Ds (10) and school trip to outdoor centre ASD travel

[Outdooradventureissues]

DS is 10 and has a day trip next Tuesday to an outdoor centre / forest school type place. The class is travelling by coach.
DS has ASD and extremely severe travel sickness and is unable to take medication for this.

We can easily get a train / walk (takes a bit longer but he would then arrive feeling ok for the day and activities). I would collect him afterwards. We suggested this and have been told no - that if we do that and he’s not in registration that AM it’s an unauthorised mark. That he goes by coach or comes in registers then we take him by train / walk. We would need to leave at 8 am to get him there for the 930 start. If he goes in to school for 850 as they insist we will then be very late for the start of the activities and they do a safety brief first. Can they do this - surely they have to authorise?

Someone at the school is being a twat. Of course your suggestion is not unreasonable.

You have suggested a perfectly reasonable adjustment that will accommodate your DSs disability without causing any inconvenience to the school.

I would contact the governors, and then the Academy Trust/LA, then your MP and then the local press. Start kicking up a fuss until they accept your perfectly reasonable suggestion.

[Disclaimer: I was a teacher, I know how some individuals can be obstructive for their own power-trip reasons. It’s usually not the class teacher. And I would not encourage kicking up a stink lightly]

Also, you haven’t mentioned why DS can’t take travel sickness medicine, if its taking it orally that’s the problem I’ve heard there’s a patch that delivers the medicine through the skin (and lasts 24-48 hours). We’ve considered this for DS who is also terribly travel sick, but haven’t yet tried it (he takes Kwells).

I'd go with the unauthorised mark. But if you're hoping for a term time holiday later, this will add to the authorised absence total.

Sadly as the parent of an SEN child (I am one) you frequently can't win. Just go for what is best for your child.

It was the last week of a very hectic term I wouldn't hold anything against them. If you felt they were rude then sometimes it's best to combat that with kindness, we all have off days and to be honest they were probably very flustered after the last trip if he's as sick as you say he is when travelling.

Just put it out of your mind, take him by train next week and do everything you can to try and make sure he has an enjoyable time.

I’m surprised the school makes a fuss about him having been sick on the coach before. Primary school kids frequently get sick on school coaches. That is why the teachers and helpers go prepared with sick bags, wipes, etc. What makes your son’s travel sickness different to anyone else’s? Is it his behaviour before or after being sick? Otherwise it’s normal for primary school coach travel.

So if his attendance is brilliant otherwise, then this unauthorised absence won't effect you in any way. It will only effect the school. And if they are that worried about it then the onus is on them to make a reasonable adjustments.

Just write in and say. After son's last trip in which he was very sick on the bus and you stated I must volunteer on the next trip to clean him up. I have instead opted to avoid him being sick at all which is unpleasant for everyone else travelling on the coach and we will travel by public transport and meet you there at x o'clock. I think this solution is better for my son and everyone else who would otherwise be travelling with him .

I'd probably email it to the trip organisers and CC the head and governors.

I would take your son myself, and in parallel I would pursue this with the headteacher and governors if necessary. They need to make reasonable adjustments, they have seen evidence of the travel sickness first hand, they should want to help your child. For those saying they don't have to make an exception for this boy, actually they do. And they should do so willingly, especially with a parent going out of her way to make it work for her child to receive an equivalent educational experience to his peers.

Can't you meet them where the coach leaves from, so they can register him, follow the coach in the car and get him handed over at the other end?

He's going to get the train.

I don't think posters are right saying it would have to go down as unauthorised. I've definitely had children arrive at trips for one reason or another under their own steam and it wasn't an issue. The pp who mentioned the register code V is probably right - I don't know them all but there are loads of little used register codes.

This type of stuff really annoys me. You have suggested a perfectly good solution at no cost to the school and its refused on the grounds of tick boxing paperwork rather than thinking what is best for the child.

The attendance thing isn't that big a deal, it is just one morning in the end, but it would be wrong of them to sign him as there if he has not been seen. There are good reasons this rule can't be broken.

I worked for a very small school which was part of a federation and it was common on school trips for parents to take the kids to another federation school to get on the bus there to save on transport costs.

I would send a quick email.

dear school,

my son has a disability and you asked me to make an adjustment and attend with him on trips due to severe travel sickness.

I have agreed and arranged an alternative mode of transport at our cost.

Now I’m being told he has to be late to the event disadvantaging compared to his peers or you will mark him as an unauthorised absense.

As you are aware under the equality act you cannot disadvantage someone due to disability and therefore him kissing sort of the activities is t a solution you should have offered.

As you are refusing to mark him as present - indeed you are marking his full attendance at the activity as unauthorised - then I will be dropping DS off at school as per your request to make sure he’s keeping at 8.50am and will make sure he has spare clothes and wipes for whoever needs to support cleaning him up after the coach journey.

Apologies I cannot attend on the day.

thanks.

Watch them suddenly be willing to have a discussion over it or start to suggest they use the right code.

Sometimes the best way to fight unreasonable behaviour is through being polite and calm. Don’t escalate this to the governors fgs. Apart from anything else you need somewhere else to go if you really need it!

Dear class teacher and heads name,

I am writing to check arrangements for the X trip next week. As you know XY has a disability and as part of this is unable to take travel sickness medication and we are all hoping to avoid a repeat of what happened last time. I am requesting a reasonable adjustment which will involve me getting him to the venue for the activity start time via public transport (and at my own cost). You have stated that this reasonable adjustment would mean that XY would be marked as an unauthorised absence. Can you clarify why he would not be able to marked with the code V as this seems the most appropriate given that he will be travelling to the educational visit during the registration (roll call) period.

I also intend to (stay and supervise or return at Z time depending on the agreed plan).

thank you for your consideration,

best wishes,

Mrs XY’s Mum

I'd just write to the head. The class teacher has no say over any of this and shouldn't really have to be dealing with it at all.

True but if I was the class teacher I’d want to be CC’d as courtesy

Hang on a minute, this doesn't add up to me. Why can you not take him into school for registration and then simply follow the coach when it leaves for the activity? Or register and then head off while they load the other children on to the coach if you need a bit more time?

Because we need to get the train / walk. He gets travel sick in cars / coaches

My son has cerebral palsy and we take him direct to trips / pick him up and take him straight home ALL the time and he never gets an unauthorised absence. He's in year nine and it was the same at primary school. They were totally fine with it!

In fact I remember at primary I took him swimming once a week on Thursday mornings, arrived at school about 45 minutes late and they just added him to the register. They made an allowance because it was so good for him.

My apologies. I misunderstood.

A teacher friend of mine has a great trick for coach sick children - she gives each child a post it note and tells them to sit on it because it’s a cure for feeling sick. It actually works!!!
Id give your DS a spoonful of antihistamine, make sure he sits at the front, has a bottle of water to sip and that the staff give him a sick bucket.

I really wouldn't 😂 Each to their own, I suppose!

Tell school you are actually busy now. And hes to go on the bus. Ask who is in charge of cleaning his vomit. Bring in masks and gloves and bin liners and say so sorry unfortunately he has big breakfast so you'll have your work cut out. Remind staff helpfully to bring clean clothes incase he pukes on them. And mention how great it is that the bus company are happy to accommodate him and his 3 sick buckets.

Watch how fast they change their minds

@itsgettingweird I don't know for sure, but would travel sickness be classed as a disability? ASD certainly is, but would travel sickness be covered under the Equality Act?

I completely agree that the school is making this difficult.

This is asinine ridiculous response. Do you know how I manage my severe travel sickness that persists even as an adult? I take control of my travel and take steps to avoid situations that trigger vomiting. I also do things like eat dry snacks and suck on hard candies.

He doesn’t need to learn to deal with the school being rigid. He needs to be allowed to do what he knows makes him less likely to vomit on a classmate.