Advice needed please - possible exclusion

[AnniDoesHaveDreams]

Just when I thought things were improving!

I haven't posted about DS for a long time and I really thought things were better at school, he is 14 and goes to the local Academy. DS has ADHD and other unspecified difficulties, mildly dyspraxic but his main difficulty is social situations. He is not statemented but is on quite a high medication of Concerta XL.

Had a letter today from school telling me that he has been given a detention on Friday 22 Jan for persistent low level disruption. Letter goes on about their Behaviour Policy etc. I can live with the detention but not sure what purpose it will serve certainly won't stop the low level disruption because unfortunately he isn't conscious of it, it is pretty much how he is and one of the more annoying symptoms of his condition. What really has stressed me out is the last sentence telling me that if his behaviour continues to cause 'concern' they will put in place a Saturday morning detention (?) or fixed term exclusion.

The last sentence 'hopes I support their approach'. Help, how do I address this. I don't really support their approach, I feel that they are punishing him something that really may be outside of his control. I struggle most days to get him to go to school if they begin exclusions I can only see that he may decide that this is a good thing if he doesn't want to be there anyway.

Any advice appreciated, I can feel the stress and tears coming back like an old friend

This is really pants help, but you need to know: Excluded secondary-age mustn't go out in public. So you need to plan to take days off work to makes sure he stays home if he does get excluded (punishment for the parents is what it mostly is).

I would write to the school asking for precise details of the disruptive behaviour. If it is very clearly behaviour that is linked to his condition, write again explaining this and asking them what support they have put or will be putting in place to enable him to either become aware of the behaviour or be in an environment where it will not cause disruption to other pupils. If they say they don't have the resources to do this, apply for an EHCP assessment.

If they persist in the punitive approach, tell them this is disability discrimination and you will be taking legal advice.

You could email rather than sending a letter but make sure it is in writing one way or another.

Teacher and former head if year here.

Will it be an external exclusion (at home) or internal (at school?). Internal is more usual as it doesn't affect the school's official exclusion figures. So it may not be that you have to stay home with him.

I'd call his head of year to discuss the best way to deal with improving his behaviour, as if it is part of his condition then he is going to need different strategies than other pupils (not to mention the fact that it would be discriminatory to exclude for behaviour related to a disability).

I would ask for a face to face meeting with his tutor and/or the SEN coordinator at school for a non confrontational chat about how you can all work together to endure DS gets the most out of school whilst keeping class disruption to a minimum.

What QuiteWoodsman said is what school also told me, the behaviour expectations & consequences are exactly the same for all kids with or without SN, Statements (or SEN-R status).

Schools simply cannot legally work on the basis of a rigid behavioural policy which means that children with disabilities will be punished for behaviour which is the direct result of their disability, especially where the behaviour is exhibiting itself precisely because the school is not meeting the child's needs. If they do, they are in breach of the Equality Act and are riding both for successful disability discrimination claims against them and downgrading by Ofsted.