Permanent Exclusion with Statement of Educational Needs

[Hawthorn1000]

My 8 year old son has just been excluded due to behaviour issues. The statement he has was for this poor behaviour and he was on maximum support from the local authority. The exclusion decision was made by the head and the lad was given a 3.5 day exclusion, followed without warning by a permanent exclusion without him having returned to school. Just wondered if anyone had experience of this as it seems to be just a little knee jerk and will do nothing for the boy who has attachment and anger issues dating back from before he was adopted. We have always been very support of the school and feel let down that they have just dropped him without even an attempt at a planned move.

I don't have links but I think the press is a dangerous animal! I think specialist education journalists may well be aware of similar issues and could make a judgement on whether a newspaper such as The Times,The Guardian would possibly run with it and your case in particular. Once you get into specifics though I would be really careful. You do not want to invite unwanted identification of your child and some nasty responses. Unfortunately there are loads of people who think misbehaving children should be thrown out and no questions asked. You would need to be very careful about naming the school. On balance a general investigation by a journalist into SEN exclusions could be useful but a specific case investigation is fraught with danger. It is up to you though.

Thanks bojoro

Needed someone to give balance to things. Still looking at all the options as I gather information.

The air of complacency out there is so frustrating that the nuclear option grows in appeal!

If go and I win the IPR, school gets £4k fine, the lad already messed over by the school and the school saves many times more than £4k in the next few months. I don't see why they wouldn't teach this in 'head teacher school' as the obvious thing for new head teachers to know to do with any pupils that are just too much effort.

Anyhow, lad had good first day at PRU without any issues. Not unusual right enough in new environment.

First targeted school has said 'no' on day 15 and will send official explanation when they have time. Round two of the battle starts...........

Although Heads do qualifications they also get pulled this way and that. Some have experience and others don't. Some just get it wrong.

I am glad the PRU went well. Sorry that no 1 choice school is a 'No'. Are there others and are you getting help with school selection?

Bojo - day three at school the lad has been bullied and my partner was extremely upset when she saw him being frisked by staff on the way so some initial teething issues........

I get the comment about pressures and making mistakes - we all do otherwise we never learn. The annoying bit is the failure to admit it and remedy the situation when it was discussed in detail right at the start. Pushing on with a decision that can have life changing decisions that goes against guidance seems on road to wilful negligence but I am hardly unbiased now!

Looking at schools with virtual school to nail a short list now....

Megarithium

Thanks for your suggestion to talk to the Schools Exclusion Project - they have confirmed that they will assist here an have allocated a support resource.

This is a really positive step and I think it stops the family stumbling into areas that might have unintended consequences (like the media) but it becomes more difficult to make calm decisions as things ramp up and all the power is on one side!

Preparing now for the Independent review with the help of the project so many thanks!

That's great, Hawthorn, from what I've heard they really know what they're doing. At the very least they'll make sure the school has to account for itself fully.

PRU Update

Been focusing on the task of getting justice for the lad since this kicked off, and that continues with the IPR soon, but picking him up from the PRU today just shows the pressures involved in these establishments.

It was like a riot or, perhaps more accurately, like one of these TV programs showing groups of drunk people disagreeing outside a pub on a Saturday night.

There were numbers of young teens acting as illogically as if they were drunk and being ramped further up by the activities of one or two children who had totally lost it and were throwing furniture around the building.

The staff were doing a good job under extreme pressure to manage what was going on and to calm things down in an orderly way. I know nothing about the US School system but I had a mental picture if it had been over there of school staff with shields and batons and helmets going in and restoring order.

I was in the Merchant Navy for a few years and have been in some rough places but for sheer wild disorder this was a learning experience.

It was another part of my learning experience of what goes on in the world of permanently excluded children and I don't think that there are any easy answers. I will make a point of finding about a bit more and if possible try to help in some way.

All of that said I have to be selfish and we come back to my lad. Because of the actions of the head teacher who excluded him he is now part of this environment despite the well documented concerns from his adoption attachment issues and subsequent anxiety. The local authority nodded this PE through despite the arguments from the other LA who held the SEN responsibility. So now we have a scared and insecure young lad in the worst environment imaginable and a head teacher is allowed to do this.

The birth parents of this lad had him taken off them because they did not treat him well. They did not want this to happen and were crushed by this. The local authorities made this decision.

So the question is - who do I ask to come and take this lad away from the authorities who are treating him in this way as it seems that their efforts are damaging him at least as badly as the birth parents did!

Apologies, this is just a really, really frustrated rant.

I don't know the rights and wrongs but would home educating be an option whilst waiting for a permentant good placement. I don't want you to sabotage th process so you would need advice but the pru doesn't sound good for your lad. I believe some LA,s fund interhigh

Thanks Mary21

Yes, looking at this now.

To be fair to the PRU it really looked pretty sharp at initial visit and in the first few days.

Also to be fair to the SEN Local Authority they fought hard to not have him go to the PRU as they just don't do it for SEN children - they were forced into this because the schooling authority threw him out. The SEN authority would always do an emergency SEN meeting and managed move.

A concern I have about home schooling is that I am not sure we are clever enough! To get up to speed to do it very well is a concern plus we have always tried to include happy work into our life - ie a work ethic that fits into the family as a good example. We also need to pay the bills and that is an area of guilt that you cant just stop everything and spend all your time with the kids. We have already done a lot of that in the past six weeks and running out of favours from employers I fear..........

Again, considering jacking work in so nothing off the agenda...........

Not rtft but I would focus your efforts on finding the right school for him that can and will meet his needs, and focus in settling him. Not ideal to resettle I know, but it's not a perfect world. Good luck

Thanks Kanga, your comment is really useful to us because I think it reinforces our thinking and experience.

The first bit of anger is dissipating and the focus has to be totally on getting him the really best he can have.

As a family though we have agreed to help support anything we can in this world and are now in touch with our MP's and other organisations and hopefully it will help others.

I think this thread is near an end actually and may leave any further posts for the future about 'what happened next' either to the lad at school or our efforts.

Thanks everyone

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I am surprised he is not in a primary PRU! Why are there teenagers there? In my LA they are separate, for obvious reasons.

Nearly every child in a PRU has SEN. They may not have a statement but they have significant needs. I am surprised the behaviour was so bad and staff appeared to have little control.

As others have said, a school must be a priority and his needs are great so urgency is required. I think you have to speak to the LA about the incident at the PRU. I am shocked at this. Have you looked at any more schools?

bojo

No TMBC don't have a split PRU and as I think I mentioned before they expect children with a statement not to be permanently excluded without an emergency review. From the review they would then go to to an appropriate school.

I don't know quite what does and does not get a child into the PRU but the children there certainly have issues rather than just bad behaviour. One child seemed to be in a robotic state as she walked around hurling chairs - no sign of emotion just walking methodically from chair to chair. Unnerving to watch for someone like myself who has little experience in this world.

The lad is definitely being affected negatively by this and he will need to go somewhere else soon. Not sure how we will manage if he has to come back into home education but needs must.

He has papers in to two local schools that seem to have more capacity for SEN children and we should know pre Easter and I have asked that we try to have him start the new term at one of them. I am worried that the rush to get him out of the PRU might pressure us in to taking the first school but will try not to do that as it will all just unravel.

Looks like the IPR will also happen after Easter with a potential date of 24 April so will prepare for that. DCC have mentioned that they do very few IPR's these days probably because of the little that they can actually do. We will do this anyway with the objective of removing the PE from his record.

Nothing seems to specifically address the way the Head Teacher has handled this and I wonder if I am able to complain specifically about the manner he has dealt with this whole thing over an above whether the decision to PE was right or wrong - can anyone advise? Would I complain to the Governors, Ofsted or whom? It is a Church of England school so could I refer the issue to the Church of England Education unit as I believe the lack of Christian values in the way this was handled was staggering. Or maybe I should just forgive.............

You can complain to the Chairman of Governors and all schools must have a complaints procedure. As you are no longer a parent I am not sure if this avenue is actually open to you. Definitely complain to the Education Dept of the Diocese. Schools tend to demonstrate Christian values in assemblies and in the local church but when it comes to exclusions, this ethos deserts them.

Regarding the PRU, don't forget that not every needy child gets a statement in a timely manner. The children there may not have statements but I bet they all need them! There are children that have mental health problems at a very young age and they may not have a statement but their needs are immense. Any receiving school will almost certainly want these children to arrive with a statement and substantial funding.

Also some schools will exclude prior to an emergency review as you have found out. It is poor practice and schools could do a short term exclusion whilst the review takes place. As you have discovered schools can move very quickly to PE without regard to the requirements. They should be communicating effectively with parents and the LA when problems arise and try to sort out a plan of action that could mean the statement is altered to another school without the need for a permanent exclusion. If they are ineffective and cannot be bothered, they exclude.

I think you may be able to have an unauthorised holiday if you wish. If you think the PRU is damaging and, as I said, all the children there will have special needs and may have very severe difficulties, you could withdraw him pending finding another school. I think you are right to aim for a fresh start after Easter and this is more important than PRU attendance in my view.

AS BojoRojo says the school will have a complaints process. However most complaint policies I have seen say that in an exclusion situation the exclusion process of governor panel and then IRP takes preference over the school complaints process. You can see why this would be appropriate to have this put in the complaints process.
I would suggest that you forget about the head teacher's attitude and behaviour and channel your resources towards the IRP, where you can still expose some of the head's poor decisions.

Thanks all.

We still have a daughter (the lads sister who was adopted at the same time) at the school so I have a vested interest in how the head is running the school. Happily she is only there until she goes to secondary school later in the year.

Pretty sure the lad wont be going back to PRU after Easter whatever happens - just discussing with the LA now.

Will think about what to do after the IRP.

Really surprised just how messy and nasty the whole world of children with issues is - I suppose I was happy not to know until I had to but it is really shocking.

I will keep involved in this once this is resolved for the lad and see what I can do to help - maybe not a lot but need to repay some of the help we have had and to help others in this situation

Hi just wanted to wish you and your family the best of luck. I worked with a child with issues similar to your ds (also adopted). That child was moved to a different school in a managed move but it was devastating for the parents who felt the school had been quite dishonest on their dealings with them. I meet the mum now and again and I know the new school was a very positive experience in the end. I hope it will all work out for your ds too.

Hi hawthorn just wanted to wish you the best of luck with your IRP when it happens. Whilst there is little they can do to help your son going forward, I can totally understand your reasoning for taking the case to IRP as the schools attitude and whole exclusions process has been woefully inadequate (to put it politely). Fwiw I can also fully appreciate you wanting the PE quashed for your son's sake and in terms of the impact it has on finding a new school.

As others have said I would focus your energies now on finding the right school for your son. I think I am right in saying that even if you find that the school you really want is full it would be worth joining the waiting list because a) as an adopted child he is in almost the highest priority bracket for admissions and so it's likely you'd only need one child to leave in his year before he could join and b) if and when you get the SEN review, the EHCP finalised and a school named, this will push you to the very top of admissions priority and may even mean your son can start without waiting for another child to leave. (I don't know how accurate my thoughts on this last point are as I'm not that knowledgeable about the ins and outs of SEN statement admissions).

Whatever you do, best of luck with it all. You are doing a great job of being a strong and vocal advocate for your son. I hope it all works out for you.

I recommend the SN chat board on here for more SN specific advice. I wouldn't home educate him as if you pull him out of schooling to do that you let the LA off the hook. However, I would wonder about sending him back to the PRU if it cannot meet his needs and maybe just keep him off until they can find a school that can. I would have a look around any EBD special schools in your area and see if any of them could meet his needs.

OP I could have written your posts, your story is very similar to ours. Yours won't be an isolated case. Four years on from our PE the outlook is much better and our DS now in a SS and is much more settled and made our life as adoptive parents a little easier. Have faith. Whatever the outcome of the panel, time will move on and you will find a place for your child that is suitable. Good luck.

Once again, many thanks all.

Oogetyou, good to hear you have come out of the other end in one piece!

I have to say that it has been very difficult for the family but I am sure that we will also get to that place in due course.

What is very gratifying is when you meet people who actually really want to help rather than just quoting various guidance information and websites to visit.

I have said before that the 'real world' advice given here has been very helpful in understanding what was going on behinds the scenes ie the motivations the different parties have got in all this and to then understand how it affected our own situation.

Meetings about new school on Thursday to see if anything we can do

Spent a little while thinking whether to try and post a 'part II' about the lad going on to get a new school in a new posting but didn't seem an obvious way to do it and would also miss the history that those in a similar position might find of use so thought I would just carry on here!

As we learned in the PE, Governors appeal and soon to be IRP there are all sorts of background political and economic issues going on and so it is now as we move on to finding the new school.

The lad is now in a PRU that the LA does not think he should be in and we are presenting his papers to local schools that seem to meet his needs.

Two of those schools have presented cases not to have him come to their school that must have taken hours and hours of work and indeed one of them included a presentation from an educational psychologist about how wrong it would be for the lad to go that school!

My frustration, in having adopted a child with these issues, to be then told that he is not acceptable in most educational establishments in that LA is absolute. Seems obvious to me but why were we not guided in all this five years ago and the right things put in place then with the knowledge the LA's of these things? I know of course the answer is linked to money and local politics but the damage in terms of young lives further damaged, families fractured and hurt to the school community must exceed some of those costs.

Happily there is potentially a school that will take the lad on board but we need to see the other side of Easter so another month of PRU.

It pleases me that this school has looked at the evidence from the Governors appeal and disregarded the PE in their decision to admit him.

We may take the lad out of the PRU after Easter and home educate as it seems that the damage has to be limited.

We still want to bring the head teacher to account for the way he has handled this, and I know there have been comments about those pressures that schools work under but if anything this is more of a reason to protect the most vulnerable children in the system. If anyone has any experience of this then I would appreciate their help.

I do think this is a leadership issue - I think this school will lose this head soon. There is an undercurrent of comments about the head and indeed staff, who were allegedly assaulted by the lad, will ask to come out and see the lad when he in the car outside school grounds when his sister is going to school just to see how he is getting on.

When it all it ends I promise to post a one page comment on our experience somewhere on Mumsnet - if anyone who has posted with useful information, and there are many, would want their usernames mentioned (or not) then please let me know.

As always, thanks for all the really helpful comments.

The LA should not have placed him in the PRU unless they were satisfied that it could meet the requirements of the EHCP. If the placement is causing greater problems, I would suggest pushing for home tuition until a school is identified.

Mega

If we go for home tuition what help could we expect from the LA - would they be able to provide course material and a tutor for some subjects? Or what - not sure what the phrase means in detail although we did teach him ourselves just after the PE but it was pretty ad hoc

Unfortunately we have been through this process too although causes were different.

In our LA home tuition would consist of 1 hours tutor time in the home a day. But having said that because your son has been given a place in the PRU they would be unlikely to provide this because you would have chosen to remove him from their educational provision and so elected for home education at which point they have no obligation to provide an education.