School attendance - is this allowed?

[UndertheCedartree]

My DD is in Y7 at mainstream secondary and is autistic and very anxious.

HOY keeps chopping and changing plans for my DD with no consistency or communication. Essentially, on my side of it school are just making things worse.

As an example today there is a Reward Trip for those with over 100 achievement points and less than 8 behaviour points. My DD has 130 achievement points and 0 behaviour points but has been excluded from the trip as they felt they would need to send an LSA which they didn't want to. At our last meeting I expressed how unhappy and left out she was feeling as all her friends are going on the trip and naturally excitedly chatting about it at school as well as out of school. I was told by her HOY that they were planning a Reward Day at school for those who met the criteria but couldn't go on the trip for whatever reason. I've been asking for information about this but only been informed this morning that they decided to not do the Reward Day in the end!!

Her HOY has now decided to implement a new plan - I've not agreed with any of it as I find it inappropriate but the specific thing I wanted to ask about is his plan for me to bring DD in the morning and if they can't get her into school within 5 minutes I have to take her home. Presumably if I bring her in they can mark her as in on their attendance figures, but don't have to bother with giving her an education. Apparently I should then bring her back for afternoon school and if they can't get her in within 5 minutes I have to take her home again! So their attendance looks great but my DD gets no education. Is this allowed?

Oh wow - he's done so well - no wonder you are proud! ☺️ My eldest is doing T levels and I'm super proud of him too! And of course proud of my DD for all the progress she is making and I hope to make things better for her so she can really reach her potential.

I've found out DD has 4 sessions put down as 'unauthorised'. 2 of them are from 2 separate days where she was about an hour and a half late as we were having a difficult morning. I'm pretty sure I phoned both mornings to say DD was struggling but we'd be in as soon as we could. Then the other 2 are from yesterday when she was excluded from the trip.

An EHCP is nothing about whether they meet the needs right now or not. If your DD is autistic then you can apply for an EHCP regardless.
it can give guidelines on the support etc.
my daughter is 15 and is autistic and has adhd, she is currently schooling at home but still enrolled at school.
The psychiatrist and psychologist have both told me to apply for an EHCP as it helps the young person until they are 25.
look at ipsea.org.uk they have loads of advice.

The trip situation is absolutely disability discrimination. My autistic son was excluded from a trip and after seeking advice from an SEN advocate, they said the school had left themselves wide open to a disability discrimination claim. Our children deserve to have the same opportunities as their peers.

My only advice is don't home ed get the EHCP and force things to get better for your DD.
And I just wanted to say that reading about your DD missing out/being excluded from the trip is absolutely awful - it moved me to tears and made me feel so angry. Please be determined to not let this happen again the best you can. I hope you can power through. And I hope your DD enjoys half term and isn't upset.💐

The purpose of the email would be evidence that they've admitted to you they can't meet need. That they can't provide her an education because they can't get her in due to anxiety.

If they were the best school they'd be taking proactive action to support her. They aren't.

Thank you, that's kind.

Believe me, now I know, I won't let her be excluded again!

Ah, I see thanks.

Believe me, we have friends with autistic DC at the other schools. One is now being home educated, one is signed off and one is so unhappy her mum can only get her in once or twice a week. They have bigger class sizes, less LSAs, no Learning support centre, they are huge, busy and there are always fights going on. One (the school DD was offered) also has a huge bullying problem and the head is a nasty piece of work. They also all have strict uniform policies with blazers and ties and the school DD was offered was not interested in making any adjustments to that.

At DD's school they wear an open neck shirt and jumper. Jumpers can be taken off whenever they want. DD is allowed to wear trainers. She has an LSA in every class (except P.E) She gets good support in the classroom. Is allowed fidgets, time out, and can go to the toilet straight away in class so she can go when it's quiet. She can go to the front of the lunch queue. The SEN department are organising an Ed Psych to see her. The school is small, calm and very rare disruption. And she has made some lovely friends. I got her in to this school on appeal as I could see it was the only one that had the potential to meet her needs

It's far from perfect (as anyone can see reading this thread!) but it also has a lot going for it. And this thread will help me sort out the things that are going wrong.

I am a SENCO in a secondary school and what they are doing is illegal. That cannot exclude your daughter due to her additional needs. You can apply for an ehcp for her without the school agreeing and I would apply of I were you. The school can apply for top up funding in the meantime to support her needs within school. You can say no to taking her home and the school cannot argue. They are only allowed to send her home with parental consent unless the exclude her which they have no grounds to do. Get into ouch with SENDIAS who are an organisation who support parents to get schools to meet the needs of pupils and can go to school meetings with you to mediate and support. Good luck.

On this, you need to write to the Head and ask then to review the register marking as it is not correct (in law, they alone determine the marking). Explain that autism-related anxiety should be treated as illness and not truancy. Consider copying in the Director of Education at the LA. Again, if the Head doesn't budge, seek advice from the EASS as this my also constitute unlawful disability discrimination.

Lots of your post was the similar experience sadly that we had last year in year 7, however the school put everything they could in place but we still had to make the parental application for a EHCP. We’ve been forced into home education during year 8 as our child just couldn’t cope any more (despite securing the EHCP) but the change in our child after six months of home ed has been brilliant they are so so much happier, and engaged in learning with a marked reduction of dysregulated behaviour. Their mental health is a lot better and lots of their many anxious behaviours are reduced. There are many low cost resources now for home education if you have a child who it would suit as mainstream now is just so focused on attendance at all cost even if it breaks many of our young people in the process. Challenge the unauthorised absences you need to word the absences as “unable to attend due to anxiety caused by unmet needs related to her autism” we reached 20% attendance with authorised absence before de-reg. Yeah we could have kept fighting the system but for some kids HomeEd does work better for them.

Read Dr Naomi Fishers facebook posts and her books on a “different way to learn she’s has a big following amongst ND community as she talks so much sense about the issues of our education system for young people.

How ignorant. Not everyone is autistic, and not all autistic pupil needs a TA.

Wanting the school to comply with the law doesn’t make parents entitled.

Schools cannot require parents of DC with SEN to accompany their DC.

This is a matter of law, to ensure the inclusion of disabled young people. If you have a problem with that we'll draw our own conclusions about your values.

Maybe you need to start again and read the initial post and the comments from those with experience, including the teachers/sendcos that have replied. Your comment shows that you obviously haven't read the post properly.

The poster has said that she would have accompanied her daughter on the trip, but that wasn't given as an option. The HOY deemed that a LSA was needed to accompany her, which (if needed) would be a reasonable adjustment. However they said that it couldn't be provided so she could not go. They therefore can't meet her needs, but have also said that an echp is not needed, because they can meet her needs. The HOY is therefore contradicting themselves - they either can or they can't.

Offering an alternative reward for those that met the required number of merit points, but couldn't go on the trip could have been seen as a form of reasonable adjustment (even though not really fair for any children that wanted to go on the main trip). That offer was told to the pupil, but was then removed. The child has therefore earnt a reward, but due to a disability hasn't been given one - that is not fair.

The poster is only asking for her daughter to be given reasonable adjustments. That could include being allowed to enter/leave the building a bit earlier/later than others. From what has been said appropriate support had been set in place, and was working on most days, until the HOY interfered.

It sounds to me as if the problem isn't the child, or the parent, or the other support staff, but one specific person.

Not everyone is autistic these days, but people are now more aware of neurodiversity and are looking for a diagnosis when one is needed. It isn't an easy process so if the poster's dd has a diagnosis then she is entitled for adjustments to be made when needed.

Of course they need an ehcp. Get one immediately and get it put into effect immediately by the senco. Disgusting treatment. I'd be taking it right to the top honestly.

I'm just staggered you'd type and post this utter bilge.

You can start the EHCP process yourself, whether school agree or not. Have a look at your local authority's SEND offer on their website, there should be info on it there. I would argue if school are excluding your child from school trips then they are not able to meet her needs!

Thank you, that's very helpful

Thank you so much. I'm glad home-ed is working for your DC. I did it with my eldest. Unfortunately, I'm just not in a position to do it now and it would have to be a last resort. However, if necessary I would have to make it happen.

They sound awful OP. I habe a sen child & work in a school. Speak to the SENCO ASAP.

Thank you so much. It's sad that people would see a parent as entitled just for wanting their DC to have an education and the same opportunities as their peers.

I was actually asking to speak to the SENCO from Wednesday to Friday. I then have asked for a meeting with attendance/welfare and the SENCo and one of the LSAs. For some reason this seems to be being blocked. I'm really not sure why. I will try to speak to the SENCO again after half term.

I am sure you will, you sound like a great mum and so supportive.
The school years were some of the hardest years of my life. As a lone parent, it really pushed me to the edge. It was awful, constant phone calls, meetings, unrealistic expectations, DS going missing etc.
I am in awe of how much things can change as they get older and are no longer having to deal with a school system that sends them into a sensory overload and just completely overwhelms them, often with staff who either don’t or won’t understand. I am not saying all staff, as a few were exceptional and really made a difference, but the constant battle is totally exhausting 🤗.

That's so kind, thank you.

That must have been beyond stressful. Especially DS going missing - what a worry! And yes, I hear you about the exhaustion.

I'm glad to hear there were some staff that really made a difference. Most of DD's teachers are very nice (actually, just one I found rude) but there were a few that really seemed to go above and beyond which was wonderful to see.