AIBU disabled DC and school trip

[Manic20201]

My DC class is going on a school trip at the end of term. They school are refusing to take them due to disability ( tube fed )
We have had medical clearance from health team and she has a trained 1–1.
AIBU to believe ( this is now nearly 4 years of never attending a school trip ) that it’s getting ridiculous. She is so sad about it and waited a long time to go.

Have a look at the schools information report on their website. There should be a section on there about trips.

I would get in touch with the SENDO at the LA and ask them to get involved to ensure she can go

I have emailed LA/ key worker I just know the school always try to switch it on me.
Hopefully they respond on Monday.

Good luck!

When you have your next annual review I would insist on provision for trips to be covered in it

[quote Manic20201]@DumplingsAndStew it’s like erm map reading / walking and sen building.[/quote]
Holy risk assessment. I'm sure scrambledcustard is compiling one right now to show the terrible terrible danger of walking and den building on your tube fed child 😉

Ftr, it sounds like the perfect inclusive activity that you'd have actually thought would be planned specifically because it is safe and inclusive for your child.

I would recommend as a first step, asking the school for two risk assessments. 1) the one they've made on the basis of your child attending without you. And 2) the one they've made to risk assess your child being alone in the classroom with just her funded 1-1 if she wasn't able to attend the trip.

@Sirzy it’s already covered in ehcp but it’s coming up soon :)

Seems like disability discrimination to me....

Sounds really shit to me, could they be less inclusive?? They should be going out of their way to make this possible for her. Sounds like a shit school that can't be bothered to me. Make a fuss, go to the governors, find out who the SEN governor is and complain to them as you've already spoken to the Head. It's awful that they are just leaving your dd out like this. Really shocking. x

@scrambledcustard so the OP should miss the important medical meeting relating to the child in question, although she has already said it has to be done before the end of term (which in my area is in 10 days time) and cannot be rearranged to enable her child to go on a school trip because the school can't be arsed? If the 1:1 does not feel comfortable looking after the child out of school she/he is in the wrong job.

That is the epitome of shiftiness and absolutely not on. There is no reason someone with a tube can’t go on the majority of field trips- it’s not like it’s a water park they are going to! I hate when schools try to use a child’s career to make up their staffing shortfalls. What do they expect your daughter to do if her 1-1 is swanning off on a field trip with the other children?

How is the 1-1 not employed by the school? That is an out of the ordinary set up. Does this mean 1-1 is employed by you? In which case you say 1-1 can't go on the trip as she will be caring for dd in school.

I worked as a 1-1 for a number of years. Whenever we went on school trips I was still allocated to the single child and were were part of a group with another adult. So there were 2 adults to the group of 6/7 children. Only once did I go on a trip with my 1-1 and had a group but this was only a group of 4 sensible children who were good friends with the child with SEN.
Also I struggle to see how health and safety comes into it, we often took a child who uses a wheelchair or crawled to nature reserves/wooded areas, they never missed out and we just made adaptations and reasonable adjustments or took a slightly different route around areas if needed.

@Hercisback employed and paid for directly by LA.

In that case the LA should certainly be making sure she is doing what she was employed to do!

I'm a 1:1 in a primary school.

I can only think of one occasion when a parent has gone on a school trip specifically because of their child's disability. The parent requested to be allowed to go as they were worried about how their child would cope on their first ever school trip (EYFS). They were very much reassured by the experience and haven't been on one since.

The only time a child hasn't gone on a trip is when the parent refused to give permission. The child had no additional needs but the parent was worried about their child going to London only a couple of weeks after the attack on the London Bridge.

We have also taken several insulin-dependent children on trips. We always have two trained adults attending. The care they need isn't that much different to when they're in school, other than extra monitoring of their levels.

It's true that we don't get paid a lot but it's the job that we've signed up to do. I enjoy my job and it's rewarding to see all of our children (whether or not they have disabilities) enjoying being out in a different environment for the day. Depriving a child of that because a school has allocated their 1:1 elsewhere is an awful thing to do.

Then you need to speak to the LA. The 1_1 may not be insured to be elsewhere. I'd be checking that.

@scrambledcustard

I’d be interested to know if you have any personal or professional experience of this. Children at SEN schools go on trips and outings and not necessarily with 1:1 adult care.

[quote Manic20201]@ddl1 no diagnoses learning difficulties etc
She struggles with reading and writing. She has no behaviour problems. She is very protective of her tubes.
She does not pull etc[/quote]
My DD is exactly the same. No diagnosed learning need but has an EHCP due to a problem with her hips.

School have literally never said she cannot do anything. One trip she was excluded from one activity due to problem but 2 other children where due to their needs so the TA took all 3 off to do something else related to the trip for that part which I was happy with (think rock climbing where if my DD had fallen she'd had fractured her hip/leg and been in pain so it was too much of a risk).

I'd fight this as far as you can.

@Manic20201

I should also add have recently had issues with her not having a 1-2 when she is ratio of 1-1 in her ehcp for certain school activities because school think that she didn’t need the ratio of 1-1 and needed independence but then won’t take her on trip with a 1-1 it’s all very conflicting.

To be fair, it could be that, during certain activities at school, your dd is fine with a TA working elsewhere in the classroom with another child, since you say there are no behaviour or learning needs, or that they've noticed a worrying increase in dependence, but still feel that she'd need 2:1 for walking in the countryside and den building. Ask what aspect of the risk assessment revealed that this trip could not be adjusted and made safe for your dd.

Got to be discrimination
Surely
Your poor child 😥

To be fair, it could be that, during certain activities at school, your dd is fine with a TA working elsewhere in the classroom with another child

This shouldn't happen. If 1:1 is specified and quantified in section F it must be provided, regardless of what the school think, or what other children need. If it isn't provided the parents can enforce the EHCP. A good 1:1 builds independence rather than creating dependency.

Similarly, if 1:1 during trips is specified and quantified in section F, with no vague or woolly wording, then you can enforce it, via Judicial Review if necessary. Regardless of whether the 1:1 is funded by the LA or school it is the LA who are ultimately responsible for ensuring provision in EHCPs is provided.

@AlternativePerspective

Seriously - if you genuinely have no idea what it's like to raise a disabled child or all the unfair disadvantages your family have that they shouldn't have please find out. I'm sure beyond anything those laments caring for a disabled child would love the company and someone willing to support them - it's a very lonely place. No no no. They’d rather tell you that “I couldn’t do what you do.” In order to justify their ignorance.

Not all do.

I have parents of disabled children as friends and parents without.

I manage to have equal relationships with both.

Scrambled have you actually got any direct experience of tube feeding?

There's absolutely no reason why a child with peg/gastroscopu cannot climb and run. You can cover it up for a start to protect it.

And the most important thing is this child has a funded 1:1. They can supervise the child should anything be inaccessible due to her disability.

That's why they have a funded 1:1.

Parents CANNOT be asked to provide educational provision - its law.

If an ehcp is in place then school are legally required to provide what is in that. Not their own version where they use the support allocated as it works for them. It’s about the child not anyone else

This kind of situationmakes me grateful to be in the litigious USA. If a special needs child is being discriminated against or the school isn't following the rules, you just sue them. And it's amazing how money makes people jump. It's sad that it comes to that, but it does get SEN children the support they need.

And for those posters who say "why don't you just..." you clearly have no idea how much time and energy goes into being the parent of a SEN child. I read a study recently that said that the parent of a chid without medical/SEN needs spends on average 3.5 hours a week caring for that child and the parent of a child with special needs spends on average 53.5 hours a week caring for that child. Personally I had to stop working as it got to the point where I had reduced my hours so much to meet my ds' needs that there were no hours left to cut back on.