moving class in primary school

[justbeginit]

Hi
Has anyone successfully changed the class their child has been allocated.

Our school placed her in a new class that isn’t suitable for my child. I had appealed on the basis of her small medical condition however it did not meet the threshold to enable her to move. The class has a bully in which whilst we haven’t formally complained yet i did highlight it in my appeal.

I emailed and had a half hour call with the head but was refused on the phone and formally refused via email.

So we are stuck now, until the new term which i will be moving forward with trying to get her to change class or worst case move schools. Has anyone got any decent routes to take or success stories. Basically any tips to help would be great.

Thanks

What was their reason for refusal?
Can your child not join the class and the teacher can monitor the situation?

I wouldn't think you could appeal on the grounds the class has a bully in it.
Would think you need a justifiable reason why your child should be kept apart from that child. Maybe anxiety or mental health issues? Or a good reason why your child needs to be in class with certain friends who support her due to a medical or MH condition. Would any of that apply?
IME school will not wear it if it's because they're not in class with friends. You'll get stuff about building resilience, good to mix with wider group etc

In my experience (a couple of years ago) the most important thing is to move quickly on this. Once the school shuts for summer it is hard to talk things through, and hard for the person you are complaining to consider your complaint as they won’t be able to investigate the schools side of it. And once your child starts the new year in that class the school will say that it is not in her best interests to be moved.

Let the school know you are unhappy with their decision and ask what the appeal / complaint procedure is. You need to get a clear answer to this as time is of the essence. I think when I was complaining the council wouldn’t hear a complaint as long as their class setting policy had been followed, the only recourse I had was to the spso (Scottish public services ombudsman). I didn’t have to follow this through as showing that I meant business and wasn’t going to be fobbed off was enough for the school to change their mind.

The council education dept had an obligation to get back to you within 28 days, so would get back to you by the time the new school year starts but you have to be quick on this.

There are times when sadly you have to dig out your battle axe and get assertive. This is one of those times!

We were refused a class move - it seemed to boil down to the fact they wouldn't accept the bullying was happening, and didn't want to be seen to be failing by choosing what they said was a last resort of class move. We did lots of pointless things with the school and they pushed it onto my dd effectively 'no bullying happening here'.

It was a waste of 2 years and a lot of anxiety. We moved schools, 2 years ago now and things are continually better and I wish I'd not procrastinated.

**What was their reason for refusal?
Can your child not join the class and the teacher can monitor the situation? **

That it was not complex enough need to move her, and her age suited the class.

Let the school know you are unhappy with their decision and ask what the appeal / complaint procedure is. You need to get a clear answer to this as time is of the essence. I think when I was complaining the council wouldn’t hear a complaint as long as their class setting policy had been followed, the only recourse I had was to the spso (Scottish public services ombudsman). I didn’t have to follow this through as showing that I meant business and wasn’t going to be fobbed off was enough for the school to change their mind.*

I sent the complaint to the council as soon as read your reply. I focused it on the physical and mental health aspect and said I would contact who you suggested. I also have a consultation with an Education Lawyer but alas not until Friday afternoon. I am willing to go all the way with this.

Yes, our school got a new head who shuffled classes around, the new classes were based on a gender split and date of birth. My son was going into p5 and moved away from all of his friendship group and into a class with a peer group he actively did not get along with.

We spoke to the head teacher who at first refused to move him. It was causing my ds a lot of distress he wasn't sleeping and crying a lot about it. This was out of character for him as he's usually very stoic. We got him to write a list of reasons and a letter to the Head of why he should change classes, we also met with her to discuss it twice. We quoted UNCRC and 'child's best interests' as they are a rights respecting school and always banging on about it.

In the end I heard through the grapevine that their was another boy in the opposite class who had been split from his friends and having a similar discussion with the head. I think this made it easier to move him as it was a straight swap of two boys so didn't upset the gender balance or class numbers and there were no special needs to consider.

I am so glad I pushed for my son it was the right thing for him as he is still incredibly close with all of the boys. I haven't had to speak to school abort any other issues since.

Good luck!

thanks for the idea of getting him to write a letter. Another Lawyer has giving me a consultation this afternoon to see. I am desperate. Head had gone from being friendly to being very curt.