Is it fair to give Detentions almost every day to Y7 ADHD SEN child, making him miss meal time causing nose bleeds

[GKBM]

Hi All,

I am looking for advice as I am of mother SEN child who is recently diagnosed with ADHD. To give background, we had issues in his primary education in the school he started his education since school consumed all the ehcp budget (after getting it) in other activities and after fighting Tribunal, we changed his school to another mainstream school which goes from primary until 6th form. He started new school in Year 4 and completed his Y6 in same school.
They accepted his Y7 admission in same school stating some academic delays but with no disagreements on his placement. In the meantime, we got him assessed for ADHD for which got confirmed around July 24, towards end of Y6. Immediately when the camhs teams confirmed his diagnosis, school started making up case saying he is not fit for mainstream education and has lot of academic delays and behavior issues. We have countered that he was in school for past 3 years so if there were issues, they should have referred him to Camhs and why only when Parents got him referred to Camhs through GP, school is raising concern on his mainstream placement.
Now school has started giving him frequent detentions since start of year 7, sometime they are given in all the breaks, first break and lunch break as well keeping him away from meal for entire day.

His EHCP states that he needs to have extended meal time however with this, he is completely kept hungry and now causing lot of nose bleeds. We had discussion with school and called for early ehcp review however no matter what we can't let everyday detentions for him going on for complete year 7. These detentions were never there since past 3 years in same school.
He has overall development delay, Heart correction done, cdk13 disorder , speech & language issues and now ADHD.

Please can someone advice who should we complaint. Also some reasons that our child has progressed in this school for past 3 years and also has sibling here, we want to continue with same school. It is really difficult fighting crocodile in water so need advice please.

Just wanted to mention that in Y6 when school was ousted due, they called us to meet inspectors for the progress our Child has made and we did it. They accepted Y7 admission and immediately after ADHD diagnosis towards end of Y6, they started raising that he is not fit for Mainstream. We have also told school that his ADHD medication will start in FEB 25 so they need to be patient but seems all our efforts are failing.

The school should not be punishing DS in a way that means he isn’t able to eat.

DS clearly needs more support. What support is currently in the EHCP? If provision detailed, specified and quantified in F isn’t being provided, have you contact the LA? It is the LA who is ultimately responsible for the provision. Have you already had the early review? When was it? Have you spoken to the SENCO and HOY?

Focus on now rather than the comparison with primary. Secondary school is a very different environment to primary, even if it is an all-through school.

What are the detentions for?
If they’re due to his ADHD and being unsupported then no he shouldn’t be getting them.

This sounds like torture. No other European country gives detention anyway, so I really do not understand why English parents stand for it, especially if detentions are given for things like wearing 'the wrong shoes' or 'forgetting a ruler/book/homework'.No human being should be treated like this and all parents should unite to cause a massive reform of the UK school system which is more draconian than most prisons. If a disabled child is missing his lunch, it's time to call a human rights lawyer.

No other European country gives detention

Is that a recent change?

The situation OP describes isn’t acceptable, but there certainly used to be European countries who used school detentions. For example, Finland - I don’t know if they still do but they did at least until 5ish years ago. And France - who did at least when some (or maybe all, I can’t remember if it was an area or the whole country) French schools brought in the somewhat controversial phone rules.

@BrightYellowTrain My French aupairs had never heard of detention or experienced it, nor had my Italian and Spanish ones. I went to school in Germany, and there, as in all neighbouring countries (Austria, Holland, Denmark etc) it's unheard of. I also went to school in Poland for a while, where it didn't exist. I spent most of my life in the US, and while detentions exists there, they were never used for minor things (first of all, there is no school uniform, no policy about what to wear, how to have hair etc), like forgetting something or being late (forgetting homework would affect grades, being late would be recorded in 'tardy points' on the report card). I can honestly say that noone throughout my high school years there ever had a detention.

@NellyBarney detentions in Finland definitely happened up to at least 5 years ish ago. There was even a research study about it 8 years ago. I have dug that out here.

At least some areas of France used detentions when the phone rules were implemented. I remember reading about it when the rules were brought in. From a quick google, this is one article mentioning it, but there are others.

Hi All

Thanks for all your replies. To be honest, few reasons for detentions are known to us however for few no one is aware. He has EHCP provision as he is eating disorder to get additional meal time however out of 40mins, 20mins is detention and he doesn't even open the lunch box. He goes in Mainstream, maintained by LA, it's academy school. We escalated to Camhs and even got his adhd medication appointment for 10 Feb 25 abs we suggested school to be more patient however nothing is working. If we are asking for reasons for detentions, they don't respond. Finally we have secured EHCp revie now scheduled on 15Jan25 where we have requested LA to attend as well.

We agree even prisoners are allowed meal, taking meals from any child is inhuman. We are aware that hyperactivity issues are there due to adhd but if they don't implement any strategies, nothing will work. Mainstream schools only are concentrating on children with higher abilities to show gcse results, they do not intent to support sen children. It's only when Ofsted comes in, the concept of inclusion comes in.

I shall update you what happens in EHCP.

Is there definitely no parent app? Have you carefully read all the parent info supplied when DC joined this school?

At my DD's school everything's documented on ClassCharts so if she gets a behaviour point I can log in and see what it's for (so can she if she wants).

I sympathise about the eating as DD also struggles to remember to do it. This is what we do:

1. Try to ensure she eats something before leaving the house even if it's not particularly nutritious.
2. Ensure she always has money on ParentPay to buy something at break or lunch.
3. Send a packed lunch each day with lots of quick nibbly stuff like BabyBel, cherry tomatoes, cocktail sausages etc.
4. Ensure she always has a few quid on her GoHenry to buy a snack on the way to or from school.
5. We pick her up from the train via the supermarket cafe.

She is basically made of Penguin biscuits and Waitrose veggie sushi but she's not malnourished!

Schools really struggle with lunchtime behaviour these days which is why lunches are short sadly.

Sorry, mean to add that I have never heard of being hungry causing nosebleeds but we have a nosebleed issue too and find Bepanthen cream and Sterimar salt spray are good (advice from French doc). The Bepanthen is this country is marketed as "nappy cream" but it's the same stuff.

If the provision is detailed, specified and quantified in F but DS isn’t receiving it, have you contacted the LA? The LA is ultimately responsible for ensuring the provision is provided. The school also need reminding the provision is in F.

This is shocking, and potential disability discrimination on the grounds of behaviour arising from a disability (as well as possible breach of your child's human rights). If you have legal cover on your insurance policy I'd talk to a Solicitor immediately. If not phone the EASS who are the advice service on the Equality Act. They are free and have template letters on disability discrimination and can talk you through the legal issues. I'd also flag with my MP.

www.equalityadvisoryservice.com/

Thank You so much for your valuable advice.