Paying for Damages at a SEN School

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Hoping for some advice!

My son has significant mental health challenges and attends a specialist private school, funded by our LA. He's been really struggling and had a massive meltdown before Christmas. During the meltdown he caused damage within the school (smashed a TV screen, pulled display boards down, overturned a watercooler etc) before finally putting his hands through a window. This resulted in significant cuts and he had to be taken to A&E. Both the police and ambulance attended.

The school have now sent us an invoice for the damage caused and it's nearly £2k - the invoice does not include the cost of the window, only the TV screen, display boards and watercooler.

Of course I have to take responsibility for my child's actions, but is this kind of request normal? We've paid for small items broken before - a smashed plate for example - but I just don't have this level of money so am really worrying. I had assumed (probably incorrectly!) that an incident like this would be covered by insurance so would have expected to pay an excess.

Does anyone have any experience of this, or any advice?

He’s in a highly specialised school designed and staffed to meet the needs of children with complex mental health needs. What are the staff doing, not keeping him safe, and the environment doesn’t sound fit for purpose.

He had significant cuts? Does a school like this not have safety glass? I would say they had quite a few questions to answer about how they handled the incident and the suitability of their building and equipment before they start billing you. This is not a mainstream school, they should be expected to be prepared for such incidents.

Some SEMH specialist provision settings no longer use physical intervention for many reasons - the main one being the risk of injury to both the student and also to the staff doing the intervention. Would you want to restrain someone who was so out of control that he was able to put his hand through a window? That’s not a meltdown as we know it, it’s out and out rage.
OP, you could just write back and tell them you are not paying the bill then take it from there. Out of interest, is this behaviour usual for your DS either in school or out?

I am not as surprised as many who are posting. With an independent school, the situation is very different than with LA maintained schools and academies. It may be that the type of pupils the school caters for means that the risk of damage is high and insurance is not affordable. Maybe the window is covered by insurance which is why this has not been charged for.

Having worked in an SEMH setting and seen students many times in uncontrollable rages, it is sometimes impossible to restrain as it could lead in further injury for child and adult. The school did bill one student who deliberately smashed a window, mum didn't pay.
It's so difficult for people who have not been in the situation to realise just how uncontrollable a disregulated child can be.
You had my sympathies OP - but don't pay!

I would immediately offer to pay if it was my kids but I actually think it’s totally different for you, your child has additional needs that they are aware of and should have cover for. I’m sorry you’re having to deal with this

When this happened to us it was the start of the school managing DD out.

In our case that was a good thing, we never wanted her there in the first place and it was totally unsuitable for her, but they used our refusal to pay as evidence in the breakdown between school and parents to add to the list of issues.

Your first mistake was in paying for smaller items. Tell to the the school to send the bill and any other bills yo the local authority that funds the placement. The school are taking the piss as they are getting very well paid as it is and as you are not privately funding the placement yourself you are under no obligation to pay one penny never mind a continuing list of bills for alleged damages that your child has caused. I say alleged because as other ops have said Sen schools need to be well insured and they are taking the Mick by sending the bill to you instead of the person (local authority) paying for the placement. Good luck

Also why aren't they meeting your child's needs? If they were doing their job properly they would have in place regular calming exercises such as occupational therapy throughout the day and take preemptive action to ensure it never gets as bad as a complete meltdown. I speak from experience as my child only has problems if their ehcp needs aren't being met in school as they need to be met or their ehcp occupational therapy provision is not being provided correctly or by a sufficiently trained OT. Personally i think this is a school failure and not your son. The school and the local authority are supposed to have a ehcp in place that meets his needs in full and if it's not enough, and doesn't sound like it us, i would request for an early annual review on the basis that his current ehcp provision isn't sufficient to meet his needs. Does he get weekly occupational therapy from a qualified occupational therapist? If not this needs started. If so who is delivering it because the LA will try a cut costs by saying a teaching assistant or trainee OT can deliver it whereas in my child's case he needed a level 2 occupational therapist. It's NOT your child. It's a lack of sufficient support to meet his needs by both the school and local authority. Anyone try and send me a bill I would tell them where to go.

Very well paid? How do you know? And yes, despite the LA paying for the education and placement, quite rightly parents also have an obligation. Can you not understand why tax payers or even charity funders should not have to pick up the cost of every damage a child causes? Are you one of those parents that believes society and the tax payer should pick up every item on your wish list? Just no. We paid for our child at a special needs school. No way did I believe i wasn't responsible if they caused damage. As for any other child in any other school.

I know that SEN schools get "very well paid" as during the EHCP process the local authority details the cost of the placement during the consultation process! Schools and the local authorities have an obligation to meet the needs of students with SEN but unfortunately this doesn't always occurs and whilst Sen schools will very happily take the money from local authorities they prefer to keep it instead of using it on supporting the child and meeting their needs as they need to me met. I KNOW that too. What's your problem?

My gosh, your son could have caused his own death.

I would donate a small amount and apologise but ask the school to use insurance due to you not affording any more.

I would also look into permitting a tranquiliser for their use - to inject DS before he harms himself like that, or worse, again.

Whilst a school will have insurance for their equipment, assets and buildings (the broken window), cover is usually provided on the basis of accidental damage caused to the items. Wilful or malicious damage as a result of intentional acts by pupils are usually excluded, hence why schools will then seek to recover costs to repair/replace from the parents.

Speak to the school and ask them to provide you with their policy that states their position on reclaiming these costs. If it’s there, you will need to negotiate a reasonable payment schedule with the school.

The school's insurance is irrelevant to the question of liability. If the school has insurance that covers this damage, they could make a claim but, if OP is liable, the insurer could then pursue her for the cost.

In general, a parent is not liable for damage caused by their children at school. They can only be held liable if they were able to prevent the incident and failed to do so. The only question is whether OP entered into a contract with the school which required her to accept liability and, if so, whether this would hold up in court.