Suspensions

[Beagle16]

Hoping to get a little help. My daughter is currently undiagnosed AuADHD (school support it and we're on the wait list). She struggles with a lot of subjects at school, I feel if I had got the help and support at primary school then I probably would have things sorted but that's a different story.

Basically, when my daughter is struggling and becomes heightened she is very much in fight or flight mode (heavy on the fight) and becomes very defensive and doesn't not cope with strict instructions. This causes her to lash out verbally and involves her swearing. School are aware of this and I tell them every single time it happens, but their policy is if a student swears then it's instant suspension. There are a few teachers that almost seem to provoke my daughter (they know not to approach when she's heightened but still do) which causes her to get worse and swear at them. I'm sick of being called by school to say she's being suspended. Her attendance is below 80% and it's basically a weekly occurrence now. School won't apply for an echp and I didn't know until recently that I can apply for one myself so in the process of doing that, I have family intervention service involved (being assigned a case worker) and have emailed sendias for help too as they were briefly involved last year but dropped off the radar. Can anyone offer any help and support on how to handle this? Thanks

You can use IPSEA’s model letter to request an EHCNA.

Be careful with SENDIASS. Some are good but too many repeat the LA’s unlawful policies.

What support is the school providing? Support in school is based on needs, not diagnosis. The school must use their best endeavours to meet DD’s SEN and they must make reasonable adjustments. That includes adjustments to the behaviour policy.

If you haven’t already, it is worth reading the suspension and permanent exclusion statutory guidance. Are the suspensions formal? How many days has DD been suspended for a) this academic year and b) so far this term? Have you made representations in response to any of the suspensions?

Sorry to hear your daughter is struggling.

It sounds like she needs more support at school to reduce feelings of overwhelm so that she is able to calm down, rather than going into fight or flight.

Are the suspensions formally recorded (as these will provide evidence to support EHCP and also means school needs to follow guidelines (no more than 45 days a year, continuing to provide education during the suspension etc).

From DFE guidelines Suspensionsandpermanentexclusionsguidance.pdf:

1. A suspension may be used to provide a clear signal of what is unacceptable behaviour

as part of the school’s behaviour policy and show a pupil that their current behaviour is putting them at risk of permanent exclusion. Where suspensions are becoming a regular occurrence for a pupil, headteachers and schools should consider whether suspension alone is an effective sanction for the pupil and whether additional strategies need to be put in place to address behaviour.

Have you met with the school SENDCO to discuss support for your daughter? Perhaps she needs something like a timeout card so she can leave a lesson when becoming stressed/overwhelmed. Are there things that help your daughter regulate (e.g. chewing, fidgets, music)?

I hope that you can have some positive engagement with school and break this cycle.

Im in touch with the school senco on a weekly basis. We're also on first name terms due to how much we speak to each other. My daughter has a pupil passport and it states thats she needs to be sat at the back of the class amongst other things, but that one is highlighted yellow. There are teachers that don't follow that so my daughter won't go to those lessons, there are also lessons she struggles with such as Spanish and pe so when she can manage a lesson, she spends time in the senco support unit. At one point she was spending all day there. Senco have now managed to get her into 13 out of 20 lessons a week. She's allowed to leave lessons 10 mins early to go to the support unit to decompress the lesson before going to her next lesson. They have been fairly supportive. But the suspensions are becoming too much. They are formal suspensions, normally just one day but on occasions it has been two. I am expected to pick her up as soon as they decide to suspended her which isn't always possible so they put her into internal isolation for the day then still suspend her meaning she had two punishments but school don't seem to understand that. Since Christmas she's had 6 maybe 7 suspensions. I spoke to school last night and said suspensions don't work. Plus she's also so worked up at home and then doesn't want to go back to school. Iv tried punishing the behaviour, rewarding positive behaviour, ignoring the negative behaviour, removing items from her, setting goals with big rewards but nothing seems to stick with her as she almost doesn't care. Iv been screamed at this morning and called all sorts of names.

If staff are not following DD’s pupil passport, complain. I would also challenge the suspensions going forward.

I have complained that staff aren't following it and basically got told that they are unless it's exceptional circumstances. Every suspension gets challenged but only managed to overturn one. Apparently once it's been decided to suspend a pupil, they can't overturn it. I'm literally met with constant brick walls. Changing school isn't an option and homeschool wouldn't work

If your complaint has not resulted an acceptable resolution, have you escalated your complaint as per the complaints policy?

It is worth reading the statutory suspension and exclusion guidance so you know your rights and what should be happening. The head can cancel a suspension as long as the governing board hasn’t already met to consider the suspension. You have the right to make representations. Even if DD has not been suspended for more than 5 days in a term, your representations must be considered but the governing body can’t reinstate. However, if DD has been suspended for more than 5 days but not more than 15 in a term (which even if this hasn’t happened yet, if they are weekly occurrences, will apply shortly) and you make representations, the governing board must consider the suspension and decide if the pupil should be reinstated. You could also always a disability discrimination case route.