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?

I've already said without the full picture we can't say on the exact situation. I have also said that from what she has said the school may be on dodgy ground.

Just saying that from what i've seen as a middle leader, part time timetables aren't always bad and can be very useful in terms of a short term solution whilst additional things are put in place.
We've had a student on one because he was a liability to himself and a risk (reasons i'm not going into obviously). We physically didn't have the staff available to follow one child around every minute of the school day. A part time timetable was a perfectly reasonable thing to do whilst wr explored mixed provision where part of their time was on site and part was with a 3rd sector education charity.
Another few cases we used them because of issues getting children into school and them becoming overwhelmed. Again, part time timetable built in with other strategies was perfectly acceptable.

The school could be doing a bloody awful job and being willingly obstructive or the school might be saying this is a measure between now and a review where they can look at contacting other services etc.

They could still have excluded the child quite reasonably and have chosen not to. If they wanted to be a pain and be obstructive then I woukd have thought (but I'm not SLT so maybe I'm wrong) that they would want to push the fixed term exclusions because that would give more evidence that the child shouldn't be educated there. But like i say, I'm not SLT so may have missed something.

He hit a teacher- schools should, and good ones do, have zero tolerance for this. He should be excluded. Period. Teachers should not have to fear assault at work. If he cannot be trusted to not lash out, than he should be in a different setting or home schooled.
Violence is not acceptable at all.

I am a teacher and a parent of a child with sen. There is no excuse for trying to coerce a parent into flexi schooling whatever the funding pressures. The school should have the guts to be open and honest. If they cannot meet his needs they should say so clearly to the LEA and should be able to explain what they have done to meet them. Pissing about with sending him home on a part time timetable is not being open and honest. The OP maybe needs to explore her options. I think that unfortunately some special schools are dumping grounds. They are meant to cater for a massive range of needs, in fact much much wider than the mainstream school and inevitably some do not do this that well. There are good ones and the OP needs to find out what's on offer both through the LA and in the independent sector. The school should be supporting her but sadly this doesn't happen. Once a school has decided they can't meet needs their primary goal is to collect evidence to get the child out. This is what is happening to the OP. It happened to me. It is true that my child is now in a much more appropriate provision but the school did not help me with this. I would urge you OP to forget this school. Get your ds back in there full time whilst you get your ducks in a row and get some advice on the best provision available for your ds. Try posting on the SN board as there are some v experienced posters on there who can help you.

“Your son is having meltdowns, physically attacking staff and is uncontrollable despite such a high staff:student ratio.

I think that you need to stop considering what is allowed to happen and detailing your 'rights' and consider what's best for your son.

And yes, I think YABU to expect the classroom activity to be postponed until your son goes home. There are other children to be considered.”

I totally agree with all this. The school have done nothing illegal. Your child is already being catered for in a small class with high staff to student ratio and still isn’t coping, school have already provided something lots of schools don’t. If he’s not coping in that environment, it does sound as if a special school is the next step and really needs looking in to. I’m not sure what you think he’s going to gain staying in mainstream where he’s clearly not coping.

My views are that of a teacher and the parent of an SEN child,

I'm torn here, but what's clear is your son isn't happy and isn't coping.

U should imagine being in one room with limited children who by all accounts will have their own needs, sounds incredible boring!

What's he learning? What interventions are they trying? They should have a record of a start postition and a finishing goal - and log his responses to these interventions.

Ask them what they are trying what's working what's causing frustration?

One kid I know has the TA 'on at him all day' and she really winds him up! Do you know the staff? Get talking

If he cannot be trusted to not lash out, than he should be in a different setting or home schooled.

If he is lashing out because the school has not put the right support in place for him, the issue will not be resolved by placing him on a part time timetable.

He should have been excluded and then a better way to support his should have been sought.

Your child is already being catered for in a small class with high staff to student ratio and still isn’t coping, school have already provided something lots of schools don’t.

That may not be the support this child needs.

Ok- as a PP pointed out the "no special school place as no dx" is a load of bollocks, my DS as I've already stated has never been in mainstream always SS and he had no dx until he was 14

It is indeed a really important point for parents and teachers to understand that diagnosis does not directly bring funding or support at school. If extra support is needed, over and above that of the normal school resources, then the route has to be via the education system (e.g. EHCP application). A diagnosis is, of course, helpful to sign post what sort of strategies that might be helpful.

For the OP I don't think anyone has pointed out that even if you accept the flexi-school arrangement the school should be providing educational material for the child for the hours they are educated off-site and are responsible for marking and providing feedback. The rules are also different from a fixed-term exclusion in that you are allowed to take your child out and about during these hours whereas in a fixed term exclusion they are not meant to be in public places.

Why do people always assume that the school is at fault if they are not able to meet the needs of a child? This child clearly has some extreme behaviours, whether that is due to ASD, SEMH, ADHD or other cause, mainstream school may not be the best setting for him. The school are already providing a very high level of differentiation by having him in a small group with a high staff ratio. The cost to school for this far exceeds the funding they receive per child.
Unfortunately, not all LAs have specialist provision, it's incredibly expensive and places are very limited. Sometimes, the only way to get a child in is to shout as loud as possible and if that includes excluding a child then so be it.

Thank you for all the advice, I've read this thread a few times now.

I have an appointment booked to see a local special school. I will contact the LEA tomorrow and explain about the flexi schooling and how I don't that his current school can manage his needs. And see where we go from there.

I have a meeting with the head teacher on the first week back to discuss next steps, and I may suggest that she tells the LEA herself they can not manage my son and maybe we can prompt a move before the EHCP

There are only two types of lawful exclusion, they are fixed term and permanent exclusion. Anything else is illegal whether or not the parents agree to it and that includes part time timetables. Being asked to pick up a child early or drop off a child late, being asked to keep a child home on a specific date are all illegal where no proper notification of the exclusion is given. Proper notification must include details of how to challenge the schools decision to exclude, why the exclusion has occurred and how long the exclusion is for and lastly it should give details of a reintegration meeting.

It is not unusual for schools to use threats of fixed term/permanent exclusion in order to reduce the amount of time that a child with SEND is in school by offering a part time timetable as an alternative. No school should ask/insist a parent to come into a school to supervise their child.

A school's SEN budget is not restricted to use for children with SEND, diagnosed or not.

OP somebody else has already posted links to ipsea and other websites which have extremely useful information and helplines.

Why do people always assume that the school is at fault if they are not able to meet the needs of a child? This child clearly has some extreme behaviours, whether that is due to ASD, SEMH, ADHD or other cause, mainstream school may not be the best setting for him. The school are already providing a very high level of differentiation by having him in a small group with a high staff ratio. The cost to school for this far exceeds the funding they receive per child.

Why are you assuming that this school is doing the right thing by just putting small group provision in place? There might be other adjustments that could make the world of difference to him that aren't happening or that they don't even know could help if they haven't involved the right professionals.

Nobody has said that the school is at fault because they can't meet the needs of the child. They are at fault because they have tried to force the child into a part-time timetable.

Good luck op.