AIBU to think school should allow reduced hours for my son?

[teenagerlegproblems]

Ds (year 9) is having a lot of leg problems, pain, fatigue. We have seen the GP and have a referral to physio. In the meantime we are just having to manage as best we can. DS is not sleeping well due to the pain so until the physio appt at the end of the month (on the Gp recommendation) we let the school know that DS will need a reduced timetable.

They’ve said no. That he has to attend or it won’t be authorised. I paid £60 for a GP letter to explain and they still said no. We had said that he can only manage each day up till 130 (so he will miss the last two lessons), we checked his timetable and these are the ones that are less important (all double lessons) PE, citizenship, French (he is already fluent) and RE (he can do this work at home).

I feel they are being very difficult. They’ve said they won’t ‘release’ him to us as he’s legally required to be there till 330. So far they have done but have said from Monday this will not be the case? Do I just keep him off then ?

They do not have to "release" him - he is not being detained at His Majesty's pleasure. You are still the parent and you make the decisions.

If they decide to fine you, you simply produce the doctor's letter for the LA to see. If they take you to court - you produce the letter.

This is not you making a random decision and treating him like a wimp - you are acting on medical advice. You would be wrong not to take it.

This is nonsense. Lots of kids have medical conditions/additional needs that schools are required to accommodate. She's not asking for the moon on a stick!

Download a copy of the DfE’s document on attendance. It says GP evidence is sufficient to authorise absences - although some schools insist on specialist/consultant level evidence. Book a meeting with your school’s teacher in charge of attendance and SENDCO, state you want reasonable adjustments. If no go, contact your local authority and ask for their policy on part time timetables. I hope your young one feels better soon and gets a diagnosis. Prepare yourself to be referred to child services if a diagnosis isn’t established. I hope that it doesn’t come that.

Excellent advice!

Do you think you're maybe pandering a little too much in this case?I can't see a vast difference in leaving at 1.30 for a nap or 3.30 for a nap, especially if it seasons like PE which presumably he'll sit out, or other lessons he's competent in requiring little mental effort. Can he nap at lunch time at school?

They are not required to bend the rules, but there are also rules (and laws for that matter) about making accommodations.

HTH

Of course they haven’t. They’ve written whatever the parents wanted them to write for the 60 quid. With no diagnosis how could they specifically advise that the correct management would be to have exactly 1.5h less school. It’s not something a GP could reasonably give such precise advice on. They get asked to write letters like this all the time and they just write what people want because it’s not worth the argument. Schools know the game (as do housing and the benefit office)

It’s very difficult, because more and more parents are demanding this and it’s becoming a real problem. We have a student who has been diagnosed with a stage 4 brain tumour and his treatment is brutal, yet he tries to get into school as much as he can. We are in awe of him.
Meanwhile you have parents who keep their child off if they so much as sneeze.
Your school should have a unit where your son can go, if he needs time out and extra support.
If he has serious leg condition, you should have a consultants letter and the school have to accept this.

Isn’t keeping someone against their will false imprisonment?

Not children in school, no. By enrolling them in the school the parents have undertaken to ensure they attend and the school can expect they will attend.

Having said that I don't think the school can actually refuse to let him leave! I think they're just trying it on (probably because of all the pressure they're under re attendance).

firstly , this is not norm for a child of that age ask GP for a referral to neurology ( Paeds consultant at minimum ) a physiotherapist isn’t going to be able to do anything without know the reason your son is in there and why he is in pain so that’s a pointless excercise . If they’ve not given a diagnosis of anything then physio is a total waste of yours and theirs time and is an unfit referral .
make sure all communication is in writing also and not verbal as this is important .
request a meeting with the schools EWO / and of Inclusion officer .
remember we have a human rights act here in the uk have a good look at legislation and educational legislation .

do not back down on this your son is the priority not their statistics xx

Laws which include educating every child and providing accommodations and reasonable adjustments for medical reasons.

Glad to see someone mentioned that physio is not going to be the magic cure for this….i think it needs investigation/scans to determine what is going on.

Can I just ask about the leg pain at night? Is his leg radiating pain at night?
I had pain in my foot, thought it was a sporting injury. It would not recover with physio/rest, and got worse and worse - eventually throbbing at night every night relentlessly. I went for a private MRI where they found fluid on the bone. They sent me for a CT scan and turns out I had a benign tumour called an osteoid osteoma. The doctor was flummoxed because apparently these are never seen in adults and not usually in the foot - BUT - most commonly in the long leg bones of children - hence the reason for me telling you this. They are very difficult to diagnose initially. This is why I am suggesting it, just on the off chance.
Treatment was radio ablation (radiotherapy needle) into the tumour guided by CT done under GA. I was back to normal 2/3 days later and my foot completely recovered.

But he will never sleep well at night if he's having a sleep in the day?

My DS was prescribed co-codamol and naproxen (not together) at various times during secondary school, are you sure they won't prescribe anything stronger. Co-codamol used to give him a decent sleep if nothing else, we used it sparingly.
I'd also echo making sure he has all the tests.

Or the wait for outpatient investigations requested by GPs is ridiculous (not their fault, it’s the system) and the MSK service (physios) is the appropriate pathway for further assessment and imaging in many areas.

My daughter had glandular fever really bad at the age of 14, I requested a phased return to school, they said no. They also threatened me with the truancy officer, or whatever they’re now called. I decided to ring the officer myself to explain the situation. The school hadn’t contacted her, the bastards were lying. She was disgusted with them, I’d just been diagnosed with M.S and they were absolute arse holes and didn’t give a shit.

I gave her all the medical information, my daughter had been hospitalised with it. She said to leave it with her to arrange a phased return, and if they wouldn’t do it she’d report them to the governors. Hey presto, I received a phone call the next day to arrange the phased return and to drop certain subjects so she could concentrate on core issues such as English, maths etc.

We came to the conclusion that most teachers have never left school or worked in another environment, it was so bloody frustrating.

I guess depends on the underlying reason. I knew a girl that was diagnosed at 10yo with MS and the fatigue was so bad that no she couldn’t cope.

My son was in a similar situation. When we saw physio they said that when you go through a growing stage, you bones and muscles do not grow at the same time. The bones grow first and the muscles have to catch up(sometimes can take months) which is what causes pain tiredness etc. My son was always growing so symptoms were always there! Finially he has slowed down and the pain etc is manageable.

I work in a pastoral role at a Scottish secondary school. A reduced timetable would be authorised for him here without issue.
Have they actually said that he needs to be in class at that time? Or would they compromise by allowing him a quiet space for private study, so that he’s still in the school building? As a temporary measure, I feel that would be fair.
I hope your son’s health improves soon

I would approach this from a SEND Perspective. Request a meeting with the SENDCo and ask them to draft an individual health care plan (IHCP) which would be informed by your medical evidence. Asking for every day to be reduced is a lot, but you should be able to identify reasonable adjustments.

School finishes 3-3.30. Surely he can come home and nap then, then get up in time for dinner. You are prioritising the wrong thing - sleep over pain relief.

I've work in the role that makes these decisions in a school and I think they're being wildly unreasonable. That said, do not just not send him in. His absence after 1:30pm will be unauthorised but there's no way they could get a fine through the LA in this scenario. They can't physically prevent you from collecting your child. I would just double check 1:30pm is late enough for him to get his afternoon mark as well as his morning one. If it isn't, you could consider if he could manage until his afternoon mark time.

A couple of thoughts. Firstly if they refuse to release him he may be in too much pain too attend the next day at all and a week or two of this may convince them that a targeted part time timetable would make more sense. Secondly, do you think a wheelchair would help? He may find it would help with the night time pain and subsequent fatigue as well as accessing more school. My son is ambulant disabled and uses his wheelchair if a lot of walking is involved although most of the time he doesn't need one. I appreciate mentally it might be quite a big step though.

Maybe better pain management if possible so he gets more rest? I’d argue he can skip PE with the medical note but missing every single afternoon is a bit far fetched.