Why are many schools outside education law

[shaneese]

I live in Wandsworth, from my research every secondary school in the Borough has opted to be a specialist school, my sons school is a Technology College is RAPP HPSS designated, my son has since year 7 had about 18 exclusions for mainly minor behaviour issues totalling about 80 days plus in addition he has been in their internal behaviour support units for at least a further 100 days missing lessons, I am now told the school is considering a permanent exclusion unless I accept a managed move to another school neither of which offer the same curriculum, one is a community sports college the other is an Arts college.
I thought this government had instructed schools to avoid permanently excluding pupils with or without SEN unless it was a serious breach such as violence, theft or vandalism, but it seems this law or rule does not apply to technology colleges, other specialist colleges or acadamies, they with their governors can permanently exclude pupils for any reason. I do not have faith in the governing panel as they really only listen to the head and teachers who argue disruption to other pupils rather than finding ways of resolving the behaviour issues of the child.
My son is not statemented even though he has had emotional and behavioural problems since reception class in his primary school I was not advised that this was an option, only when my son began getting exclusions in secondary school when I spoke with ACE was I made aware this would help him but his school and educational pyschologist have said he has no chance of receiving a statement as other more serious cases have been refused.
Can anyone explain to me why specialist schools can self evaluate themselves, my sons school insists all parents return their questionaires tipping the scales in their favour with the majority of parents and pupils happy with their provision, Ofsted do not investigate these and just accept that this is a fair response, why have our politicians not put a fair complaints procedure in place, my sons school has opted out of every service they can, leaving the local MP and Local Education Authority toothless to intervene, there is no ombudsman to complain to, the Department for Schools will not accept an individuals complaint against a school, what can a parent do for their child, this has gone too far, these schools have too much power and are using it unfairly. My sons human rights are being abused, his education rights are being ignored and the discrimination against him is flouting the Every Child Matters policy this government pretends to offer to every child no matter their status.

Sorry to be rude but you need to accept that schools have the right to exclude pupils who continually breach the behaviour standards. Why should the other children in his class have to put up with him disrupting THEIR education.
Find another school that will take him and accept that he needs to take more responsibliity for his behaviour.

Yes I second mnistooaddictive.
I have a dd in an outstanding school where 8 of her teaching group are incredibly disruptive, which has a knock on effect on everyone else's education.
The school bends over backwards with these girls, yet the "human rights" of my dd and the girls who do behave are seemingly unimportant.

agree with mnistooaddictive. Being able to exclude disruptive pupils is one reason why such specialist schools become popular with other parents.

I've yet to encounter a school that gives out exclusions for "minor behaviour issues ". IMHE exclusions require a major breach of school rules. For your son to have lost 180 days of classroom teaching through either internal or external exclusions, you have to accept that he is a major disruption in the classroom. Every class he disrups enough to be excluded from means 20 or so students who receive little or no teaching while the staff deal with him.

While schools do all they can to avoid permanantly excluding students (it wrecks merry hell with their position in the league tables) they have a duty of care to all their students, including the ones who have to constantly put up with your son's behaviour disrupting their learning.

YOur sons human rights are not being abused. Your son is showing a gross inability to control his behavuiour and I have no doubt that you are a contributing factor. I feel sorry for the school quite frankly.

First time poster too.

Most of my sons exclusions were because of events in the playground or corridors waiting to go into lessons or moving between lessons and caused little or no disruption to other pupils, although as a parent I understand why all of you would presume this was during lessons the school has a tier of administrative heads and deputies to deal with these events, much of the time in the BSU is while the events are investigated and or reintegration back into school after the exclusion, often the events are minor and he was either being bullied and trying to protect himself or set up by peers as a fall guy the length of each exclusions has been almost always 5 days because of his previous record, even when a talking to would have sufficed.
I agree that it sounds implausible that he has had so many exclusions and not been permanently excluded so far, the school has been helpful but has not dealt with his emotional or behavioural issues, only using this big stick approach which has not worked. He should have been statemented in Primary school to help him deal with his emotional difficulties.

"I thought this government had instructed schools to avoid permanently excluding pupils with or without SEN unless it was a serious breach such as violence, theft or vandalism" - I'm afraid you thought wrong. The grounds you quote can be used to permanently exclude a pupil for a single offence. A school is also entitled to permanently exclude a pupil when all other strategies for dealing with their behaviour have failed, as is clearly the case with your son.

I suspect your son goes to an Academy. They are not bound by the same guidelines as other schools regarding exclusions but should not depart significantly from them. The guidelines apply to all other schools apart from independent schools, city technology colleges, city colleges for the technology of the arts and sixth form colleges. Having a specialism doesn't change that. So, apart from Ashcroft Technology Academy, all the other schools in Wandsworth are bound by the government's guidelines as far as I can see.

I agree with other posters. From the information you have given, you should be trying to sort out your son's behaviour, not complaining about the school. He has missed nearly a full year of schooling through his behaviour and yet you seem to think it is entirely down to the school to sort it out. I'm sorry but it doesn't work like that. The school has to consider the education and welfare of ALL its pupils. If continuing to accommodate your son will seriously harm the education and welfare of other pupils, they have little choice but to permanently exclude him.

OP, if the situation is as you explain it, then a managed move will be the absolute best option. You seem to think that the treatment your DS is getting is because of his history, and therefore starting a new school would be an opportunity for him to escape that, start afresh and actually achieve something rather than being excluded again and again.

I do agree with other posters though - sounds very much like he is causing a lot of disruption to other students as well as damaging his own chances of any success. As a secondary school teacher, I can say that "low level" disruption causes far more problems than one-off incidents which are dealt with quickly and are then over. I have worked in an inner-city London school, where the head had no option but to permanently exclude students with records like your DS's for the sake of the other students in their classes. He must accept responsibility for his behaviour, and you must stop blaming the school.

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IME the difference between students for whome "the big stick" works and those for whom it doesn't work are the parents.

If the parents back up the school 100% and give the child a second bollocking at home and consequences. And also maybe offer a reward to the child if they go back and behave, then in many many cases the child will settle down and tow the line.

If, however, the parent just believes everything the child says that "it wasn't really my fault" and "they were picking on me, winding me up, blaming me and it wasn't me" or "it wasn't really very much, I just muttered something under my breath, I didn't really tell the HT to F* off"... and that parent then doesn't come down heavy on the child, doesn't back the school up, and in fact doesn't believe that the school has behaved reasonably, THAT is when you get behaviour problems that just escalate out of control and end up in PXs or managed moves.

I think your ds needs a new start and you and he need to start taking responsibility for his appalling behaviour.

First of all, you need to sort out how much of this is due to your son's SN and how much he could actually have control over.

If he has genuine SN which requires support then you should push for a statement and I mean really push. But at the same time be aware that all a statement means is that your son will be offered support to avoid situations which trigger bad behaviour. It absolutely can not be a get-out card for bad behaviour.

And I agree with dilemma about the need for a fresh start.

shaneese you are getting a lot of good advice here. Schools - whatever their type - don't exclude pupils for no reason at all. It is impossible to get to the bottom of who started what and where so take the opportunity for a new start, talk to your son about it being a new start.

However, your son, your responsibility. If none of the 100 days missing are your sons fault then why were you not in fighting his corner against the bullies/protagonists on day 2?

You let this go on too long. My son was suspended twice so we took pre-emptive action to find him somewhere else before he was expelled and give him a fresh start. I just wonder what you have been doing to help him.

Shaneese, every child does matter hence the proposal of a managed move for your son; a fresh start for him (quite possibly with some support) and a less disrupted school life for the peers he leaves behind. To be honest, the fact that he's at a technology college at the moment is neither here nor there; it's not meeting his needs and if he's been out of class/excluded for 180 days then that is only 10 days short of having missed an entire year of his schooling!?!

Well managed moves can make the world of difference. Pupils whose parents battle against the school and encourage their offspring to blame their unacceptable behaviour on the school are unlikely to succeed in any setting as they become very hard to help/teach/manage. Given that you have nothing positive to say about your son's experience at his current school I'm surprised that you're not biting off their hand at the suggestion of a managed move!

As a primary school teacher in inner-London I can honestly say I can't think of a single child with EBD who has been awarded a statement of SEN regardless of how thorough the application we've submitted. EBD accompanied by severe dyslexia, ADHD or some other diagnosis has been marginally more successful but only by a bit. Some boroughs have excellent behaviour outreach teams who can (and do) offer 1:1 support in class, anger management training and a statement wouldn't necessarily improve access to that service so perhaps that's something you need to ask about.

You would also do well to ask about a pastoral support plan (PSP) for your son which would set him targets, put in place some support for his flashpoints (corridors etc.) and be monitored very closely and the LA pupil support officer will usually be involved.

If he chooses not to behave he will have to deal with the consequences regardless of which school he attends.

What year is your son in?

From your posts it seems that he is being excluded for altercations with other pupils? Safeguarding, and that includes children feeling safe in school, is massively important now, and I can see why the school would want to act on this.

I teach a couple of students now who have come to us on a managed move, and for both of them it seems to have been very positive. They are a handful at times, but nothing like the level of behaviour that would have lead to the move being arranged. I'd give it very serious thought.

Your sons school is obviously not right for him

He is unhappy there and is playing up, it doesn't matter whether it is in lesson or in the in-between bits.

He will be making others unhappy with his actions, pupils and teachers.

Moving schools could change all of this, he may settle quickly and enjoy a new environment. Struggling through education with a bad reputation is never going to allow him to learn to his potetial.

You should be supporting, and encouraging the move.

Take a breath, admit you are wrong, tell your son this is what is going to happen, make it happen.