Moving sons school due to bullying

[KindPineapple]

I want to move my son out of his mainstream school to another school, he is autistic and has a ehcp but lots of bullying which is getting worse and the teachers do nothing it’s getting worse and he has never wanted to leave but now he does. But is there any point though as he is year 10 now and im hearing tribunal is an 18 month wait?! Thanks

Just move him. The sooner you do it, the better, regardless of his year group. He'll learn a lot more even with settling into a new school than he will putting up with other people's vile, feral children. Perhaps also remind their parents that they can be tried in court at this age over bullying. How I miss the days of how we used to deal with bullies...

Was he going to be doing GCSEs in Year 11?

Please explain what the tribunal would be for?

Move him asap. You have every right. Visit a couple of other schools and meet the head of year 10.

The local authority will have a list of schools where there are pupil vacancies too.

Sorry I want to move him to specialist school

I would move him. An adult would never be expected to go somewhere 5 days a week if they were being bullied so why should a child?

The only consideration I would make though is does your boy have any friends at all in his current school? If he is autistic it will be difficult to make new friends, so that's the only thing I would way up.

obviously I don't know your sons situation but if he has managed until year 10 in mainstream school, I would of thought his chances of getting into a Sen school are unlikely now unfortunately.

*weigh up. I just cringed at my own spelling.

either way, best of luck to you and your boy.

no no friends, he has never wanted any which i feel makes him an easy target. i would worry moving him to another mainstream as he'd probably just have the same problem

I’m no expert but from what I hear, I wouldn’t have thought moving him to a specialist school is something that happens quickly.

yeah that’s what i thought and i don’t know if it’s worth moving schools so late in the year especially as it will probably just be the same in another school but he was attacked physically yesterday and has a cut on his arm, just had enough

Bullying isnt a reason to be able to access a specialist school. Unless there is other stuff going on too i think its unlikely you would be given a special school place so you would have to go to tribunal to get one which would probably take about a year.

Are there any schools worh an integrated resource nearby where he could go so he isnt wirh the bullies. Is there a achool wirh a better reputation for supporting autistic kids?

What do you think he will do after gcses? Could you focus on that ans work backwards. So apprenticeship or college or sixthform?

His school has one but he is not allowed to access it, there is one more in the area but we are out of catchment as we applied for there initially but wasnt in catchment and got declined. I don’t think I will be sending him to another mainstream so may look at deregistering him.

If he has an ehcp it doesnt matter if you are out of catchment.
Gcses are expensive. I would be very cautious of deregistering him because then the school and council don't have to help you any more.
It is very hard to move schools in y10 and y11 because the kids have already started the curriculum for gcse and new kids cant just drop in as they will have missed a bit.
I would go back and talk to the sendco again and if that doesnt work i would write to the board of govenors about your son experiencing anti disability hate crimes whilst at school.

You could ask about what alternative provisions are available. These are specialist small school typed things for kids who arent managing mainstream. You could also try joing the local parent carer forum as they might be able to help give you advice about what to try.

Sadly he cannot go back to the school after a meeting today which did not go well at all he cannot go back there

Ok. Can you ask the school about a managed move?

Definitely move your son, my son was being physically bullied the school did nothing, he is now thriving at his new school, it did take around 6 months for him to settled.