Are the SEN tribunals deliberately trying to dismiss cases?
My 11-year-old is visually impaired and home schooled after 6 years+ of the most inhumane and cruel treatment by local schools and the Local Authority. Diagnosed in Dec 2017 witha serious genetic degenerative untreatable visual impairment that required immediate and full interviontion according to the leading specialist in the UK.
Instead he has not only never been supported, but all obstacles, denials, fabricated and false reverse allegations and threats have come his and our way from schools, LA, the MP - amd with the SEN Tribunal Judge now seeming to take the same approach.
Read on.....
His EHCP has never been supported despite being granted in late 2018 after a SEN Tribunal case and a 1 year nightmare with the school not putting place the simplest reasonable adjustments such as modified materials for reading, screen sharing, counselling, extra time for tests. The LA not only ignored all that but effectively disappeared until March 2023 despite the EHCP. They spend all their time either not responding for years on end, or misrepresetnimg, gaslighting or threating in an aim to waste as much time and and money as possible. They have never spent 1 penny supporting my son, but cost us hundreds of thousand so pounds trying to support him, in direct costs, and multiples more in terms of opportunity costs and impact on family life and career.
The school he was at tried their best to off roll him by creating huge obstacles ever since since his diagnosis in 2017. After highly critical reports from independent SEN Ed Psychologist and SENQTVI in 2022 and 2023, the School Head immediately attacked me labelling my written concerns "derogatory", forbidding me to raise written concerns while ignoring all the SEN expert urgent recommendations. They then put in other requirements 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 concessions so I had to author it myself and ask them to copy it. They then upped the ante, openly fighting/defying/misrepresenting/resisting all SENs expert and their recommendations in including NHS eye specialists consultants, Qualified Teachers for Visual impairment, asking me instead to buy very expensive equipment like digital magnifiers and digital cameras etc while they refused to connect screen sharing or provide appropriate modified reading materials.
My 10 year old visually imapried son ended up lugging £10,000 worth of visual aid equipment in a luggage trolley weighing up to 16kg up to 8 classrooms in a day - pulling it along with numerous cables and peripherals in a luggage trolley, always late, stressed, harassed, with no time for toilet breaks, having to run downstairs to reception to get keys for lift if classroom was on different floor. Or to try and find this equipment if lost or taken by staff and other pupils. Thios from 8am to 5pm every day....
On Sept 15, 2022 he stated that he would NOT need 90% or more o his equipment if school supported him. In direct response to this feedback from him, the Head of School instructed that I was not allowed to speak directly to any school staff and would only go through the Deputy Head, who would mostly ignore or respond very late to any issues.
Now he was isoolated and treated as a pariah in a form of disability apartheid instigated by the school. The Head of School then wanted me to visit the head's office without a witness or SEN expert to explain my son's SEN needs. All the SEN and NHS experts advised that the school could not be trusted given their past and were likely looking to launch allegations. I stated that I was happy to visit with SEN experts who could then yet again explain the SEN recommendations, which they had numerous times from April 2022 onwards, but the school stated it was inappropriate and they actually wanted to discuss how I should communicate with the school.
It was obvious what their clumsy ploy was.
The school the upped the ante with SENCO lying to visiting NHS consultant that my son was accessing the curriculum very well through a "visualiser" which did not exist. The same day my 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 adjustable chair. All the lies of the SENCO were exposed. She had never seen him except for a passing hello and doubtless all school staff were told he was going to be history shortly soon as they could find an opportunity to accuse me as a full time single parent.
Despite being caught in flagrant lies, the school continued on its way and kept ignoring all the urgent SEN reports and started arguing with them. I was not in touch with anyone at the school but the Deputy Head on email alone from Sept 16, 2022 onwards. He spent his time either not anwering for days on end, or forarding lies/misrepresentations/gasalighting from the SENCO.
Finally, my other son was so upset that in late October 2022, he and my then 10 year old SEN chikldmade 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 launched a formal complaint with Chairman of the Board, seding in not only this video, but over 100 pages of evidence.
The school continued denying all reasonable adjustments. Since May 2022 I had avoided meeting all school staff without a witness as I knew the Head was trying to accuse me of being derogatory (the Head later wrote that the use of the term "derogatory" in opening emails from the Head in May 2022 was not meant to mean derogatory and I had taken it the wrong way).
But 5 weeks later, with no meeting, in person or online, in Dec 2022, the Chairman not only rejected all the evidence provided, but launched fabricated allegations against me that could not begin to be true. Clearly the Chair and Head had collaborated and colluded on this clumsy dishonest response – the evidence is all over his supposed findings.
Then using these false allegations they ordered my son removed from school, no later than March 24, 2023, threatened to remove him immediately, and claimed his distress came from my speaking badly about the school at home. They then took him into a separate room on Dec 09, 20233 and tried to get him to say this but he of course refused.
Every school day, I interviewed at school pick up, made a nonpublic Vlog, which ended up with hundreds of short videos with full transcripts. Nothing could be more damning.
The school continued to defy all SEN reasonable adjustment recommendations.
They then held a sham Stage 3 Appeal with a bunch of stooges in Jan 2023 who neither accepted any further evidence nor agreed to look at the false allegations against me. This behaviour continued until my son left school with last date on March 24, 2023- turning out later that the LA and the school were complicit and had held secret meetings without my knowledge in mid November 2022.
In late Jan 2023, I wrote to the Chairman of the Stage 3 Appeal that my son was very distressed, still not provided with the simplest reasonable adjstments as per SEN expert recommendations only to receive a pompuis and crude, "You have been instructed how to communicate with the school."
Of course, attenoing parent-teacher meetings were impossible. My son had been a total pariah since Sept 16, 2022, in an open form of apartheid instigated by the Head of the School.
On March 15, 2023 the LA finally showed up after many years for an annual EHCP meeting where my son explained everything he had gone through while the LA tried to cut him short My son explained that the SENCO had lied consistently, was hugely uncomfortable in her presence, while the other SEN experts and other academics explained that the school had stalled all reasonable adjustments for years, even though they were very easy, and further we could show that the bundle of 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. This bundle included unmodified maths tests in size 12 font in faded font, using blunt pencils, inappropriate A3 enlarged blurry photocopied handputs, and work done at home that the school claimed had been done on their premises instead.
This not just a smoking gun: the evidence against the school is so extensive and incontrovertible that even 1% in front of an impartial judge would result in a severe embarrassment for the school and perpetrators.
The school SENCO sat silent throughout the online 90 minute ZOOM meeting, did not utter a word except for friendly greetings with the LA SEN department. The LA did not question the school once, kept lying throughout the meeting, only to caught by evidence we had in posession. For example, they stated that they did not support any other children witjh EHCPS at the same school, but when we said we had evidenmce, they stated they did so only because it was a new EHCP, and they had done the same for my son when he wsas diagnosed. Which was yet another lie. The lies kept coming, contradicting each previous lie. What became clear was that in mid Nov 2022 they LA had held secret meetimngs with the school and decided my son was not grammar school material.
On March 24 2023 my son attended school for the last time. I wrote again to Chairman of Governors. and complained about his ongoing treatment but did not receive any replies.
The Chairman of the Board had become a dishonest judge, prosecutor, jury and executioner in collaboration with the wrong doers, including the School Head, SENCO, stooges in the Stage 3 Appeal panel, and all teaching staff except 1 individual of high moral character. I wrote to him that I had nowhere to complain about him, but that every protected charateristic of the 2010 Equality Act was brazenly violated.
The regulatory body responssible for overseeing the school completely ignored all my emails and volumes of evidence I sent them. The LA not only ignored it all, but was clearly complicit.
Academic ability of visually impaired son:
Now my son is rated a child of exceptional ability by Ed Psychologists in their 2022 reports, top selective private senior schools in the UK in 2023,. famous Maths professors in the US in 2023, English teachers who set GCSE grade boundaries in 2023.
But given his inappropriate assessment from his previous school on his record when tests/assessments were given to him without any concessions and adjustments for his needs, he has been deemed by Schools and the LA as of much lower ability. So Grammar School places have been denied to him with law breaking dishonest Heads and SENCO cherry picking results from inappropriate 2020 CAT4 tests, or citing unlawful reasons to deny him entry.
Worse, there was no way to challenge the fabricated allegations against me by dishonest and shameless Chair of Governors. Since his false allegation oin Dec 2022, except go the SEN tribunal. Luckily, the school could not manage to launch further fabrications, as from Dec 2022 until March 24, 2023I had minute very minute of my presence on school grounds during drop off and pickup.
The LA:
The LA then sent us on non stop wild goose chase for school placement from March 2024 onwards, while not only not questing the school’s behavioir but appearing to be entirely complicit. After about 4 months of a nightmare, they ordered that my son attend the final 2 days of school, in Year 6 on July 19 and JULY 20 to a new school that had argued for 2 months that they could not meet his SEN needs.
When my son politely pointed out the futility of attending school for a max of 2 days only, and without adequate SEN support, the Lead SEN official at the LA issued a letter threatening him and my other son with a defamation lawsuit. This threat stands as of Jan 10, 2024, and is designed to silence him from even speaking privately or stating facts and giving his views.
The Local MP:
For over 6 years we have tried to speak to the local MP who won’t grant even 1 minute of time. The Local MP also threatened us stating had no records of us trying to contact the MP, despite all the plethora of emails dating back to Jan 2018, and then wrote “I will not tolerate repeated untruth and false alelgations against me.” This was yet another silencing tactic. In reality it is the loal MP who is gaslihghting, lie and avoiding. Since Jan 2018 the position of the MP’s office is that the “MP is a VIP working on matters of pressing national concern.”
The MP has never spoken to us but throughout 2023 had posted may photographs and even videos on Twitter visting Local Vineyards, or sampling food at local Xmas markets in Dec 2023, just a few minutes from our home.
The state of the EHCP yielded in 2018 but never supported:
The LA also finalised a draft EHCP update in late Jun 2023 without our approval, stating that it was actually an error to label it a draft, 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 LA also stated they would only discuss/ speak to use through Global Mediation but since Aug 2023 I have been trying to get them to respond to no avail. They have also lauched the usual reverse allegations claming my son has burdened their SEN system so that their services to other SEN pupils if affected. This despite the fact that they have never supported him for 1 second since diagnosis in Dec 2017.
Collusion between local Grammar Schools and the LA to deny school place:
Grammar schools are also conspiring with the LA to deny him a place, ignoring all evidence of his ability but picking out CAT4 tests from 2020 given to him with no adjustments as evidence of lack of ability, and highlighted as ytoally inappropriate by Ed Pyshcologistin her reports of 2021 and 2022, they or they claimthat he did not pass the 11+ test when he could not sit it.
The SENCO at the grammar school also lied that the LA required that he pass the 11+ test but I now now have evidence from the LA that there is no such requirements. She just made up this bogus requirement.
So basically everyone, from the schools, to the LA, to the MP are lying and threatening as a form of “Get lost, otherwise we will make more accusations.”
So from May 2022 (but really Dec 2017) we have been involved in a nightmare with the local schools and the LA. The most dishonest and shameless people are involved.
The SEN Tribunal case against the previous school in Sept 2023:
Finally in Sept 2023 I filed a SEN tribunal case against son's previous school. I was shocked when the SEN judge changed the date of last enrolment to Dec 2022, when itwas ctually March 24, 2023, claiming the case was out of time, when it was not, plus claimed that I had accepted that I had misbehaved and therefore my son’s removal from school was justified (this was was a total fabrication from the SEN judge).
I then filed against this judgment in late Nov 2023, pointing out the facts in a detailed particulars showing evidence of:
(a) Victimization
(b) Disability Discrimination
(c) Systematic failure to provide reasonable adjustments throughtout his schooling there
(e) Daily harassment and (loss of dignity)
(f) ongoing detriment from being out of school due to victimisation and with totally inappropriate assessment of his academic ability set in stone and used by other schools to deny him school place.
This was supported by numerous SEN expert reports authored from 2022 to March 2023, plus a daily Vlog from Oct 2022 to end July 2023 of interviews with my son, plus transcripts, plus mountains of supporting evidence.
So what did the SEN Tribunal judge do?
On Dec 15, 2023, the SEN Judge dismissed the case entirely
- Ignored all the provided SEN expert reports
- Ignored all the other evidence
- Ignored the claims of Victimisation, harassment, Disability Discrimination, Ongoing Detriment altogether.
- He then claimed the failure to provide reasonable adjustments were sporadic and did not constitute a systematic pattern. He claimed this without looking at any of the evidence.
- He also claimed that the case was out of time because on the last day of school, March 24, 2023 my son was not subject to any discrimination, when the whole evidence and the 2010 Eq Act clarifies that the discrimination is still on going from the removal from school in direct response to a complaint against disability discrimination. Plus it is also victimisation.
- He has written he will NOT allow the case to be heard. "I refuse to allow the case" are his final words.
Technically, I have the right to appeal for the case to be heard, filing no later than within 28 days of Dec 15, 2023, todfay being Jan 10, 2024, but my sons and I have lost all confidence in the LA, schools, MPs, the supposed charities, and now the SEN Tribunal system.
Response from outside the UK:
Academics in the US and Canada are appalled. They have told me that if 1% if what happened to him since 2017 happened in the US or Canada the people would not only never work in education again but there would be criminal charges. Plus a tenured Professor in Toronto was so upset she asked to see her local MP and as well a member of the Canadian senate. reduced She was seen in their offices the very next day. Her university granted her compassionate leave of absence to visit my son to help with his stress and try to get the issue resolved.
The Actual ability of the child denied by Local Schools and the LA:
Finally while local grammar school and heads and the LA state the child is below of requisite ability, a battery of tests given to him by Educational Psychologists, top 10 UK school by A level results, an English teacher who sets exam grade boundaries resulted in the following reports:
A. Ed Psych: Child is at least 99.8 percentile in ability with cognitive ability at chronological age 9 years and 1 month equivalent to 15-18 years.
B. Leading UK school for A levels top 10 wrote: "significant academic and pastoral potential" etc plus advised suited for the most selective grammar school.
C. English GCSE exam grade boundary setter wrote: “At age 11, he would pass the GCSE English exam with the highest possible grade."
D. Renowned world class maths professor in the US wrote: " His independent maths work shows so much imagination and creativity that it reminds me of the most famous mathematicians of the 20th century that I know. He is like a young Mozart of Math."
Not good enough for UK schooling. Harassed, victimised, threatened, by schools, LAs and denied by the SEN Judge in the UK.
Now the SEN Tribunal judge has gone against all the evidence provided, and all the SEN expert reports, and all the protections prvided on account of protected characteristics in the 2010 Equality Act to dismiss the case altogether. Again, and again using nonsensical, bogus and contrived reasons.
So what does the child think?
My son has been begging to be removed from the UK since he was threatened by a defamation lawsuit by the Lead SEN official at the LA in July 2023. I have taken him to the NHS for counselling for his stress from August to Nov 2023. In Nov 2023. The NHS GP confirmed clear signs of stress, but the NHS have been unable to help suggesting other organisations, in a wild goose chase that ends up going round and round.
I have spent over 1 year calling every charity, help group, law firm to no avail. Apart from Home schooling him, I spend all my waking time tryintg to find help. My success rate is 0% with charities, help groups, and law firms. No one wants to know.
The child wrote emails himself in 2023 to the LA, the MP, the schools, asking to be given a chance. They all ignored him. He
As my son says, "Please take me away from the UK. I will never get justice here. I'm like a Jewish child in 1930s Germany."
Conclusion on Jan 10, 2024 (after diagnosis in Dec 2017):
We knew the LAs and schools were complicit and conspired to cause him as much detriment and harm as possible. We know they lie, misrepresent, fabricate and threaten.
But we did not expect that a UK SEN tribunal judge would behave the same way.