De registering a child from school before appeal hearing ???

[Masonj377]

My appeal hearing is next Tuesday and I imagine I will have a decision within a few days of the hearing.

My daughter is has been off sick with anxiety for 12 days now and regardless of the outcome of the appeal does not want to return to her current school.

There are no local schools with year 3 places available at the moment so if we are unsuccessful we will appeal we will continue to wait on waiting lists and we have agreed to home school instead.

When we reach 15 days of absence it is my belief that the school are required to refer my daughters attendance to an education welfare officer. Im just wondering

*should I get in first and deregister her from school ?

• does it make any difference either way?
• would the involvement of a welfare officer or removing my daughter from school be detrimental to the appeal hearing.

I have sent doctors letters into the school and reported my daughters absence daily - but I dont know if I should be requesting work at home ? Naturally I am concerned that my daughter is missing out on her education but my main concerns are her mental health at the moment.

I need to get through the next 2 weeks maximum & feel a bit in limbo - does anyone have any thoughts ?

I have asked on a different forum but wondered if it might be better to ask the questions here in case anyone has been in a similar position and can offer any advice xx

Bump

How old is your daughter and why the anxiety about the school?? Is it really the school bringing on the anxiety? Or did she get it from you hearing about the appeal etc. Or is she an anxious child in general so any school might give her anxiety? There are some kids that don't like any school at first. For example, my son has a friend from his old nursery that literally would cry EVERY single day. But he also used to cry EVERY single time he was dropped at the creche as a baby too. Now they are in primary school together and this boy STILL cries at drop off. So 3 different environments and he cries at all and gets anxious before going etc. He just has an anxious personality. The parents keep sending him and eventually it gets less crying. My point is, you can not just keep them home...unless there is a reason other then chid has anxiety...bc your dd would just get anxiety wherever she is at. Unless there was a particular student causing this (then I would talk to teacher to work it out) or if the teacher caused it...but then you need to work it out. My dd had a teacher last year that was so scary and shouty. None of the kids liked her. Her friend had to be bribed with a kinder chocolate egg every day to go to school. This year....she doesn't need an egg bc teacher is great. My dd luckily was okay to just go to school...but said she didn't like when teacher was shouting. Luckily their other teacher was GREAT with the kids.

The appeal is an appeal for the school you want.

It should make no difference to your appeal that she is HE'd. I think you should send the deregistration letter now (the thread title says you want to deregister, and you'll find sample letters readily online).

Don't just go absent if your intention is to deregister.

Hi thank you both. The anxiety has been triggered by ongoing bullying at school which is why we are appealing.
The anxiety triggers a stomach migraines which causes her to vomit for many hours and be in pain. These migraines are recent and an indication her anxiety has worsened, simply driving past her school was enough to trigger one.
Gp has verified situation in writing and covered absences so far. - she has been referred to specialists etc but the trigger of anxiety is her current school.

I ve exhausted all routes of dealing with the school hence the appeal x

RancidOldHag is right that it shouldn't make any difference for appeal if your daughter is HE'd. There is, however, a risk in de-registering your daughter from her current school. Some parents turn down offers of school places and/or withdraw their child from school in an attempt to bully the appeal panel into giving them a place at the school they want. Not surprisingly, appeal panels don't like parents who behave like that. You don't want the panel to think that is what you are doing. If you decide to de-register your daughter and HE temporarily you need to have a plan B in case the appeal fails and communicate that to the panel so that it isn't a case of this school or nothing. It doesn't matter whether your plan B is to continue home educating, send her to an independent school or something else. It just needs to be a viable alternative.

The other issue you need to consider is that your evidence of bullying at your daughter's current school will carry less weight if she isn't going there any more and you have a long term plan that doesn't involve returning her to that school. You will have dealt with the bullying already by removing her from her current school.

To maximise your chances at appeal I would keep your daughter at her current school (even if she doesn't actually attend), keep providing doctors letters to the school and ask if there is any work she can do at home to avoid falling too far behind.

Thank you we had planded to home ed if unsuccessful at appeal but I agree with what you have explained about how it could be seen by the panel etc. We will try and muddle through the next ten days or so until after the hearing date and decision- thank you for your advice x

During the hearing you may be asked what you will do if you lose the appeal. You need to be ready for that question. Be honest about your intention to HE but be clear about the disadvantages for your daughter in doing that as compared to sending her to the appeal school.

It is also possible that you may be asked why you haven't taken her out of her current school given the bullying issues. I think it is unlikely you would be asked that but best to be ready for it just in case. I would deal with that one by saying that she has been off ill for some time and that you intend to take her out of her current school if you lose the appeal but you were concerned that this might look like an attempt to bully the panel if you did it before the hearing.

Please ask the advice of Tiggytape or PRH47 I think this is their usernames. They know all about appeals and schools. I have absolutely no experience or factual advice but I think I have seen them write on appeal cases many times that if you deregister and home educate your child then the local authority are under no obligation to find your child a new school place. I don't know how you will stand with waiting lists, but you may find your DC further down the list because according to the Education Authority your DC is being educated if you home school. As I say I'm not sure if this is correct but before you de-register your DD please check to make sure they will still keep her on other waiting lists. Could you get a Dr's note to keep her off of school with anxiety until another place comes up at a better school, and home educate unofficially?

Thank you again for some great advice - I am trying to arrange a doctors note today in the short term until we get a decision either way. I ve 4 schooldays to get through until The hearing.
My daughter actually doesn't want to be home schooled but we are in agreement not to return if we fail. We will look at other options with short termish home ed inbeteeen
Thank you prh for thinking of answers for potential questions x