Can the school refuse to have my child on the premises because he has forgotten to take his Ritalin?

[Oakmaiden]

Basically, my 12 year old today, in the rush of getting 3 children off to school and 2 adults off to work, ended up at school without his tablets. He was reminded to take them, but unsurprisingly forgot, and I forgot to check they had been taken.

So wind on 2 hours and the school phone my husband at work (having failed to get hold of me as I left my mobile in the kitchen - it was one of THOSE mornings). They insisted that my husband drive 45 minutes back from his place of work in the neighbouring city in order to collect ds's tablets and delver them to the school.

My husband tried to refuse, whereby the school said that if he did not they would have to insist that ds were taken home, as he was too disruptive without his meds. The school also said that we "have to work with them" - which is fine, but lets face it, the primary reason Alex takes the tablets is to make life easier for them - we are not obliged to give him medication, and normally I would run the tablets up to school without a murmur if I had forgotten (which happens very occasionally - it is not a regular occurrence!) but it was extremely difficult today.

Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone knew the legal position? Are they actually allowed to insist he is collected from school without actually formally excluding him?

No. I am pretty sure they would have to make a formal exclusion. If they just ask you to take him home you can insist that they make it an exclusion.
My DS' school keep a supply of his tablets. I wrote a letter outlining the circumstances under which they are to be given to him and so far it has worked. We don't forget very often, but we live 15 miles away so it makes sense for all concerned. Would they be willing to do that?

Happened to DD2 last year when she was 14 despite the fact that NO child under 16 is allowed home without a parent she was sent home,funny but when she was really ill and I couldn't collect her she was made to stay in medical room all day I created merry hell over it.

Legally no they can't.

I didn't think they were allowed too. Think I'll pop into school for a chat with the SENCO and make a suggestion about leaving some meds in school for him (thanks Benson, and suggest that they remind whoever was trying to bully my husband into doing what they wanted that their suggestion was not on. I wouldn't want them to exclude ds - but then, frankly, they wouldn't have because his behaviour wasn't bad enough for that - it was just loud and disruptive. And then, if they did, oh my word we would have a lovely discussion about meeting children's needs and the school's duty to adapt to the child's needs and not to expect the child to change to suit them....

Thank you very much to those who replied to me.