To want to write to the governors about my DD's suspension?

[UndertheCedartree]

I'm looking for a bit of help. Last week my 12 yo DD was suspended from school for half a day. She has autism and struggles. She didn't want me to leave her and was crying and clinging to me. I tried to get her to go with a member of staff for half an hour but she wouldn't. So the head teacher had to suspend her and send her home. They said I can write a statement to the governors. Does anyone know what I need to say? Is just that it was due to her ASD?

Also if the headteacher keeps suspending her can she be expelled? This is the one and only time she has ever been suspended but it just got me worried.

An official suspension.

This is wrong. A suspension is a sanction and should only be used for quite severe or persistent misbehaviour.
I would write to the governors and ask them to overturn the suspension.
I would also take advice on what the school should be doing to meet your daughter’s needs.

I'm in the middle. I don't know if it was necessarily the best way to deal with it but I understand why they did it. I have been asked to make a statement to the governors - it is not for saying whether you agree with it per se but to give information about what happened. You could of course say if you don't agree with it.

Suspension sounds an appalling outcome when a child with a known condition is deeply distressed and needs to go home.
What are the school doing to support her?
What are the reasons for the low attendance?
Is this a strategy so that they can eventually permanently exclude?
Check out the schools behaviour/suspension policy as well as their special needs one. Might give you some more information.
May be worth writing to the governors about the poor support your DD is receiving/misuse of school policies.

I said she refused to go with a member of staff which she did.

So they tried to just send her home but they would mark her as unauthorised absence. I queried if they were allowed to do that so they spoke to the head teacher who said they couldn't just send her home but if she would not follow instructions they would suspend her.

So sorry you had this experience, OP. FWIW, my DD's school is amazingly supportive to kids with ASD and this would never have happened there.

One poster upthread said: "I personally don't think that there a different treatement for kids with ASD if she is in the mainstream school. They expect all children to obey school policy."

That's simply not true.

DD has ASD, and when heading into a meltdown is able to leave class, go to a special room (for the SEN kids), has a '5 minute pass' so she can leave early to avoid crowds, can have her lunch in the library, not attend lessons she finds distressing (eg music, too loud).

She only got this support once under the care of the SEN team at the school. Does yours have similar?

But yes: they are treating ASD as if it is elective, or an illness, when in fact it is not. So many people just don't understand it, especially in women and girls, and this includes teachers and governors.

So you might want to research best practice in this area in your letter to show how your DD's school is letting her down by trying to force her to behave like a NT child, or within the frameworks that they have designed for NT children.

She's not 'behaving badly'. She is autistic and they are legally obliged to make reasonable adjustments to enable her to attend school despite her disability. Suspending her, particularly when you were there, is not a reasonable adjustment. Nor is it a proportionate nor informed response when faced with an autistic meltdown.

Thank you. They have put reasonable adjustments in place and arranged a meeting with an Educational psychologist for me and the SENCo and she will hopefully see my DD soon.

Unlikely. Masking is common in women and girls with ASD. The 'cost' of masking is near permanent exhaustion and meltdowns (which in themselves are also exhausting). It is entirely in keeping with an autistic child who is struggling with an unsupportive school.

I think masking at school makes her tired, plus she has sleep problems due to her autism and then she has Long COVID too - she is much better with this but still catches everything and can get post viral fatigue. She has a lot of challenges.

I wondered this too.
Surely the issue was that the child didn't want to go into school, but the school wanted them to go in. So they opt to suspend the child which means they don't go into school. Seems ridiculous.

They need to learn ways to deal with students with SN and not make them feel even less comfortable in such settings.

Could it be that they didn’t want your DD to have another unauthorised absence, so they thought that calling her day off a “suspension” was better ?

They can't just send her home. That would be an illegal exclusion. If I take her home that's an unauthorised absence which they are on my back about. They gave me no choice!

Would that be unauthorised, though?

I did ask if I could take her away and come back in the afternoon.

Yes, I'm aware the whole thing is bigger than writing a letter! I'm living it!

Yes, I'm aware that poster was very ignorant.

My DD has most of those reasonable adjustments too. Yes, she is under the SEN department.

The grass roots people are great. It's more the 'management' are the problems.

They think she was spending too much time with her Learning mentor. So they have stopped the reasonable adjustments of her coming in later so that she can get in earlier and see her learning mentor then. The plans are always changing. It's also hard to get information so I can prepare DD. They actually like I'm a nuisance at times!

Op, this is exactly why an EHCP is necessary, so I'm pleased you're applying for a needs assessment. This provides the consistency SEN children need throughout their education, including the formality of regular reviews to see how her needs have changed.

In my opinion, you should argue for authorised absence due to the impact on her mental health. The fact that her attendance is so low, and that they are 'on your back' about it speaks volumes. They suspended her because schools are under the kosh with regards to unauthorised absence. She's not coping, and her needs are not being met because they have no idea what her needs actually are. The Ed Pysch is a really positive step forward for you.

I would write to the governors and state that anxiety is a by product of a neurodevelopmental disorder for which your dd has a diagnosis. She's sick, not naughty, and anxiety is a mental health concern therefore authorised absence (sick) is fair. And I think you need this agreement to extend until such time as you have an EHCP in place.

Poor girl.

Can your letter be in 2 parts:

1. detailing why suspension was the wrong response

2. setting out what you want from school to support her better

For 1) do school have a behaviour mgt policy that sets out what qualifies a suspension? I'd hope that what you've described doesn't hit that threshold! Then set out the alternative options as outlined from PP and which one you feel would have been most appropriate.

For 2) I'd ask for one of the goals to be that you and school agree an 'action plan' by the end of the term (?!) on what they will do, what you will do and what DD will do in order to start fresh in September.

Good luck this sounds really hard

Don't think governors can overturn a suspension.

You could go down the complaint route but need to follow the complaints policy.

As others have said, schools can't just send pupils home. Would have to go through the fixed term suspension route. What was stated in the school communication to you?

They could have marked her down as a school refusal.

^^
There is no code for school refusal....personally I think there should be, but as it stands school refusal comes under 'O' unauthorised absence (for England, I don't know if the same is true in other countries in the UK). It's important the school is informed its refusal, so if the education welfare officer becomes involved, it can be dealt with appropriately.

You've got a right to send a letter for the governors to read. However, you don't have a right to a formal meeting and they do not have the power to order the school to cancel it from her record.

If she were suspended again to take her over 5 days this term (unlikely) or permanently, different rules come into play depending upon duration/permanence.

School governor here. It sounds like the school were between a rock and a hard place - they were happy for you to take her home but said it would be unauthorised, you then challenged them on that so they had no choice but to suspend.

You have the right to make representations to the governors but they do not have the power to reinstate when the suspension is under 5 days, so have a think about what you actually want to achieve by this.

Yes, this is definitely part of the tiredness.

I would write to the governors stating the issue and asking for a solution!

My DS has a friend with ASD and struggles with school. The school has reduced his timetable to P1 to P3, then he goes home. That way his attendance is only based across 3 lessons a day and not 5, and the shorter day means he is less tired. It was originally just P1 and P2.

At the school I teach at, a few years ago we had a parent who spent all morning sitting in reception so their child would stay in school! Oddly it worked!

You need to show the governors what the issue is and suggest some strategies that might help the situation.