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Primary education

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School ignoring a phobia

5 replies

realworries · 24/01/2014 22:56

I would appreciate any opinions or advice on this situation please.

Ds has SEN and some disabilities and previously attended a school which is considered to be outstanding for helping children with SEN. I began to feel that they didn't really want him there and he sometimes would come home saying things which he said had been told to him by staff or that he had overheard which were quite negative and sometimes downright nasty about him. I appreciate that children can sometimes misinterpret things but any time I did raise any concerns to school these were always brushed off and I was told it hadn't been said etc.

Anyway, things gradually deteriorated there and after he had left I obtained copies of his records. I was shocked to see that some nasty comments had actually been written about him by staff such as implying that he was pretending to be ill when he was absent due to his disability etc. This made me wonder whether the verbal remarks had actually been made to him after all.

Even worse were notes that were made about a phobia that he has. He can't physically do a certain thing because of this phobia and school had been advised of this by a medical professional. In their records staff wrote that they considered that he was in fact 'choosing' not to do this and that they were going to persist with doing it! Shock. This would have made him really anxious and I can't believe that they have actually written that and then later copied it and sent it to me. I am worried about any other children with phobia's or needs that may be being ignored or made worse because the school don't believe them. Wwyd in this situation?

OP posts:
gamerchick · 24/01/2014 23:03

i would go nuts. I mean proper nuts.

I bash heads with a TA with my SN son.. she's the utter knob of the knob of the moon nevander, ever do I let anything lie. I'm in the process of a formal complaint against the stupid bint.

Your bairn depends on you to look out for him and if he's being 'abused' and i'm sorry, I would class it as such at school then I would be pulling the school over the coals.

forget about the other kids who might and concentrate on your own.. make a formal complaint and raise the bastards to the heavens.

tiggytape · 24/01/2014 23:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

realworries · 25/01/2014 09:13

He is not there any more - all this only came to light after he left when records were obtained. Their notes state that they would persist in doing something detrimental but no doubt they will just say that they didn't do this.
Tiggy - a formal complaint would just be ignored and they have never supplied a copy of the complaint policy when requested. When I did issue a formal complaint about other serious matters the Governors refused to discuss it and threatened legal action if it were raised with anyone again (I do have this in writing).
You may feel that teachers cannot ignore professional advice if they feel they know better but that is what they regularly did.

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nennypops · 25/01/2014 10:13

I think it would be worth taking this further. Was ds placed there by the local authority under a statement? They need to know about this in case they are placing other children there. Tell Ofsted as well, possibly tell the Department for Education. The fact that you can prove that there is no genuine complaints process is also serious.

MrsKCastle · 25/01/2014 11:01

I'd take this as far as necessary- in the first instance, I'd contact both the local authority and Ofsted. It sounds like you have written evidence that they are (or were) failing in their duty of care, and at the same time refusing to address complaints.

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