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Went to high school this year and all of this support was withdrawn.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.

@FrippEnos Yes it’s off the parent portal and that is exactly what the teachers see, or should see if they bother to look.

A lot of the sensory stuff was added after incidents in school, she was made to dance bare foot for example and she had a meltdown and fled the area but yes it would be more helpful to link this to the lesson itself.

I agree there is no information about strategies for managing this and additional support and it’s simply a list (that isn’t followed anyway).

This is all very useful for when it comes to discussing the complaint I’ve made.

I agree. Move the child. However, this school probably should be exposed publicly given that it seems like an ongoing, systematic pattern of misconduct affecting SEND and potentially other vulnerable students as well. I believe the OP mentioned an OFSTED report citing abnormally low numbers of minority students and those on free meals.

I’m so sorry, this school sounds dreadful. I’m not sure what the answer is but I think they could be doing an awful lot more to support your dd.

It may be the school is only meaning to list the primary need at the top, but if that is the case a) it needs to be clearer because the top gives the impression SEMH needs are the only SEN needs, and b) I wouldn’t expect SEMH to be DD’s primary need with her ASD.

It is a poor plan all round, really.

At my secondary you can directly email the class teachers. I would be tempted to write one email, explaining yours daughters tics and other issues. Explaining the punishments she has received due to them and CC it to every single teacher she has, plus the head of year, sendo and head and a governor!
If you feel that is over kill then simply head of year and sendco. But ask for a response and a follow on call.

Yes this is correct. Ofsted commented that they have well below average SEN children and free school meal children and just 3% of children are from an ethnic minority background.

Nonsense. It's part of their job to read it. A huge proportion of what we are made to do is in our own time!

This is also nonsense - they may well have given them time in inset but could have swapped if systems fail, or given time at another meeting the next week. IEPs should also be regularly reviewed so teachers will read updated ones all the time - we don’t have loads but probably I read 3-4 a half term. They take seconds and it’s a requirement as everyone’s said under the equality act to make adjustments needed
im so sorry the school is not doing their job