to think it is disgusting to 'hide' a SN pupil when the inspectors are in?

[stirfry]

I am so disgusted and cross with this.

I work in a school 1-1 with a year 2 pupil who has communication and behaviour difficulties.

Early this year we got a bad Ofsted report and so this week the inspectors have been back in to reasses certain classes within the school, the ones who were inadequate last time.

The pupil I work with is in one of these class and at times his behaviour can be a little disruptive but nothing I can't handle.

Rather than let the inspectors see the school how it really is the head decided that on that day this pupil would spend the morning in the school nursery with the nursery children.

I am so fecking cross, there are so many policies with regards to inclusion in school and yet so called professionals still think it is ok to hide away a child with SEN's just in case he makes the school look bad

I'd be thinking about tellng Ofsted what the school did - hardly going to look good on a report.

That is disgraceful !

And I agree with AA

I would contact ofsted myself and tell them what you were asked to do!!

Really - I'd tell Ofsted. Because other parents of SN children have the right to know the school 'hides' them from inspection, so that the provision for them cannot be inspected.

I think the Head's behaviour gives a far bigger clue as to why the school got a bad report. Would make sure Ofsted know that's what happened.

Anyway surely OFSTED are assessing the teachers not the pupils, so apart from being morally dubious it's illogical!

oh it's crap but I can kind of see why the school do it. I would be very wary about sending my children to a 'top of the league tables' school -certainly not without further investigation - because some achieve that by driving children with SN (especially social and communication SN) out of their schools.

I would be seriously tempted to complain, BUT I think I would have to point out that OFSTED themselves are as much to blame really for the situation in the first place.

Children with social and communication difficulties tend not to sit neatly in class. But hey ho lets all pretend that inclusion is wonderful and properly funded etc etc.

If it was my child I would be making such a fuss the school wouldn't know what hit them!

I have worked with this child for 3 years now and so have a really bond with him and his parents.

As a member of staff I will put myself in a really bad position if I tell Ofsted but I was thinking I could 'accidently' slip up and tell mum, she's pretty on the ball so if I just say something in passing she is bound to pick up on it and then if she questions me I would have to tell her the truth!

Or is doing that unethical?

I think it is completely stupid for one thing. Surely a school should make it their selling point that they can provide a good environment for all their students. When dd's new school was Ofsteded, we wrote a few lines about their support of her disability and the inspector was so impressed that we were quoted verbatim in the report. Quite right to. If they are handling it well, it should be a matter of pride. If not, someone should tell the inspector.

I would be telling Ofsted and the parents.

That is disgraceful, but not uncommon, unfortunately. My dh is a teacher, and during one inspection the most disruptive children were told not to come in for the day or taken out so that they wouldn't "spoil" things.

I think the problem is that Ofsted announce when they are coming - and in my experience, schools do not present a true picture of themselves to inspectors. I have seen secondary schools buy plants in, lock particular sets of toilet so they can't be seen, and generally lie their way through things. Then everything goes back to normal after the inspection.

This is wrong on so many levels.
The school should not be forced into cherry picking what ofsted inspectors see. But the govt shouldn't be trying to make parents so freaked out by league tables that they resort to such thing.
And thetruth is that we have had threads on here where people ask about how detrimental having children with behavioural SN in a class will be and will factor that into their choice of school - so the school is hiding something that some parents actually will have an issue with.....

I just thank the lord my DS is at special school and can't be thrown into a cupboard when the inspectors call.

I didn't even go to look at the school imediately across the road after my friend was told at a visit that 'that child there and that child there are our special needs children'

Surely it would make a much better impression if the ofstead inspector viewed the class in it's normal environment, with said child on occasion exhibiting challenging behaviour and saw how effectively it was dealt with - in terms of your role and how the teacher kept the rest of the class concentrating and on track.

At least if I was an inspector that would definitely make me mark down an outstanding!

Could you argue that point of view to the head - ie that both you and the teacher know what you are doing and have planned accordingly?

am disgusted at this. special needs kids have the same rights as any other child to education, how dare that bloody school hide the child because of inspectors. makes me question what else is going on there?wouldnt be sending any of my kids to a school that discriminated like that.isnt there laws against this kind of thing???

Oh dear. I know an Ofsted inspection is a godawful thing, but that is not right at all. What laweaselmys said is right.
If I were you, I would contact Ofsted.

My ds has High Functioning Autism and I would be absolutely furious if he had been segregated in this way. I would certainly want to know about it. In fact it had better not be my ds you are talking about.

I would certainly be reporting them to Ofsted and I think the parents should be told as well. If "inclusion" is only being adhered to on the surface then I think the parents should be aware of that, they are not getting all the information imo. My ds's school are fabulous and have gone above and beyond the call of duty for him, I can't imagine they would ever do something like that, but we have experienced prejudice from friends so although this makes me fume, I am not surprised.

Goodness you are in a really hard position.

If you tell OFSTED there is no doult that you will lose or job, or your life will be made unbearable by the school. If I was you I would let it slip to the parents and get the parents to contact OFSTED. The parents could say that their child told them.

It is morally wrong and OFSTED would take it very seriously. Last year the school I work at had an OFSTED inspection. There was a girl who screamed at the sight of the OFSTED inspector. The school still got an extremely good report. OFSTED understand that the behaviour of children with certain SEN can be challenging.

Anyway they tend to focus on the management rather than individual teachers nowadays.

this happened to my son, we were struggling to get him support in school, he has ASD but at this point was undiagnosed and was displaying very aggressive behaviours which the school put down to naughtiness, he was being excluded regularly! OFSTED came in to do an inspection and on the first day they were in DS came home and said he had been working with TA all day with another child who has aspergers and needs support but didnt get any! I was so angry because the school had not given support before......i went into class the next morning and infront of the OFSTED inspector i asked in a deliberately loud voice if the support my DS and this other child had recieved the day before was going to be long term or just whilst OFSTED was in! Th teacher did not know what to say and OFSTED lady looked shocked! I dont know what happened after that as a few days later they excluded my DS and i removed him!

Bonkerz that is outrageous! Well done you though. I would like to think that I would be the same. You could have a look at their report on line and see if anything came up in it. I just do not understand the huge discrepancies in the way that various schools perform when it comes to supporting special needs kids. Something so important should be so strictly regulated but it just isn't.

if you are uncomfortable telling ofsted yourself i would let slip to his mum

This doesn't surprise me. When I was training school asked a boy with ADHD not to come in for the week of the Ofsted. 10 years on, school is in special measures [not surprised emoticon] despite being state school of choice for all posh parents in an area of relative affluence.

How aeful.
I hate the fact that Ofsted visits arre planned.

I think they should just turn up unnannounced and see the schools how they are in their natural stste, not on their best behaviour.
Even better they should go in 'undercover' as food delivery persons, supply teachers, parents or even covert surveillance with hidden cameras

Bonkers that really is shameful. I just don't get how schools think they can treat pupils like this.

Our head is new to post and this is she first position as a head. I think she is so desperate to get a good report that she has completely lost the plot.

I went into this job because i wanted to help and support SN children. I have reached a point where I am going to leave asap. I can't do the job anymore, because all its about these days is Ofsted reports and SATs. Pupil care seems not to be a priority.

I know many TA's and Teachers who feel exactly the same as me. The vast majority of staff in my school would leave and do a different job altogether if they were in a position to.

How outrageous, I really feel for you OP being put in this situation. Ofsted should know (though I agree they and the system bear some responsibility for this) but I understand why you would not want to tell them. If you think letting something slip to the mum will not get you into major trouble then that sounds a good idea. God I could just get on a major soap box now about schools, how they treat children with SN, govt policies etc etc etc