History GCSE want to drop it

[Belshels]

Hi there, I am at my wits end with dd's school, and wondering how to escalate a complaint I have. I'm not happy with the way she is being treated.

Dd suffered a serious SA age 13, and is having ongoing SA therapy each week. It was unfortunately the R word, involved entrapment, and she gets flashbacks as has blanked it all out, and also panic attacks.

She is triggered by certain things, and is struggling at school, particularly in History, where certain subjects in the GCSE curriculum cause these flashbacks. (Nazi Germany, Crime and Punishment/ torture being a couple of those subjects).

She wants to drop History, but after several emails and meetings in house with the head of year, head of department and deputy head, the school have said no she can't drop it. This is because it causes a precedent, and will open flood gates for others to drop subjects. The other issue is they don't have another classroom or extra staff where she could go and sit.

There have been times where she's walked out of class when she found it triggering, only to be threatened with suspension and effectively bullied to go back in. Other subject teachers just say have 5 mins out, and then come back.

If she goes to pastoral care, where she should feel safe and supported, they don't let her stay and send her back to class.

She's been in all sorts of trouble because of it, which further adds to her stress, and she's in tears at least twice a week at school. her attendance is bad, and this is mainly to blame. The mental struggle to go in at times is too much.

She also being investigated for severe headaches / migraines, and about to have a brain scan. These are worse at school. Her attendance is poor because she hates school so much. This situation is making it worse.

The school are being far from understanding. The History teacher gives her detention every week for not doing the homework, and now she's being forced to go into History catch up class after school.
She feels she's being treated like a criminal, and no one is listening.

Today with 4 teachers in the room she was told in a smug way by the head of Pastoral (!!) she will be sitting the Mock exam and the GCSE exam itself, and if she didn't we would be charged for the exam.

How can a school force her to sit the exams, and make her do all the work for it?

It's so petty, it's as if they don't want to lose face now, and so are dictating to her, at the detriment of her health and wellbeing.

What would you do in this situation. Any advice gratefully received. Ty x

She would probably be allowed to drop it where I am but we do have that precedent and provisions for independent study in place. It might also trigger a reduced timetable depending on circumstances.

Is she under CAMHS? Can you get her ‘signed off’ that subject by them or the GP? Medical evidence would probably carry the most weight. Has the SENDCo been involved?

I feel this is discriminatory and also possible safeguarding issue.

Have you involved HoY yet? I would do that first and also point out that forcing her to engage with History is having a knock on effect on her other subjects which will obviously impact on her grades which will also effect the schools GCSE result stats.

If you have no luck with the SLT then you can send your complaint to the Chair of Governors.

Good luck OP. This is rubbish. Please keep fighting for your DD.

Agree that you need a report from a professional to add to the claim that they are creating a safeguarding issue (causing mental distress to your daughter) by this course of action. They are causing actual harm - I can’t believe the attitude. the person providing the weekly SA therapy should be able to write a report.

failing that you could engage a child psychologist for a one hour session and report : where I live in London it cost £140 for this (needed a report on current state of DDs anxiety and adjustments needed for new school)

Sorry to have seen you have involved SLT.

Straight to governors to put in a formal complaint.

This is the worst thread about secondary schools I have read this week (several ongoing ones at the one).
This is AWFUL. Your poor daughter.
Tell the school that the simply is NOT taking history. No arguments. She is NOT doing it.
She also needs a pass if she needs to leave another class such as English literature or PHSE.
I would remove her from the school if they refuse.
💐💐

Follow the school complaints procedure. It will be on their website.

Just to add governors won’t deal with it until you’ve been through the other stages. Make sure you tell the head that this is a formal complaint and they need to record under this category.

I am appalled to read this tbh. My daughter has had some issues with school this last year, initially she had a card to allow her to leave class to calm down with the idea she would return to class, however this has now been replaced by a study room (accessed by selected students) so she goes there for the rest of the lesson to do independent study. This is working so much better for her as she’s an academic conscientious child, she’s getting lots of work done and it’s been really positive for her, and she’s felt better equipped to deal with school.

Your daughter should absolutely be offered something similar, is this a standard state school?

@Belshels Look up your school's complaints procedure and do whatever it tells you to do. This is disgusting behaviour by them knowing everything she has been through. This just would not happen at my children's secondary. If homework is not done they support the child rather than punish.

It is because it is one of the bucket subjects for the IB, ie Maths, English, Science, Language, Humanities. Fucking arseholes. My niece had a card she could use to get out of a classroom if she was feeling overwhelmed. She was under CAMHs for anxiety. Is this a state school?

Yes she is under Cahms, but not SEN in school, although she does have ADHD which she's now medicated for. I may see if I can follow that route, thanks so much for the suggestion.

Yes, so do I! Head of year has been overruled by Head of department and deputy head. I rang the council to speak to their safeguarding team. Am waiting for a call. 🤞🏼 What's SLT?
Thanks for replying x

Thank you. Yes I agree and may speak to her SA counsellor and see if she can write to them. X

Yes have mentioned to the HOY that I will be doing this unless they let her drop the subject.ty x

My DD dropped History at this time in y11. She was able to just go to the 'inclusion unit' during those lessons.
Opening the floodgates is a lazy excuse when your DD has such specific needs.

SLT = Senior leadership Team.

I have no suggestions, but am outraged on your behalf.

Your poor daughter.

The school sounds incredibly unhelpful and unsympathetic.

Could you escalate this to the board of governors?

I'm so angry on your and your DD behalf too. They show no empathy at all.

Don't be afraid to escalate this.

Precedent is a rubbish excuse - they're hardly likely to have this circumstance again. They just have to say "no, that is not enough reason for you to give up a subject" to anyone enquiring in the future - they don't have to say why she was allowed - that's nobody else's business.

There are solutions to the practical issues. Even if they don't have a supervised space where she can go during history lessons, then she could move to another option in that option block and do private study in the corner of a geography group (or whatever else is on).

Put in an official complaint.

Sometimes Camhs will write letters in these kind of circumstances which often forces the school to back down.

This is not good and the school should back down.

Apparently they don't have the staff to supervise any extra classrooms. They have a isolation unit, but doesn't seem to be an option! I agree it's lazy. I am sure most schools would let her drop it.

Thank you! Think they can't be bothered with her anymore, easier to bully her than support her.

I may have to. Just waiting for head of department to call me. Will probably be another call to tell me how they are going to get her engaged, and try and find ways around her sticking at the subject.

I think you need to start telling them what is going to happen. Your DD will be dropping history GCSE. She will no longer attend those lessons. She will not be sanctioned in any way shape or form. They will not be having any discussions with your DD about History from this point on. Any queries they have should be addressed to you. Any deviation from this and you will be making an official complaint about the way they have failed to safeguard your DD, exacerbated your DD’s trauma and have caused her serious emotional harm despite knowing that she is under CAHMS etc. You will also be taking legal advice.

Thank you.i am so surprised at their lack of empathy and understanding. Yes, a state secondary. She started in year 9, and it looked promising and supportive to begin with. Now I feel as if the teachers are all ganging up against her and are determined not to lose face.
Even the head of Pastoral has been smug and nasty this week!
Your children's secondary sounds better.
She has a yellow card but is literally allowed outside for 5 mins I had to really push for it though. If she's having a panic attack or crying it's not enough.
None of them are allowed to go to the bathroom and they lock the toilet in class time.

Thanks great advice, and I may even use some of your words when I write to them again. I am starting to be more firm with them now, as they clearly think they can push DD around and treat her like a criminal.
The head of History just called and says they just don't understand what the problem with History is, and why she gets triggered and can't cope. Tbh I refused to spell it all out again, it's the fact that she does that matters, and she's in tears, missing school and has migraines. Apparently it's not in their jurisdiction to withdraw students from exams 🙄

Rather than putting it in writing, I’d ask for a meeting with the head, head of year and subject teacher all present so you only have to say it once. I’d also check out everything you can find on the schools complaint procedure, safeguarding, the process of withdrawing a child from a gcse subject etc so you have all your ducks in a row before you go in. I’d also write out a timeline for yourself of everything the school has said/done in regards to your DD including any sanctions and your responses, so you have that straight. It’s worth looking into whether your DD’s ADHD has an impact on the way she is/isn’t coping with her trauma. If it does then you can add disability discrimination (not making reasonable adjustments) to the list of issues. You’ll need to talk to your DD about exactly what she’s comfortable with you disclosing to them. If you can, get supporting letters from CAHMS or a medical professional about the impact being in history lessons and the school’s treatment is having on her health.

I’m so sorry about what happened to your DD and what is happening with the school now. Your DD can’t focus on healing when she’s having to confront this several times a week. I hope you get some sense from the school. Most of the time it’s about working with the school but the way they’ve behaved has shown that they have no interest in that and they’re actively damaging her mental health.