Disagreeing with exclusion

[Idisagree]

Ds (Yr6) with sm of SEN for BESD was excluded by school recently. They have called it a fixed term exclusion and initially said it would be for a day and a half. When we explained that we couldn't leave work to collect him it turned into half day internal exclusion and then 1 day external. It then became a day and a half internal exclusion and finally when we had meeting on day 1 it turned into just an internal exclusion for that half-day (they appeared to back-track when challenged). We suspected that HT would try to exclude after Sats and lo and behold that's what she's done.Policy states that the decision should not be made in the heat of the moment and a full investigation should be made. We know that HT did not fully investigate and didn't even speak to ds about the incidents he was being excluded for. We are having a meeting soon with governors but does anyone know where we stand if school have not followed their own policy on this?

BESD?
Do you think this is the right thing to concentrate your energy on?

You can appeal to the LA's independent appeals panel if the governors uphold the exclusion. Contact your LA, and an independent charity like IPSEA or ACE for more advice - sometimes they can provide reps. Are parent partnership any good in your area?

What are the underlying issues behind his BESD? Are you getting support from CAMHS and have any underlying developmental conditions been ruled out (ASD, ADHD)?

It sounds like the HT/school aren't particularly supportive or meeting your ds's needs, though - do you really want to send him back, especially as he'll only have one term left (assume he'll be moving up to secondary)?

Do you have a good transition plan for secondary and will he be placed in an appropriate setting? If he's being excluded at primary, it's likely that he'll find secondary school even more challenging and might well need a specialist placement.

Have contacted parent partnership for assistance. He has suspected Aspergers but still awaiting diagnosis at present. School have not implemented provision in statement and the issues that led to exclusion could have all been avoided if they had. A heat of the moment decision was made and then they back-tracked to save face when I believe they know they are in the wrong. You can also not exclude a child with SEN if you have failed to provide provision for their needs.Secondary school seem much more supportive so we shall see.
lljkk - I don't want this on ds's record as he shouldn't have been excluded. Presume you would not be happy if your child was exclude on whim of HT!

Idisagree,
The first thing to say is that your son has not been excluded. A half day in an internal exclusion facility is not a formal exclusion and whilst I have no doubt it will be on your son's school record it is not an exclusion.

If you look at the guidance for formal exclusions then for an exclusion of upto 5 days the headteacher does not need to inform the Governing Body about the exclusion immediately only once a term in a formal report. However the GB must in such a case consider any representations made by the parents. However they cannot re-instate and can only place a copy of their findings on the pupil's school record. But your son has not been excluded formally.

Appeals to an independant appeal panel can only go forward in the case of a permanent exclusion.

The reality is that you have no case for appealing the half day internal exclusion. What you do have is a complaint about two aspects of the situation. Firstly the fact that the school is not taking your son's statement seriously and secondly about the manner in which the school acted over this minor incident.

As far as SEN statement is concerned, I would suggest that if you do not get a cast iron guarantee of the school implementing what is in the statement that you go to the LA and ask them to investigate. They will be less than happy if they are putting funds into the school which the school is not using correctly.

From your description it would appear obvious that the school have handled the incident badly and to change their mind three times on the punishment is just ludicrous, it makes them look fools. They did not carry out a proper investigation before coming to a decision about it and part of that investigation should have been the school allowing your son the opportunity to put their side of the story.

I am not sure that you can expect the GB to do anything but, if you have made a formal complaint, to accept that the school got it wrong and that they will do better next time. Given that the final punishment was half a day in internal exclusion I would not expect the GB to do anything about that, no matter how innocent your son was and I don't think from what has been said in your posts that he was entirely innocent, he did do something albeit probably under a level of stress / presure.

What is BESD?

What was the reason for the exclusion?

Sorry, I misread the OP and didn't realise it was an internal exclusion.

If your son's statement is not being implemented, use this template letter from Ipsea to write to the LA. You need to put your concerns in writing and try to get as much evidence as you can about what is/isn't being done.

BESD is behavioural, emotional and social difficulties. Which, incidentially, is not a helpful label on the autistic spectrum and often leads to inappropriate intervention. Is autism outreach involved at all? In some areas they will help even in the pre-diagnosis stage.

Admission the problem is they have treated this as a formal exclusion. Letter states he is not allowed on school premises and work will be given which must be returned for marking. This shows that they did plan external exclusion and have forgotten to change the letter! I understand they also called the LA to notify them too. If ds had appropriate support none of the incidents would have occurred. The basis of our complaint will be their failure to follow procedure/policy and lack of support for SEN.
sharp have tried to get help into school but school refused this as no diagnosis and they are all fully trained in ASD . They have said that he chooses his behaviour.

Why do ops not answer questions when Asked? Really annoying.

What is the point of getting up in arms with the governors about this? What do you expect from this meeting? It sounds like the management of school is a bit weak because of changing their minds so often.
It may be that the decision to exclude should take place after investigation but in cases of serious incidents, it may be appropriate to take action quickly.
I am not sure what you are trying to get and am surprised that actually, the reason why argued the exclusion with the school was because you could not get time off work rather than procedure or fairness of the punishment. Unless I got the wrong end of the stick.

Sorry, had not read your last post OP.
I'd focus on his transition to secondary school if I were you.

I think the isuse becomes one of paperwork. The letter you have says that it is a formal exclusion but you have been told that it is only an internal exclusion. So you need to send an email to the school asking for an explanation of what is going on, is this a formal exclusion or is it an internal exclusion which is not a formal exclusion and make the point that you have real concerns about the level of confusion and the way that this has been handled.
Only when you get a definitive statement will you have a way forward. However the reality is that the same comments apply, you will still not get a 1 or 2 day formal exclusion overturned because there simply is no mechanism to do so.

What incidences lead to an exclusion - ie what is he being blamed for doing and is there any doubt that he did it?

(this isn't an exclusion because it was internal and not external so does not count on school figures - don't see why you've got a letter)

cookcleaneretc

BESD is Behavioural, Emotional, Social Difficulties and is a rather catch-all term for students with challenging behaviour who do not have a diagnosis

Thanks!