Formal School Complaint - AIBU

[Schoolproblemsagain]

NC

Yesterday, I finally submitted a formal
complaint to my DS secondary school.

It has been a long time coming, but I’m having a major panic that I’ve done the wrong thing and they will treat my younger DS differently.

AIBU to have complained?

I won’t go into all the background details as it’s too long, but the catalyst for finally raising a formal is as follows:

DS Year 11, in the midst of his GCSE’s, has an EHCP and a Pupil Profile. ASD Diagnosis.

School phoned me and said:

At lunchtime, two boys were throwing food at him, he told them to fuck off, he was asked to leave the lunch hall, he refused. He explained to the teacher that he would not leave as he hadn’t done anything wrong and food was being thrown at him. This then escalated to three teachers within his space, who were asking him to leave. He was still refusing. He has been suspended for disruption and is not allowed to return to school unless to sit an exam.

The two boys, who were throwing food and their entourage, who were laughing, have received no punishment.

His EHCP and Pupil Profile states that he will not manage public confrontation with strategies on how to manage such events.

AIBU to have raised a complaint on the grounds that his EHCP and Pupil Profile were not followed, that he has been punished when the other students have not and that he is now missing vital support sessions during his GCSE’s?

Sure but two wrongs don’t make a right. The other boys may have been punished we don’t actually know. But when the OP says her son did nothing wrong he did. His behaviour was also unacceptable.

No one is Lilly white here so raising a complaint about the other boys not receiving punishment when the OP doesn’t know and saying her kid didn't do anything wrong when he did doesn’t exactly scream success.

OP while I understand if you want to speak to the school I don’t think you have a leg to stand on.

So you genuinely think that an exclusion for the OP’s dc was a proportional response to the situation, given what the OP has described in terms of her dc’s needs? I can totally understand how, in a busy stressful school canteen environment, with conflicting pressures to manage, the staff on duty might have responded to the incident in the way they did, even if that wasn’t in line with dc’s support plan. That’s just what happens sometimes. What I can’t understand, is how upon reflection afterwards, senior leaders felt it was appropriate to exclude them.

I'll say again... you turn up to work one day, your colleagues surround you, laughing, whist two of them throw food at you, you tell them to stop (or F off) and your boss comes in and tells you to leave or you'll be suspended or sacked? Would you quietly leave, or fight your corner?

Now imagine the same thing happening, but you're not an adult and you're ND...

Actually she has a huge leg to stand on - it’s called the Equality Act

It’s unlikely the teachers would have even know the students names, let alone if they have an EHCP, they definitely wouldn’t have known what was in it during an incident in a secondary school hall.
All the children involved should receive some form of discipline - making apologies would seem an appropriate response.

There are situations where, as an adult, I might choose to tell someone to fuck off. Can't remember the last time I did, if ever, but it's an option.

I also accept that places and institutions can have rules about conduct, and that I can't doggedly defend my right to, e.g., say "fuck off" in a workplace, public library, church meeting, etc.

I think it's actually a big problem to pretend that being at school is the same as being at work. The two are not comparable at all. At work, I have accepted a job in return for pay, and I have certain skills and knowledge to offer in the employment marketplace. I behave in accordance with workplace policy and general civilised norms, and accept that my employment could be affected if I don't. My employer, also, generally wants to retain me. It's a marketplace, peopled entirely by adults, and backed by employment legislation.

I absolutely do not send my children to school under the pretence that they, or their classmates, are equivalent to "colleagues" in a workplace. They are very much there as children in a school, as is appropriate for their developmental stage. I do not expect the teachers to treat them as colleagues or as consumers.

This is the great unknown. What happened to escalate the situation to suspension?

What does the paperwork say OP?

The trouble is that teachers don't get adequate training on SEND during standard teacher training, and as you say training on SEND subsequently has to compete with training on numerous other subjects. In particular, training on basic SEND law tends to be variable at best and some teachers have a really worrying ignorance about basic legal duties around SEN provision, equality and disability. The attitude displayed on here that discipline policies cannot make exceptions for disability is a classic example of that.

No absolutely not. Telling someone to fuck off is never an appropriate or acceptable reaction. Ever.

So what happened after his refusals to leave the hall?

Suppose OP's son had been in a wheelchair and the staff punished him for defiance for failing to stand up when told to do so. Would you be saying "rules are rules" then? This situation is no different.

If rules are rules, the law is the law. The school should comply with the Equality Act in applying its rules, and it is failing to do that. What sort of appalling example do you think that sets to its students?

All ITT routes include a lot of SEN training, teachers get yearly KCSIE CPD, and the ECT framework includes SEND. That's just the mandatory stuff. Ime schools have at least one inset day per year on SEND.

This, can imagine op wouldn't be happy the school telling the whole year her sons punishment, so expecting to be told others punishment is a bit skwefiff!

Is English schools gcse pupils not on study leave already?

I see where you're coming from, but the reality is, the world needs to be educated on how to support people with ASD so that they can successfully take a full part in society and flourish.

It's the 21st century. We have to stop expecting everyone to fit into 19th century models of acceptable behaviour.

I think it's fantastic that we have so much training as teachers in how to support children with ASD. It's helped me hugely and made me so much more understanding of and accommodating towards the adults with ASD in my life.

Workplaces should provide the same support to people with disabilities as the support children with disabilities get in school. We are starting to get somewhere with this in terms of EDI policies and reasonable adjustments etc but there is still a lot of work to be done. Attitudes like yours don't help in this matter. As long as we continue to expect people to fit the mould rather than trying to change the shape of the mould, we will have a world that doesn't work for huge numbers of people. As teachers we should be part of the call for change, not trying to perpetuate the norm.

It’s actually quite shocking. I’m genuinely surprised. My school has a very high SEN population so perhaps I have unreasonable expectations of what I expect other teachers to know as a result.

So iv had a child suspended under similar circumstances. Im a bit bemused that suspension hasn't been for a limited period like a couple of days.
Yes he should have left the hall and no he shouldn't have back answered the teacher when he was asked to leave even though he thought he was in the right. My dc exceeds in righteous indignation and caused many issues. What did the staff do when he refused to leave?

These threads are so depressing. Equality act blah, blah, blah. The kid should have just left the hall. Hardly even a punishment. Problem solved. But he escalated it by refusing so has been given an actual punishment. School's can't function if kids can't be sanctioned.

That is exactly why we have EHCPs: so that pupils with SEND can be given the best help possible to learn to cope with the big world outside. But if schools don't comply with EHCPs, that won't happen. OP's son won't have learnt anything beneficial from this in terms of how to deal with life outside school. If anything, the lesson this school has given all its pupils is that you can get away with bullying vulnerable disabled people.

I don't honestly believe that the law on exclusion makes any real difference to teacher retention rates. Other countries manage fine with exclusion rates way below England's.

I haven’t been given any paperwork, they called me to say what had happened and the outcome, which is, he can only be on site for exams. He cannot attend any lessons, workshops etc

But KCSIE only covers SEN safeguarding not suspension/exclusion law. Same for ECT.

This is my point. There is a CPD gap here with understanding what sanctions are legal or illegal under the law.

Teachers are on here confidently telling the OP that she’s wrong to complain when the law says that she is not. Please remember that this is a very upset parent and a very upset child. A complaint will simply ensure that the Governors review the decision and decide whether it was correct.

It is the DfE Exclusion Guidelines, the SEND Code of Conduct and the Equality Act that are relevant here not KCSIE or ECT

You think it doesn't have that duty?

OK, on reflection the first duty is probably safeguarding pupils - another respect in which this school failed.

If you’ve read the thread, you’ll have figured out at least a few of the reasons why they weren’t able to just leave the hall in those circumstances. What’s depressing is the lack of understanding of neurodiversity (and SEND in general) on here, particularly from those who appear to be working in education.

I've been a teacher for 15 years. Have been a Head of Faculty for half of that time. I can count on one hand the CPD sessions I've had on SEN in that time.

We don't get adequate training on SEN. We don't really get much training on anything, to be honest.

Everything I know about SEN I have learned from working with SEN kids in my classroom, and working out through trial and error how best to support them. Usually with some help from the SENCO, and Google, and advice from colleagues, I muddle through. I've never learnt from an external expert or taken a course or had to pass an exam in SEN provision. Schools are utterly reliant on SENCOs for expertise.

He can’t have been officially suspended then because if he was then they need to issue you paperwork. Sounds like they’re chancing it to be honest