concerned & fustrated parent needing some advice

[EndOfTheRoad2011]

Hi all, I have spent a few hours reading through a lot of the threads here trying to find something that could help me but the situation is so unique and has been made into such a mess by the h/t we have that I am really needing some advice.

Our child is fully statemented with a full time one to one carer to support and assist our child in all her day to day care needs and access to education. She is a full time wheelchair user and requires supervision in a mainstream school

Last year we had to go through a disciplinary hearing as it came to light that our child's needs were not being met. Her care needs were neglected and she was bullied and so upset about having to go to school and being with her one to one carer. After an investigation took place and the hearing was heard by governors, the carer was found guilty of neglect but due to internal school errors the carer was re-deployed rather than dismissed. She is no longer allowed contact with our child. Obviously we are concerned why this lady is still being allowed to work with children but that really is another story (carer's brother is a governor!)
To cut a long story short our concern is that when it came to our daughter's annual review - considering the year we have had and everything our child had been through - not one person attended the meeting.

We believe her statement had not been followed correctly by the school and her needs were not met-a multi agency review would enable us to discuss what went wrong and to specify what checks and monitoring needed to be done to ensure our child's needs were not neglected again. Where can I get help from for this? I know and have spoken to Parent Partnership but the lady there is really crap and quite obviously doesn't want to support us. Is there any where else we can go to get help and support for the new mtg scheduled at the end of the month?

Thanks in advance!

I am so sorry to hear of your situation. Have you spoken directly to the SEN team of your local council? There should be someone there who can attend the AR meeting and listen to your concerns. They have a legal responsibility to ensure your DD's statement is being implemented correctly.

Hi KnittingRocks - we did contact them and they at first were very supportive and contacted the headteacher to find out what was giong on. Unfortunatley our headteacher is a pathalogical liar who has played down the seriousness of the neglect to save his school and to prevent embarassment to the brother of the ex carer! We believe he has lied and made us out to be neurotic parents when in fact all we want is to understand why our daughter was isolated and neglected at school!

The SEN inclusion officer for our area was invited but sent her apoligies on the morning of the review!

The chair of governors is refusing to meet with us and our daughter's care plan is written on a scrap of paper not signed by headteacher or passed by governors!

We really are so fustrated at the moment we are unsure who to challange in case it affects the care our daughter is now reciving...

Complaining to the LA

Complaining to OfSted

Complaining to the DfE

You can also take this up with your local MP, report it to the local press and, if you think it serious enough to be abusive, local Social Services. If they are regularly not attending to her toiletting/personal hygiene needs, feeding needs or medical needs, this is abuse and needs to be flagged up to SS.

Good luck and keep fighting

Our MP is in the process of writing a letter to the headteacher - she contacted the council and they pointed the finger back to the school. The school will probably point the finger back to the council.

Ombudsman failed to find an avenue into investigating our complaint because it was an internal schools error - who can challenge the school/governors/headteacher???

Our school senco seems to think it is all about her - when we told her we were not prepared to class a meeting between herself, the headteacher and our selves as a review meeting she took it personally!

Hi Purple - we have considered going to the press but are worried about the backlash we could receive from the community we live in.

For nearly 5 months our daughters needs were neglected - she was soiling herself daily at school (a sign of neglect in itself considering she has been toilet trained since nursery!) she wasn't being changed, she was told to stay where she was playing rather than going out with her friends as her carer had poorly legs too - she ended up going to the toilet before school and then holding it in until I got there. Eventually she was begging us to tell the carer that she didn't need to take her to the toilet anymore as she had been at home already! All this was backed up with evidence from other members of staff and our daughter's advisory teacher!

It's horrendous what our little girl went through and I feel so guilty but all I can do now is fight and try to find out why this happend and make sure it never happens again :(

I would be very very careful about going to the press as they have their own agenda, and the school will be much more adept at dealing with them than you will .

Your other option, and it's obviously not a palatable one, is to change schools . It may be that this is never going to be the right place for your child if they are going to be so totally obstructive and unhelpful .

Knitting - yes that is the options we wanted to discuss with the inclusions officer who was due to attend our daughter's review, our daughter has a new carer now - a qualified OT who is taking a year out (!!) and the improvement in our little girl is unbelievable - she wakes up every day asking can I go to school today (through out the whole of the hols!) so at present we r happy but concerned that an appeal could overturn the decision made and her ex carer could be allowed back onto school site....

I would contact the SEN team again and go and speak to the Inclusion Officer - she can't keep avoiding you. Maybe go and meet her at her office first and then make a meeting date for school?

Glad to hear things have improved for your DD .

thanks we will do that - will have a set of questions ready for her to answer :)

Let us know how you get on .