School requesting reduced timetable for Reception child after difficult start

[RustyCutter]

Hello,

My 4 years old started Reception at a primary school 4 weeks ago. The first two weeks were a couple of hours per day to slowly ease all Reception children in. Full days at school started halfway through the 3rd week, and we had a phone call from the school's Headteacher requesting collection, as my child threw an object and hurt another child, was not engaging in class and kept leaving the class.

The next day, we had an email from the teacher requesting a reduced timetable - for us to collect our child at 12pm each day. In the email, there was no explanation as to why, what strategies the school will put in place and how long the reduced timetable will be for etc. So we pushed back and said no; it would not benefit our child.

Then the school's SENCO organised a meeting, which took place last Thursday. We attended and the meeting was 1.5 hour along. It involved the SENCO, the class teacher (briefly) and the Headteacher. The summary of the meeting was: our child is unable to self-regulate, struggles with transitioning from one session to another, doesn't sit for carpet time and engage in learning, prefers to do free play, finds the environment overwhelming, and the list goes on. The school said our child requires close supervision (as well as another child), but they don't have an available staff member to do this.

The SENCO said she needs to collect evidence to apply for an EHCP for our child and hopes to send it off by February next year. She added that there's a backlog with the council in approving EHCPs, and she has been waiting on 22 students' EHCPs since July of LAST YEAR!

And that was the end of the meeting. We went home, and I had to rearrange all of my youngest son's (who is only a baby) appointments, so I am available to collect my 4 years old from school when my husband is on shift.

Since then, we've had nothing in writing, not even meeting minutes, and we've not signed anything. We don't even know how long the reduced timetable is for. The Headteacher said they need to measure the impact of the reduced timetable and that was that.

We've only been asked to complete an Autism and Social Communication Advisory Team - Individual Sensory Checklist and Plan. We went through the checklist, and our child scores VERY low for Autism (maybe 2 or 3 points if that!). We also completed a parent's view form on our child's interests and struggles. Both forms were returned to the school this morning.

I collected my child today and asked how Forest School went. It didn't happen because Forest School and PE are in the afternoons. I contacted the SENCO to clarify - her response was that my child is not accessing any of the taught whole-class sessions.

We've had a lot of changes in a short space of time - we've moved to a new area, new home, baby sibling with many medical appts and starting a new school.

We are homeschooling our child in the afternoon so they do not fall behind. The school have said they will send us work and would like us to work on phonics. We've had nothing yet. I am due to return to work in a month's time from maternity leave and have no idea how I am going to homeschool my child in the afternoon, let alone collect them at 12pm!

Can anyone please advise what we need to do - I've heard of SENDIASS but also read that they can be biased and give out the wrong advice?

As my child is not of Compulsory School Age (CSA), we don't have a leg to stand on? I know that we need to have the above in writing, but how do I request this without being difficult with the school?

Any advice and guidance would be really appreciated - feeling so lost and sad for my child.

Many thanks :)

Ask them to email you a summary of their concerns. Then apple for echna yourself- look on the ipsea website for the template letter.

It sounds like their think your child will benefit from a shorter day due to becoming overwhelmed. Often phonics and maths are done in the morning so your child shouldn’t miss those. Yes there may also be an element of it’s easier for staff if you child is disrupting class and needing 1:1 support which isn’t feasible. Have they putthe child on a Sen plan? There’s nothing to stop them applying for additional funding to be able to off your child some 1:1 support during the day.
id try to stop looking at it as us and them and try to work with the school. With regards to sendias we found them extremely helpful but obviously it may vary . In terms of going back to work you can ask school when they intend to review the reduced time table but it may be that you need to make arrangements for your child. School is not their childcare and won’t stop a reduced timetable for you to return to work.

At home practise sitting quietly completing an activity (without interaction or continuous support) Independence around shoes/ coat. Practise transitions and switch from one activity to another both at home and out of the house. Sitting at the table at meal times and asking to leave.

@RustyCutter when you did the questionnaire, did you look for examples of what might count as a 'yes' to the questions? The reason I ask is that you've said things in your post that are flags for ASD, so I'm surprised that he only scored 2 or 3.

Struggling with transitions, not complying with peer behaviour (he leaves the room when everyone else is sitting nicely), struggling with a change of environment (lots of people visiting at home), getting overwhelmed with the school environment, following their own agenda (wanting free play instead of directed time), low awareness of personal space, speaking loudly, etc. It's all pointing to social communication issues that ASD features.

In terms of an action plan, you should apply for an EHC needs assessment yourself. The timeline is set in law and school staff are often told things that are untrue by the LA. They will have been told that they need to do 'assess, plan, do, review' cycles with strategies implemented in stages, etc. You don't need to wait until February.

Your evidence:

• Your child has needed support in two different settings that is additional to or different from that which is ordinarily available.
• Your child is being illegally excluded from the setting every afternoon. Whilst he is not of Compulsory School Age, the Schools Admissions Code clearly states that children are entitled to a full time education from the September after their fourth birthday.
• Your child has been placed on a reduced timetable because the school cannot meet his needs and keep both him and others safe.

Regardless of what you think about his additional needs, this is the time to see them in the worst possible light. He can always improve and reduce the support needed, but the LA will want to reduce their impact to lower their responsibility.

Schools do not take action lightly. There is a reason that two settings have struggled to meet his needs.

IPSEA have template letters you can use to request a needs assessment. Most LAs have an online portal but tbh, ours is quite restrictive. They have to respond to a request in any format, so I would email for the attention of the Director of Children's Services at your LA with the request, using the IPSEA template letter and adding in as much information as you can about why s/he needs an assessment.

Do it today. The clock starts ticking once they have received it.

It is not ‘normal’ for a 4yo to be unable to access any of the curriculum that is designed for 4yo, and schools do not send children home lightly. You need to believe them and work with them instead of gearing up to fight them.

It is irrelevant that they knew of potential issues before he started because that wouldn’t give them extra funding for more staff. I’d be annoyed that the pre school didn’t do anything about getting an EHCP.

You can request an assessment yourself through the GP which might help you get a diagnosis more quickly.

I thought the same about the red flags- struggling with transitions, meltdowns, not playing with others and advanced vocabulary.

Follow up all verbal conversations with emails so you have a paper trail as evidence.

If you want DS to attend full-time, he can unless formally suspended. Him being below CSA doesn’t change that.

You can choose to send him part-time if you want, but it is your decision.

2.17 of the School Admissions Code (which you can see here) makes it clear it is the parents’ choice:

“Admission authorities must provide for the admission of all children in the September following their fourth birthday. The authority must make it clear in their arrangements that where they have offered a child a place at a school:
a) that child is entitled to a full-time place in the September following their fourth birthday;
b) the child’s parents can defer the date their child is admitted to the school until later in the school year but not beyond the point at which they reach compulsory school age and not beyond the beginning of the final term of the school year for which it was made; and
c) where the parents wish, children may attend part-time until later in the school year but not beyond the point at which they reach compulsory school age.”

You may also find the school suspension and exclusion guidance helpful. You can see it here. Most of it applies to those below compulsory school aged. Where it doesn’t it explicitly says so as stated on page 6. In particular:

“Telling or forcing a pupil to leave school, or not allowing them to attend school, is a suspension (if temporary) or permanent exclusion (if permanent). Whenever a pupil is made to leave school, or forbidden from attending school, on disciplinary grounds, this must be done in accordance with the School Discipline (Pupil Exclusions and Reviews) (England) Regulations 2012 and with regard to relevant parts of this guidance.

19. Suspending a pupil for a short period of time, such as half a day, is permissible but the formal suspension process must still be followed. Each disciplinary suspension and permanent exclusion must be confirmed to the parents in writing with notice of the reasons for the suspension or permanent exclusion.

20.Any exclusion of a pupil, even for short periods, must be formally recorded. It would also be unlawful to exclude a pupil simply because they have SEN or a disability that the school feels it is unable to meet, or for a reason such as, academic attainment/ability; or the failure of a pupil to meet specific conditions before they are reinstated, such as to attend a reintegration meeting.

21.If any of these unlawful exclusions are carried out and lead to the deletion of a pupil’s name from the register, this is known as ‘off-rolling’. Further examples of off-rolling include:
•exercising undue influence over a parent to remove their child from the school under the threat of a permanent exclusion and encouraging them to choose Elective Home Education or another school place
•moving a pupil to off-site AP where that is not in the best interests of that pupil
•encouraging a post-16 student not to continue with their course of study when this is against the best interests of that pupil
•sending a pupil home without a formal suspension regardless of whether it occurs with the agreement of parents
•placing a pupil on a part-time timetable for behavioural reasons
•Intentionally removing a pupil from the school roll without correctly following regulations”

Don’t worry if they go on to suspend. A formal suspension rather than an unlawful informal exclusion it will a) provide you with evidence of unmet needs, b) force the school to follow due process, c) limit the number of days the school can suspend for, d) allow you to challenge any suspension, and e) once DS is compulsory school age, will ensure he receives alternative provision once he has reached that threshold.

Request an EHCNA now. You don’t need to wait for the SENCO to collect evidence. The EHCP process is governed by statutory timescales. A backlog is not a lawful excuse for breaching the timescales. You don’t have to accept that.

If the school needs more support to support DC, what outside agencies are they bringing in/referring to? If they need more funding to support DS, are they going to apply for high needs top up funding.

I just wanted to note the impact this will be having on you and your husband too. It sounds like your baby perhaps is having some health difficulties, which must be a huge strain already. This on top will be adding to that. So make sure you talk to
each other and air your sadness and frustrations. It’s really hard to hear other people say your child has problems when to you they’re this lovely little package of wonderfulness. It takes a grieving process to come to terms with it often. I speak from experience and actually negotiated an extension to my maternity leave to give me more time to process and learn to sit with all the new realities. Look after yourselves.