Am I or is school BU?

[SchoolProblemHelp]

Name changed for this as this situation is probably very recognisable to those who know me.

Having some issues with DD’s school at the moment and before I make a formal complaint want to know if I’m being an overprotective mum or if school is handling this wrong.

DD has Autism and Tourette’s Syndrome. Had lots of support in mainstream primary school, teacher’s aide, maths intervention as she is very behind in this, access to quiet area when overwhelmed, able to take time away when suffering tic attacks etc. All of this was provided at school monitoring level and so she has no EHCP in place and we are told she would not meet criteria for one as she was coping just fine with this support.

Went to high school this year and all of this support was withdrawn. New school say it was never a formal plan so no duty to provide it. Still claim she won’t meet EHCP level yet also don’t agree she needs school monitoring support she previously had.

Couple of recent incidents involve:

• Being given detention for not finishing Maths work despite asking and not receiving help (we are aware she is 12 months behind in Maths and in a mixed ability class so she found this above her level).
• Being given detention for walking out of lesson when suffering a tic attack as another child was laughing and imitating her tics back to her.
• Being made to stand up in class and read aloud and told off for ‘being silly’ when she starting ticking due to nerves by a teacher who apparently had not been informed she has Tourette’s.
• Being given behaviour points for ‘chewing gum’ despite it being known by the SEN team that one of her common tics is rolling her jaw as though she is chewing.
• Being given behaviour points for ‘throwing’ a pencil that flew out of her hand when her arm ticked. And when I raised this with the school being told it is her responsibility to inform the teacher at the time that this was in fact a tic, despite this meaning having to disclose her medical history in front of the whole class including children who bully her for this.

The cumulation of the above now means she’s been put on report and has to approach each teacher in very lesson to ask them to write on her report and take it to the head of year at the end of the day. Something she is very anxious about doing as her Autism means she struggles to approach people.

Am I expecting too much of a mainstream school or should school be resolving these issues and stop punishing a child for their disability. If I could get her an EHCP and move her I would in a heartbeat but to get an EHCP you have to show that the school intervention isn’t enough and it was, in primary, but now school won’t put the support in place.

Google the Equality Act. No duty, my arse. You need to escalate your complaints and get everything in writing. Any face to face discussions, minute immediately afterwards and send as a follow email (" I drew your attention to XYZ, you said ABC and we agreed you would ensure the following actions 123 are completed.") Check out the complaints procedure now, and start escalating as soon as you are able. Your poor, poor daughter.

As an aside, if you have email addresses for each of her teachers, send an email to all explaining her disabilities and staying that to date she has been punished several times for said disabilities. I am sure they'll all be mortified and hopefully raise questions internally as to why they had not been informed of her SEN. She cannot be expected to tell each teachers on front of a class all her sensitive personal information. Failing which, a note to each from you, that she can hand in at the beginning of a lesson.

School are BU here.

Whether or not a child has a diagnosis and whether or not a child has an EHCP, they ought to make necessary adjustments to meet the child's needs.

I would say the Primary school have been really unhelpful by not formalising all the additional support they have been putting in.
Even if they felt she didn't need and EHCP (and I don't know her so can't say if they are right or not on that front) they were putting in considerable support and she would therefore have individual plans in place and be on the SEN register. All that information should have gone up to the secondary school and an extended transition should have been put in place. The Primary SENCO should have met with the secondary SENCo and informed them of all the support that should have been in place.
So this isn't all the Secondary school's fault.

However what you need to do now, is ask the school for a meeting with the SENCo and whoever has pastoral oversight of her (might be Form Teacher / Head or Year / Head of House/ a Pastoral Team member - varies, school to school) and put all this to them.
Tell them of both of her diagnoses. Tell them how that presents in your dd and what she has difficulty with. Ask them how they are supporting her. Ask them what reasonable adjustments they are making under the DDA (Disability Discrimination Act). she does NOT need to have an EHCP for them to put this support in place but an EHCP does tend to highlight her difficulties and give you 'proof' of her needs.

You can apply for an EHCP. It doesn't have to be the school.
Look at IPSEA website, or contact SOS SEN for further support.

x-posted.

Absolutely agree with everything @FluffMagnet said as well.

Especially the paper trail and following up verbal conversations with e-mails.

Erm wow this is quite shocking

I would absolutely make a complaint

I mean it's quite telling that the primary had all that support in surely. I'd be so mad

Good advice already on here OP. Another good source of support/info is the FB group called Not Fine In School.

@FluffMagnet As I have informed each teacher when issues present most of them have been mortified and apologised. Except the one that said it was her responsibility to tell them it was a tic as how can they tell the difference.

@NewName24 The info was sent from primary to secondary school and she did have an enhanced transition. That’s what makes it so annoying now. She does have an IEP in place but this is quite basic and also I have been advised by the SEN team “we can’t make the teachers read it”. I have since found out this school has a reputation for managing out SEN pupils to keep their high exam results so probably not the best school for her but all her friends are there so we really want to try and make it work.

Thank you all for reassuring me I’m not expecting too much. I KNOW schools are under funded and teachers overworked etc. and in a busy school it’s hard to look out for one pupil but it’s breaking my heart how much DD is struggling already. I’ve had a few meetings and suggested applying for funding and they keep saying she doesn’t meet criteria, because she’s not disruptive and other than in Maths she is meeting her targets. They have said the government have made it harder to get EHCP’s and only the most severe can get them now and she isn’t at that level. But surely there should be a middle ground between no support and EHCP.

My eldest child went to an SEN school and had an EHCP as he has severe learning disabilities and so this is our first experience of mainstream secondary school. Wasn’t sure what was normal. I will be sending a formal complaint in the morning!

You are not being unreasonable. It must feel horrible for your daughter to be given detentions for something she has no control over.

Agree with what the other responses have said.
If a child has disabilities the school have to make reasonable adjustments, which they are clearly not doing if they won't allow her to do things such as leave the room when she is having tics.

They also have a duty of care to your daughter, which it sounds as if they are not meeting, if the teachers do not know she has Tourette's and if they are allowing others to bully her due to her tics.

Things vary in name from area to area, but the senco should have some form of profile or record of her needs, which records what support they are providing and you should be able to have a copy of/comment on. Her teachers should also be made aware. They probably have a lot to remember at the start of a new year, where they are teaching pupils they may not already know, but the things you have described should be a clear reminder to them of your daughter's needs anyway.

YANBU

Does your DC go to the same school as mine? I was also told we can't make them read it, to which I told them they had better make sure they do or be prepared to deal with a complaint everytime they don't and my son is punished for it. Funnily enough I haven't had the same issues since!

Honestly with experience you have to complain, stamp your feet and go in for meetings and get/take minutes and set a review meeting to get anywhere.

Complain and keep pushing!

God that's heartbreaking and glad you have some good advice above.

What I would say (as a mum to a similar DD 16) is do rethink the school. I get the friends issue and ultimately that may be too big a factor to ignore. However she's just started and it's a battle, school cultures often don't change and if they do it's slowly. Years of this - even if slightly improved - is going to chip away at her. So absolutely fight for changes and support for her but in parallel I'd look around at options. We had to change school when DD was 13 for unrelated reasons and she moved to a school where the default from the teachers was kindness and support, low level bullying was pretty non existent because they clamped down on it and modelled inclusivity. The difference in her spirit is uncalculable, we should have done it deliberately and earlier.

Wishing you and your DD all the best

This is really horrible to read that this is happening to your daughter. My daughter too has autism and tourettes. Fortunately, we have always home educated her, so I've never had to deal with her disabilities being punished by a school. It actually makes me quite tearful that your daughter is going through this.

Formal complaint all the way. I know people shouldn't have to, but if you're in a position to home educate - I highly recommend it.

If the school has a reputation for managing out SEN pupils you are almost certainly going to need to fight for everything.

I would suggest that in your next meeting with the SEN team you ask that her IEP is re-emailed after each incident.

After each incident complain. In writing (email) to both the teacher, cc ing the SEN team. Use the formal complaints procedure that the school has.

You can apply for an EHCP yourself and it will help to put pressure on the school. (The school are not wrong, but without an EHCP any support can be withdrawn at any time as you have discovered). Expect to have to appeal the EHCP.

There are charities that will help you with applying for an EHCP - there are also some long running threads on Mumsnet on the SEN boards.

In the long run seriously consider whether having her at this school is right for her. The school don't want her. They are making that clear.

They are being openly discriminatory, and failing in their duty of care as well in the case of the bullying in the classroom. It seems obvious they’re trying to induce you to remove her from the school on your own, so as to avoid having to accommodate a child with disabilities.

So they are being more than unreasonable: they are being vile, because they are vile people. I’m not sure if you’d want to stay there anyway. It’s hard to imagine a more blatant case of a school showing no desire to meet a child’s educational needs, and disregarding their duty of care.

Also, I very much hope you’re not allowing her to actually serve any of these absurd detentions.

That's awful. Your poor daughter.

I also think that the primary school let your dd down by not pushing for an EHCP just because they were able to meet her needs.

As primary school teachers, we have the same 30 children in our class every day and can make the adjustments that they need whether or not they have any paperwork.

Whenever I discuss SEND at parents evening (I often have children who are on the pathway but haven't yet received a diagnosis) I say that we can meet the child's needs but if we can get an official diagnosis (and an EHCP if appropriate) before they leave primary school, it should help when they go to secondary school which is such a different environment.

I agree rethink the school. DS has different issues but ended up at a different school to his best friends because he needed the far more nurturing one and so far it has been good - he has made new friends and the support in place v necessary. Also no one bats an eyelids at the reasonable adjustments he has because quite a few do and he feels more normal - it is still v mainstream

They most certainly CAN ensure teachers read it. In fact, when something like this rarely happens at my school our SENCO has arranged meetings with the teachers who clearly haven't read it to go over the IEP and ensure they know strategies to support. Further failure to follow IEP is a disciplinary matter. It is a key part of a SENCO's work to ensure IEPs are followed. Or what is the point?

Contact the governors and LEA and CC a journalist from your local paper in the same email.

This. This is a case where a school and its senior staff should be named and shamed. They are deliberately harming a child for the purpose of inducing her parents to switch schools.

I can't believe people are blaming the primary school, which met her needs, over the secondary which is failing horribly. As the OP has said, primary did pass on her needs. I can't tell you the number of meetings we as a primary have with secondaries about our SEND pupils only to find that things have completely unravelled within weeks at secondary because absolutely no adjustments have been made. It can be very difficult to get an EHCP and whilst perhaps that would have been a good course of action, the reality is schools are expected to mange children at SEN support level - it's not an EHCP or nothing which seems to be several secondaries' approach. Something like 3% of primary pupils have an EHCP but around 18% are on the SEND register. It will never be the case that all are granted an EHCP.

I have been advised by the SEN team “we can’t make the teachers read it”.

Umm, what!? Yes, they flipping well can! It’s part of being a teacher. This school appears to be actively discriminating against your daughter and also not safeguarding her because they’re allowing her to be bullied. It’s appalling. (I’m a teacher.) This school needs to do better.

good luck. YANBU.

This! You need to be prepared for a battle! She has a confirmed, genuine condition & the school are FAILING her. Simple human compassion & common sense would have avoided all of the horrid things they've put your daughter through. Document EVERYTHING & take it to the top. All you're asking for is a few facts to be taken into consideration & for your daughter to be treated with dignity.

Of course the school can make teachers read IEPs!!! My school have (rightly) made a massive push over the last 2 years to ensure that there is greater visibility of SEND needs amongst staff. We have regular SEND training, and the downloading/reading of SEND sheets is regularly on meeting time agendas, plus it is on our learning walk sheet when we are observed. Frankly, the school just has to make it a priority and actually try to get teachers to read them.

I have to say I'm quite disappointed in your primary school, with such a big packet of support in place, they should have begun the process of formalising things to EHCP level. Also, the transition seems to have gone very wrong if the secondary are not clear on what your daughter needs and are not communicating this to staff.

The school absolutely has a duty of care, your poor daughter 😢 a good source of information is Contact
https://contact.org.uk/help-for-families/information-advice-services/education-start/education-learning/ehc-plans-assessments/what-is-an-ehc-plan/
You should apply for the EHCP, don't wait for the school to do it and also consider a DLA application for your daughter if this is not already in place 💐

My son also has tourettes and ADHD. He's well behaved in school and in his last school, he tried to mask as much as possible. According to the school, due to him not being disruptive or badly behaved, he didn't meet the EHCP threshold and they refused to help me apply. He struggled badly with bullying and kids mocking his tics or saying he didn't have tourettes because he wasn't shouting swear words every second.

I pulled him out in the end because he refused to go in and I was being threatened with fines. During the period of him being out of school, I called his ADHD doctor and gp who forwarded it to the wellbeing hub. He was given a very detailed interview with a psychologist and social worker who filled in EHCP paperwork based on their findings. It took a while, but he started a new school in year 9.

My advice would be to try every avenue to get EHCP and support now before GCSE years. He is only in foundation level for his exams now due to the period he was out of school which is really frustrating as he was in higher sets before and on track for 7-9.

Hope this helps. Tourettes is so badly understood in schools and people don't understand the anxiety and frustration that comes with it. They seem to think it's just a funny condition that makes you shout random stuff.