My 11 year old is visually impaired and home schooled. His EHCP has never been supported despite being granted in late 2018 after a SEN Tribual case and a 1 year nightmare with the school not putting place the simplest reasoblabe adjustments such as modified materials for reading, screen sharing, counselling, extra time for tests. The LA not only ignored all that but effecrivbely disappeared until March 2023 despite the EHCP. The school tried their best to off roll him by creating huge obstacles After highly criical reports from indepedent Ed Pyschs and QTVI in 2022 and 2023, the School head immediatley attacked me labelling my written concerns "deogatory." They then put in requirments such as asking me to get a criminal check to enter school, get permission of other parents to do so, failed to write the 11+ exam concessiosnm so I had to author it myself and ask them to copy it. They then upped the ante, the fought and defied all SEN expert and their recommendations in includding NHS eye speicalists consultants, Qualified Teachers for Visual impariment, asking me instead to buy very expensive equipment like digital mangnifiers and cameras etc while they refused to connect screen sharing or provide approprialtey modified readong materials. My son ended up lugging £10,000 worth of viusal aid equipement weighing up to 16kg up to 8 classrooms in a day - pulling it oinm a luggage trolley, always late, stressed, harrassed, with no time for toilet breaks, having ro run downstaris to recrption to get keys for lift if classroom was on different floor. On Sept 15, 2022 he stated that he would need 90% or more o fhis equipment if school supported him. In direct response to this the Head instrcuted that I was not allowed to speak directly to any school staff and would only go through the Deputy Head, who woulkd mostly ignore or respond very late to any issues.
The school the upped the ante with SENCO lying to visting NHS consultant that my son was accessing the currciculum very well through a "visualiser" whihc did not exist. The same day the son sent an urgent email that he could not even use the £3,000+ digital magnifier plus camera I had procured as he was too short and the school had failed to provide him with a height adjustbale chair. All the lies of he SENCO were exposed.
But the school continued on its way and kept ignoring all the urgent SEN rerports and arguoing with them. I was not in touch with anyone. Finally, my other son was so upset that he and my then 10 year old made a 40 minute video showing how my son was trying to access education, harassed and ignored every day. The LA ignored us. On 01 Nov 2022 I then lauched a formal complaint with Chairman of the Board. The school continued denying all reasonable adjustments. Since May 2022 I had avoided meetiong all school staff witout a wintess as I knew the Head was trying to accues me of bneikng derogatory (the had later wrote that the use of the term "derogratory" was not meant to mean derogatory. But in Dec 2022 the Head not only rejected all the evidence provided, but lauched fabricated allegations agaisnt me that could not begint o be true. Clearly the Chair and Head had collborated on this clumsy dishonest response. Then using these false allegations they ordered my son removed from schhool, and tried to say his distress came from my speakkng badfly about the school. They also took him into a separate room and tried to get him to say this but he of couse refused.
They then held a sham Stage 3 Appeal with a bunch of stooges who neither accepted any further eviudence nor false allegations against me. This behaviour continued until my son left school - turnong out later that the LA and the school were complicit and hadf held secret meerigns without my knowledge. On MArch 15, 2023 the LA finally showed up afetr many years for asn EHCP meting where my son explained everyting he had gone through while the LA tried to stop him. My son explaoned that the SENCO had lied consistenlty, the other SEN experts and other academics explained that the school had stalled all reasobable adjustments for years, even though they were very easdy, and we could show that the bunld eof evidence that the Head provioded for grammar school entry appeal proved that the simplest reasonable adjustments had not only not been made but showed that the school had put my son in an impossible situation.
On March 24 2023 m,y son attened school for the last time. rated a child of excerptional ability by Ed Psych, selcetvie private senir schools. famour Maths professors, English tracvhers who set GCSE grade boundaries he has inappriate assements from his schoolon his record when assessments were givne to him without any concessions and adjusmtents for his needs. Worse, there was no way to challenge the fabricated alegationsa against me by dishoinest and shamless Chair of Governors. Sionce his false allegation oin Dec 2022, I had minuted very minute of my presenc on school groiunds during drop off and pickup.
The LA then sent us on non stop wil goose chase for sdchool palcement finally ordering that my son attend the final 2 days of school, in Year 6 on July 19 and JULY 20 to a school that had stated for 2 momnths that they could not meet his needs. When my son politely pointed out the fultilty of atteding school for 2 days only without SEN support, the Lead SEN at the LA issued a letter threateniong hinm and my other son with a defamtion lawsuit. For over 6 years we have tried to speak to the local MP who wont grant even 1 minute of time. The LA also finalsied a draft EHCP update without our approval while also stating that the EHCPs were paper documents only and they would not even send in a SEN expert for evaluation for the next 5 years. The stated they wuold only speak to use through Global Mediation but since Aug 2023 I havebeen trying to get them to respond to no avail. Grammar schools are also conspiring with the LA to deny him a place,ingoring all evidence of his ability but picking out CAT4 tests from 2020 given to himn with n o adjustyments as evidence of lack of ability, or claiiong that he did not pass the 11T+ test when he cujold not sit it. The SENCO ast the grammar school also lied that the LA required that he pass the 11+ test but I now have evidence that there is no such requirements.
So from May 2022 (but really Dec 2017) we have been invloved in a nightmare with the local schools and the LA. The most dishonest and shamless people are involved.
Finally in Sept 2023 I filed a SEN tribunal case against son's previous school. I was schocked when the SEN judge changed the date of last enrollment to Dec 2022, claiming it was out of time, when it was not, plus claiemd that I had accepted that I had misbheaved (which was a total fabrication from him). I then filed against this judjements pointing out the facts ina detailed particulars showiong (a) Vcitimisation (b) Disability Discrinnation (c) Systematic failure to provide reasonable adjsutments throught out his schooling there (e) Dailu harrassment and (loss of dignity d) ongoing detriment from beikng out of schoopl due to vistimsation and with totally inapprriate asssements of his academic ability set in stone and used by other schools to deny him/. This was supported by numerous SEN export reports aouthored from 2022 to March 2023, plus a daily Vlog from Oct 2022 to end July 2023 of interviews with my son, plus transcripts.
So what did the SEN Tribunal judge do?
On Dec 15, he dismissed the case entirely
- Ignored all the provided SEN reports
- Ignored all the other evidence
- Ignored the claims of Victimisation, haarassment, Disability Discrimination, Ongoing Detriment altogether.
- He then claimed te failure to provide reasoable adjustemtns were sporadic and did not constitute a systematic pattern.
- He also claimed that the case was out of time ebcause on the last day of school, March 24, 2023 my son was not subject to any discrimination, when the whole evidence and the law clarifies that the dsrcimination is still on going from the removal from school in direct response to a complaint against disability discrimination.
- He has written he will now allow the case to be heard
Tecnnically, I have the righht to appeal for the case to be heard, but my sons and I have lost all confidence in the LA, schools and theSEN Tribual system,. My son is begging to be removed from the UK. I habe spent over 1 year calling evefy cahrity, help group, law firm to no avail.
Academics in the US and Cananda are appalled. They have told me that if 1% if what happened to him since 2017 happened in the US or Canada the peole would not only never work in education again but there would be criminal charges. Plus a Professor in Torotont was sup upset she asked to see her local MP and as well a memeber of the Canadian senate. She was seen in their offices the very next day.
Finally while local grammer school and heads and the LA state the the child is below of requsite ability, a battery of tests given to him by Educational Psycholgists, top 10 UK school by A level results, an English teacher who sets exam grade boundaries resulted in the following reports:
A. Ed Psych: Chld is at leat 99.8 perectile in abilitu with cogntive ability at chronological age 9 years and 1 month equivalent to 15-18 years
B. Leading UK school for A levels: "significant academic and pastoral potential" etc
C. English GCSE exam graee boiundaty setter: At age 11, he "wou;ld pass the GCSE Englsih exam with the highest possible grade."
D. Reknowned world class amths profressor in the US: " His independent maths work shows so much iomagination and cratvity that it reminds me of the most famous mathematicians of the 20th century. Like a yoing Mozart of Math."
Not good enough for UK schooling. Harassed, victimised, threatened, by schools, LAs and denied by the SEN Judge.
He wrote emails himself in 2023 to the LA, the MP, the schools, asking to be givena chance. They all ignored him
Now the SEN Tribunal judde has gone agaisnt all the evidence provided, and all the SEN expert reports, and all the protections prvided on account of protected charactersitics in the 2010 Equality Act to dismiss the case altogether. Again and again using nonsenical reasons.
As my son says, "Please tame ke from the UK. I will never get justice here. I'm like a Jewish child in 1930s Germany."
We knew the LAs and schhools were complicit and conspired to cause him as much detriment and harm as possible. We did not expect that a SEN tribunal judge would behave the same way.