Should I take this further or is it an over reaction / being too sensitive.

[Tiredandworried2]

Hi could I get some truthful advice on whether this is now a point where I need to intervene / put in a complaint or whether it’s just “ an over reaction “

Daughter year 6 has a physical disability, she also is autistic and had speech / communication delay. She is unable to write due to Weakness on the right side of her body. She can write a short amount but is messy and not for very long.
She has a laptop from her EHCP from OT recommendations to complete her work.

The last few weeks she has been really unregulated after school and crying in school, can’t get her in every day, being sent home for head aches and being removed from classroom due to “ misunderstandings with her teacher “

These misunderstands are as followed

Incident 1 - daughter came home in a state because her teacher was doing grammar sats sheets with them which they insist she does by hand. He was talking to the whole class when he wrote an example of good and bad handwriting. When daughter does write her handwriting is messy and he pointed to the bad handwriting and says we don’t write like this because we are not babies.
Now this was directed at the whole class but did upset daughter because she knew her handwriting was that of what he called baby like. I managed to talk to daughter and calm her down and didn’t address it personally with the school but encouraged daughter to talk to a member of staff about how she felt which she did - that staff member spoke to the teacher about maybe understanding language that he uses - I did touch base with the senco behind the scenes.

Incident 2 was a week after - doing a D&T lesson they were designing a poster and daughter had asked if she could draw something specific and write something specific in which he responded to her with “ yes as long as it doesn’t look babyish “
Hence daughter having a panic about continuing in case it looked babyish because her physical hand issues. She was removed from class. - again this was addressed with relevant members of staff.

Incident 3 - was a week later ( today ) her 1-1 was going for lunch and it was English so left her laptop out so she could complete any work that needed doing, after 1-1 left the teacher came over and closed her laptop and moved it so she was unable to write the learning objective. Immediately 2 kids shouted at the teacher to say that she needed her laptop ( go figure the kids understand 🤣 ) he reacted shocked to the kids and placed the laptop back on her desk but Still closed, at this point daughter didn’t know what to do so sat there until her 1-1 arrived back and then was removed from class being upset.

am I know at the point where this needs to go further ?

Yeh see me and her last head teacher did not end well 🤣🙈 I called him a sadist in front the whole playground and vowed to stay calmer and it’s being okay for 4 years 😩😩😩🙈

Perhaps his inability to remember that she needs to use the laptop for wrtten work and that he shouldn't use derogatory words like "babyish" to anyone would be fixed if the head reminded him.

Go to the Head, the SENCO and the Chair of Governors. You can rip him to shreds in a politely professional way e.g. suggesting some re-training might be appropriate.

This is the same person every time?

In which case he is really screwing up so yes.

If it were different people I would still go in and say can you get everyone up to speed, but this man is either clueless or pissed off he has to deal with a child with your daughter’s needs so I would be very firm that this needs to change - get a face to face meeting, and follow up in writing, and expect them to formally implement measurable changes so you can track and feedback on progress

Absolutely complain. He sounds clueless.

Not the point of your post, I know, but I do love the fact your daughter's friends, supported her and called him out. Not easy for young children to challenge a teacher like that. Fair play to them - hope that gave her some comfort.

I bought DD frixion pens and told the school when she couldn’t type, she needed to be able to use those. One of her teachers pushed back and I just pushed back harder. Her writing was illegible in pencil after just a few minutes. In order to learn things like math, she needed to be able to read her own work.

Bloody hell. I agree that this man is not a deliberate bully but he has completely failed to grasp what DD needs and what he’s doing her by calling the results of her courageous hard work babyish. Presumably a term he coined for older children who are not being focused and careful enough.
I wonder if there is some organisation who could offer training in empathy with children in DD’s position.

I wouldn't say bullying, I would suggest they have a lack of understanding.

Can you meet with this teacher and the senco and go through her plan in detail, explaining to him simply exactly what her needs are and how to meet these.

I assume the teacher is either quite new to teaching so may not have much experience, or possibly older where maybe they expect children to just get on with things.

I have never understood the pen licence thing and think it should be banned with attendance awards. Thankfully my children's school do neither.

Yes it does need to go further. The teacher should be very well aware of your daughter's difficulties. The fact she uses a laptop, should not be a shock to him. You need a meeting with this teacher, SENCO and Head of Year.

Bollocks to that. I'd be absolutely raging. I don't know what the proper order of procedure is but it is s absolutely time to take this further, immediately and keep pushing until you get a result.
Honestly I wouldn't want her in his lessons at all he is doing more harm than good for her.

I'm not sure it's not bullying tbh, in fact I'd find it hard to describe it in any other way. I think you're doing your child a disservice by not reporting it, however well intentioned your motives given your previous experience in the other school. I hope you report it and can ensure that this teacher starts behaving in an encouraging, understanding and non bullying way towards your child.

When I say I haven’t reported it I have - both senco and head teacher are aware

She spoke to a higher member of staff about it who told her it was probably just a joke and some kids wouldn’t have got upset over it but some may and he may not have known you would have - something like this
This is appalling, something is only a joke if the person its about thinks it funny otherwise its plain mean. It sounds like you think the teacher means well but doesn't get it, he needs to get it and you need to insist that this is dealt with. Well meaning or not he is hurting your child and making her feel bad about herself. You are absolutely under reacting. My middle autistic boy has bad handwriting and spells strangely, between the two things it was unreadable for a long time, he couldn't even read it out himself because he'd forget what he'd written. He was supported and helped and Im sure any of his teachers would have felt badly about the first accidental hurt over babyish handwriting and made sure it didn't happen again. Don't teach your daughter to settle for being hurt by people because they're well meaning, she deserves better.

You're being very generous with the teacher (as a teacher)

He is required to understand the echp and apply it - it's part of his job and subject to the equality act. He needs to make the adjustments required. If it's true the kids told him off he's got major behaviour management issues and needs further support from his management team

I'd be going in person to speak to the senco and head, with him added to the meeting shortly after. Let him know how upset and anxious this lack of adaptation is making her. It's ok for you to get upset (not aggressive), and it happens when parents are talking about how important their child's access to education is

He's clearly out of his depth for some reason and not doing his job properly which is negatively impacting your daughter. She deserves to have her needs met and to be able to get the same education as her peers.

Pen licences are very old fashioned; BUT if it's important to your daughter how do they decide? Can she have a trial and then get one to use a pen?

At secondary shed be able to use a laptop all the time as a reasonable adjustment. She could potentially also investigate things like learning to dictate using the laptops tools (though that it tricky can be useful).

You've spoken with the teacher and his behaviour continues.

Time to make a formal complaint to the head teacher and SENCO. They have a legal obligation to support your dd and he is failing miserably and repeatedly.

Absolutely unacceptable that he is not only ignoring her needs but also belittling her due to her disability.

You should speak to the head today op.

Governors next step.

What adjustments are in place for SATs?

Extra time and scribe.

I'd be complaining the bullying had been excused as a joke too. Brave for such a young child to raise this and then be told it's a joke?! Not ok

I really don't understand why this teacher is so clueless and acting so stupidly. Presumably he's been told after the first comment to stop it. I taught for over 25 years in a secondary school. Every year I read up on all the pupils I would be teaching to find out any specific needs, that was a minimum of 150 children, many of whom had requirements. It helped me and them. I also identified pupils who would benefit from using a laptop in exams and worked with support for learning to move that forward. He's struggling to remember the specific needs of one child?
I think it's time to have a meeting with the head teacher. They probably won't give you a decision then and there. Their job is to investigate first. So go in armed with facts. The number of occasions when he has not followed your daughter's needs, remind the head teacher of dates. Ask if the teacher was informed of her needs, what's the protocol for staff to find out. Ask why your daughter is still having this issue. Remind the head teacher that this is having a bad effect on your daughter's educational progress. What will they do and how can you support. The reason I say that is because 1. You want a timeline and 2. You want to appear reasonable, even if you do want to slash his tyres! I also think if you don't mention how this is affecting your daughter emotionally at the start of the conversation, it'll help you to stay calm. Bring out the emotional impact later in the conversation. Be clear what you want to achieve from this conversation. The teacher is either a bully or an idiot