Deceitful behaviour from school - don't know where to turn

[godofthunder24]

Hi,

My son's school denied him access for 3 days last year due to his mum having COVID. Following our own research we determined that it was unlawful for the school to deny access for this reason.

Once we presented the legal advice to the school they changed their advice and altered their criteria for allowing my son back into school. It seems very clear to me that they were concerned about the repercussions of unlawful actions and tried to misrepresent their original instructions.

I complained to the school and I've gone through the complaints process with the chair of governors, a complaints panel and the DfE.

The governors have consistently provided inaccurate information during the complaints process which I strongly believe is their attempt to cover up the schools original actions. The governors have access to all of the evidence which is in email form but they continue to misrepresent that evidence.

The DfE have confirmed that the decision to deny access was unlawful.

The Local Authority are not willing to do any other than ensure the school is adhering to the complaints process from now forwards.

I am literally sick to death of feeling wronged by the school and not having a channel that will listen to me and go through the evidence in sufficient detail.

I don't really want to go down the legal route myself but feel like I'm running out of options. Would be great to hear any advice from someone in the know or someone who has been through something similar.

Many thanks,
Ian.

I’m also wondering what you want from this? And then I think you need to ask yourself why it is worth giving this any more headspace.

It’s done. You challenged them. They will act differently in future. Move on.

I imagine the school board is even sicker. What a monumental waste of everyone’s time.

My advice would be get a grip Ian and stop harassing the school. Three days is just that and frankly it sounds like it was for good reason.

This is part of the reason schools are so stretched for resources, they have to spend time on things like this. How do you have the energy for this? Is your son happy at the school and is he in general getting on well? If so, then park it and move on.

My kid would’ve loved this! No school for 3 days?! Brilliant!

But seriously, what’s your problem? You’re making your child’s school life difficult for no reason.

Perhaps he can go in for 3 Saturdays to make up for the lost time….I’m sure the teachers won’t mind one bit

I don't understand. You showed them their policy was incorrect and so they changed it to bring it in line with guidelines at the time. Admittedly they should have apologized for their error but it does seem like a massive overreaction on your behalf over missing 3 days of school. As previous posters have said, what are you actually hoping to be the outcome of all this?

Schools have no money for compensation if that is what you are after? So just drop it now and let the teachers teach. They won't do it again so you have 'won' as much as is possible to.

Not sure what you are hoping to achieve. How did the school even know?

Bloody hell mate
It was 3 days - yeah an overreaction on their part given we live with covid now but shit happens. If you can't move on move schools.

I imagine the OP is unhappy because she potentially lost 3 days of work if the school wrongfully excluded her child.

God, life must be incredibly difficult for you if you make this much fuss over 3 days.

Do you really think that going to war with your child's school is in his best interests?

I honestly wonder how some people manage to get through life at all.

So what? 3 days is nothing, in the grand scheme of things.

Ian here is failing to look at the big picture if he thinks that 3 days will make such a huge difference.

Presumably mum was at home ill with covid so available for childcare

Honestly, I read posts like this and think “is that all you’ve got to worry about”? You’re being ridiculous. It was 3 days, not 3 years. My son missed almost a year of school because I had cancer during the pandemic and he couldn’t mix with other people because it was too dangerous for me, even though he could have had space as he’s neurodivergent. To be haranguing the school over what you believe to be a lie and a cover up over THREE DAYS is beyond weird. The relationship has broken down and you should remove your child to a different school. Get a grip man.

And it sounds like the school took on board what the DfE confirmed to Ian and changed their policy accordingly. Yet he's still talking about legal action.

The child’s Mum supposedly had Covid, so was hardly working.

How did they even know about the mother? Of course it is BS - the kid can go to school even if he himself has covid. There must be more to this.

Please come back Ian, I'm dying to hear your response to all this.

It is unfortunate that the child was wrongly denied the opportunity to attend school for 3 days.

It is much more unfortunate that the child's parent has turned this into a massive battle with the school to the point that relationships will have inevitably broken down beyond repair, while endless amounts of school time will have been diverted away from improving the educational opportunities on offer in order to deal with this issue.

Ridiculous, and so unnecessary.

He won’t he’s ’literally dying’.

Also I suspect he’s said to his wife that he’s asked MN about this and she’s told him he’s an embarrassment.

"Go down the legal route" to do what? Sue the school? Get someone fired? Why? Just because your son was wrongly told to miss three days of school?

I'm afraid you are sounding more than a little obsessive.

Like others have asked - what do you want to achieve? An apology? It seems like a lot of stress for little gain.