels stupid. Has school aniexty around the place, and has a mental and emotional age of around 5 when he is 8. (Think crawling round the floor, running around school, and making baby noises)

I was called in Monday after this incident and agreed to flexi school him. I was upset at the time at the end of my rope, and confused about where to go next. The senco kept talking about exclusion saying, we should exclude him for this incident but won't. Do you want to flexischool him? I was given no thinking time, no cool off period. And the contract was ready for me to sign in the meeting. So between hearing about it and signing paperwork took 30 minutes. I wish I'd been more proactive and asked for time to think but I was scared he'd be expelled and I'm still in probation at work so it's the last thing I wanted.

The senco also keeps mentioning special schools, despite my desire to keep him in mainstream. His EHCP should be agreed the end of the month and they don't want to be the named school. To me it seems obvious they wanted him gone.

Today I arrived to collect him at 1:30pm as per arrangement, to find him in a melt down state. Saying he didn’t want to come home. The reason transpired that they were doing a fun activity. Which he had seen the other children start, yet he was being sent home. This caused him to run off around he school, and get very upset.

I’m at the end end of my teacher but I can’t afford to homeschool completely, I'd lose my job, because I can’t afford childcare.

My questions are:

Is this illegal exclusion?
And AIBU to expect either the activity to be postponed until he had gone home? Or him to be removed to another room so he doesn't witness the fun he's missing out on?

There was a thread about it a while ago bluemirror, I think the consensus was a general shoulder shrug sadly

Blue the sad fact is that there is literally not enough money in the budget to pay for extra staff. There just isn't. It's not the school's fault, the government need to make better provision.

At my friend's school she has a child in her class who qualifies for extra funding and the local government agrees that he should have it but have said they have put him on a waiting list because they just don't have any money to give the school.

It's a shambles. No wonder teachers are leaving the profession in droves. Their hands are tied. They are trying to teach and manage behaviour and meet all the needs of all the children with very little resources.

I don't deny schools are underfunded. But there is also the issue that sn funding isn't ringfenced and if schools think they can spend it elsewhere and increase their league table standing they are reluctant to use resources on individual children even if they desperately need it.

And parents would not be encouraged to just accept it if funding didn't permit for by children to access a full time education. That's the point.

When I say his needs started in year3 term 2. He wasn't fine before but that's when his behaviour peeked. He'll leave the class, and run around the school, piles up tables and chairs. He had needs but the school thought it was only dyslexia.

But that's the thing BlueMirror, they've had to accept the part time closure (Friday afternoons I think it was). There was a lot less of a song and dance about it than I expected.

there is also the issue that sn funding isn't ringfenced

At the moment, OP's ds doesn't have any sn funding and there are many, many more children like this through primary and secondary schools. There is no guarantee that he will get funding any way.

Most TAs in school work with children with SEN. Gone are the days when the teacher had the luxury of a TA working with the class, supporting the lower ability children.

TAs mostly support children with SEN who need 1-1 but don't get extra funding (no diagnosis, no EHCP but severe behavioural/emotional needs) as in the case with OP's ds.

Until the funding comes through, there is no extra money to hire extra staff.

Have you got link Barbie?

The school need to pay for the support from their Sen budget. They Will have to find the first £6000 of this from there when his ehcp is finalised anyway. If they need top up funding they need to apply for it.

The school need to pay for the support from their Sen budget

Yes Blue. But what you are saying is that the school should take money from pupils with sn funding and spend it on a pupil who does not have sn funding.

If the sn funding was ringfenced as you said, they would not be able to spend any of it on OPs ds.

What I am saying is that they have already spent as much as they can on one pupil with no additional funding.

That is their current position.

There's a guardian article here www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/education/2017/jun/28/leicestershire-school-plans-four-and-a-half-day-teaching-week

The child would not be 'taking money from pupils with Sen funding'. The child has SEN! The notional Sen budget is for children like him!
If they need top up funding then they can apply for it.

But in financial black and white terms he has no SEN because he has no diagnosis.

The SEN budget is for pupils with a diagnosed condition.

This is not my personal opinion btw, I think OPs ds should get whatever he needs but I'm just pointing out how very different the financial side is.

My point about the money not being ringfenced was that schools can spend the notional Sen budget however they please and are not obliged to spend all of it on children with Sen. If they are reluctant to apply for top up funding that would suggest to me that they haven't exceeded the budget on Sen spending.
What do you think a school would rather do? Employ a full time ta so that one child can access an education - a child that is maybe not going to achieve high results even with intervention. Or use that same amount of the sen budget on interventions that will increase attainment for a lot of pupils? If they are given the choice most schools will choose the 2nd option. Then go with - it's not the right setting for your child here/they need to be in a part-time timetable/perhaps you should homeschool them. There is absolutely no incentive in the current set up for schools to meet the needs of children with Sen. And the schools that do are effectively penalised.

That's not true. A child has Sen if they need anything above the normal provision. There are many children who have undiagnosed genetic disorders. Do you think they don't have Sen because no name for their condition exists?

fairenuff - you have got that completely wrong. The SEN budget is not just for children with a diagnosed condition! However as BlueMirror has alluded to, the initial SEN 6000GBP that schools have to find comes from the 'notional' SEN budget which may bear little relation to the actua; needs in the school.

Bluemirror - you seem to think that there is money swilling around that schools are diverting from SEN, there really isn't. If your SEN notional funding is 60000 lets say and yet you have have 15 children who need the initial 6000 funded, where exactly do you think schools will get to 30000 shortfall from?

What do you think a school would rather do? Employ a full time ta so that one child can access an education - a child that is maybe not going to achieve high results even with intervention. Or use that same amount of the sen budget on interventions that will increase attainment for a lot of pupils? If they are given the choice most schools will choose the 2nd option.

No they don't. If they did that, children with SEN would disrupt the learning of everyone through no fault of their own and schools would not achieve high attainment.

Learning cannot take place when tables and chairs are being piled up. If the SEN child runs out of the room, an adult has to follow, not stay with an intervention group. Funding most definitely goes where it is needed most and that is to support children with SEN.

fairenuff - you have got that completely wrong. The SEN budget is not just for children with a diagnosed condition!

I know that. What I am saying is that the schools are already spending their money on SEN children. When it runs out, it runs out. Unless OPs ds gets a diagnosis that comes with more funding, how can they pay for more staff?

I'm not saying it's the case in all schools but it happens. I have personal experience of it. The school telling me my son didn't need 1-1 support and they had no money for it. Then when my child was assessed as blatantly needing 1-1 support them agreeing to put full time 1-1 in place regardless of whether the received top up funding or not!
I don't think schools have money swilling around for anything but there is no incentive to spend on children who won't improve their data.

All children who need 1-1 support aren't piling up chairs or running around the school. My son wasn't.
And it seems the school the ops child goes to have resolved the disruption issue by sending children out of the class with no teacher teaching them rather than providing the support they need.
As for what do schools do when the money runs out - that is precisely what top up funding is for.

There are 2 separate issues. 1 being that schools are underfunded full stop. This has lead to schools being disinclined to spend large chunks of Sen money on individual children when they aren't obliged to so they opt instead for cheaper firefighting methods as we've seen in the op, or illegal exclusions or pressuring parents to take their children out of the school.
And you did say that children without a diagnosis don't have Sen.

Good luck. Is the class teacher useful or a chocolate teapot?

Would this be the assaulted teacher? No teacher should have to tolerate this behaviour just because parents want an SEN child in a mainstream school, they want everything their way and sod everyone else. Some children need special school not only for their benefit but also for the benefit of the majority.

Sorry that the Sen budget is for children with a diagnosed condition. They were your exact words and it simply isn't the case.

Except for teachers in specialist schools. They should have to put up with being assaulted it seems?

sending children out of the class with no teacher teaching them rather than providing the support they need

How can schools fund 1-1 teachers?