What would you do if your head was lying?

[benito]

We have a very difficult head who is pumped up with pride at her own 'outstandingness'.

Yet, she is a liar. She as badly let down my son by never putting in place the help all experts said he needed and having to be persuaded forced every step of the way to take action - SA, SA+, Stat Ass.

I have had a serious falling out with her this week over her reprehensible response to receiving DS's finalised statement.

She has absolutely no clue about equality and inclusion duties - all optional extras to her - and I think she believes SEN help is something which she provides when it helps her SATS averages.

I've been pursuing her for disability policies for the last year and she hasn't had any in place. I asked again yesterday and I've been provided with something which is clearly backdated and has been put together to cover her arse.

There is a statutory obligation on schools to have a disability equality scheme. It is not just a policy but a process of engagement and involvement. There are also duties to file annual reports with GOvs and report to parents.

The fact that she's cobbled together this policy is undermined by the complete absence of any engagement with any disabled parents/cildren since we've been at the school and the lack of any reporting to parents.

What can you do when a head lies like this? I know I can go to the Gov Body but they are insipid little pet dogs and I'd get no joy there.

I just think if she'd done her job and implemented one of these schemes, and respected non-discrimination obligations, my son's life would not have been so crap over the last three years!

Move schools if you can.

Sometimes you need to poke a bit.. Sometimes you need to stamp your feet and have a small feet... But with the some kinds you would be better placed to not have the fight and work in partnership with a school who is willing. ( if you can).

I have written evidence of a few, let's say, exagerations... Written by the same person... There is no moving them, when I have pushed.. I have been met by arrogance and subborness..
There is no working with this person .. We are saving time, energy ( which could be much better placed) and heartache by changing schools!

Have a small fight.. Not small feet ( that results in less noise when stamping :))

I second the moving schools if you can. Then send any evidence to Ofsted to drop them in it. Sounds very much like ds's old school who falsified IEP's and told lies all the time to cover their own arses. They were also classed as 'outstanding' and removed all the 'difficult' SEN children from class when they were inspected. Ds is left needing counselling because of how they treated him so it would be better to move your ds before too much damage is done.

You are right. I feel so much better for having confronted her with my very low opinion of her headship skills in this regard and I used one limited power available to me - I resigned as a Governor over her SEN practices and asked that be recorded.

New school it is then! But I shan't tell her that yet.

Oh and Ofsted is a very good idea!

I am wondering if your Ds is at the same school as my Dd3,

I would also agree that moving school could be your only option, however I totally understand why you may not want to do this.

It took the whole of reception yr to settle Dd3 and she has a couple of friends, she is familiar with the school and understands what is expeced of her most of the time.
Do I move her to saveus from the HT or do I leave her?? I don't know the answer but I do feel for you.

Good luck whatever you decide

Sorry cross posted, hope you find a great school for your Ds.

Ooh good for you resigning - hope you tell the other governors and any parents who ask why you did.

I'd change schools if possible. Her sort of ignorance will permeate the whole school.

Also definitely report them to Ofsted and the LA would be pretty horrified about it too as they draft these policies for their schools to adopt - yours obviously hasn't.

Who would you contact at the LA? I asked the Ed Officer about who dealt with inclusion and got a letter back by email telling me to raise it with the school? I then wrote to the Head of SEN who said he'd passed it back to the caseworkers!

It doesn't seem to me that the LA have any oversight powers over the schools really.

If you can move schools you need to. This HT will never be inclusive no matter what policies are in place.

As a gov you know how formal complaints work. First you have to complain to the HT ( which you have already done). The you have to complain to the govs (which you have already done?). Then you complain to the LEA. I think there's more of a chance the LEA will do something than ofsted.

But, first spend your energy choosing a new school.

If you find a school which has a place you can move straight away. Literally you can start the next day.

So do that first.

Would also say your DS needs a new school. I knew of a head like the one you've written of and this person was just the same. Nothing changed until this person left.

Thanks for your help. I am (or was) a very new Governor so did not know how the complaints system worked.

We need to identify a new school but we also intend to move areas for other reasons so it is not something which can be sorted overnight. I have thought of home edding in the meantime but I think his statement is there for him to get help.

You are so right though - these people cannot be changed. It is awful that so many people here can recognise the experience. Heads should be more accountable.

i had this at my sons middle school so changed schools and found a world of difference but still worth complaining to ofsted so i may well do that too as its caused all sorts of damage to my DS i wish i'd done it sooner now

We've been through something similar but for much shorter time, plus its the teacher lying, not the head. Our problem has been the head is spineless. At the end of the day what we've learnt is that if you are fighting even the basics (SA, SA+, stat assessment) and even then they do what the professionals tell them then there is no point. My ds is moving schools at half term. He's been through total misery at the old school. He's been to visit the new school and loved it so much that he's begging to go from now (can't because waiting on LEA to sort the paperwork out). He cried when it was home time from his visit.

This new school has taken one look at all written documentation I could give them of my ds's needs and they didn't even question, everything is being put in place. They're shocked at what has been happening in ds's old school.

At the end of day I think even though all schools are meant to be inclusive etc etc in reality its bollox. Some schools are so driven by results they don't like children who mess that up for them and only have them in their school because they're not allowed to kick them out. But they do kick you out in other ways. They fail your child and not many parents will stand back and not fight and they hope that we will go away. Certainly in our case the school has got their wish but at what cost to them? We shall see.

I would urge to consider you moving schools. Its not worth the fight and energy on a school that doesn't care. Its not good for your ds either. He doesn't need a stressed out mum because the school won't do the things required for him.

You are right and I don't disagree with anything you say but we simply can't move schools quickly as we intend to move away from this area because of the secondary school system.

That might take 6ms or a year. We have waited to complete the dx process and waited to complete the statementing process.

So what would you do in the meantime? Ideas gratefully accepted!

Home ed I think. I would have done if there weren't places in the school of choice.

I have a 5 year old there too!

What happens to the statement?

I've left one in the school (4.5yo) and pulled one out. They're twins and dd is happy to be without her brother. I don't know what the staff are going to be like longterm about the situation, its all only come to a head this week.

I have no idea what would happen to the statement. Hopefully someone will come along who could answer that.

I would absolutely recommend changing schools - we did last year (after a 5 year battle at an "outstanding" school).
My DD is a changed child I now have the support of the school rather than a constant battle.

Look at other schools but don't go by SATS results etc. See how prominent the special needs section of the prospectus/ website is. When you go around the school look at how other SEN children are treated.

IMO outstanding schools with good SATS results do not want SEN children in the school that will bring them down.

I deliberated for quite some time before moving DD because I was off the mindset that she was at an outstanding school and therefore moving her to one that wasn't would mean she would receive even less help (not that this was possible). We haven't looked back but I do regret having kept her in the old school for so long!

Thanks newlife4us. I completely agree. The problem is that this is a very traditional, very small, middle class grammar school town and there are, as far as I am aware, no schools with any particular commitment to (or awareness of) inclusion.

We have been here under suffrance for a long time. We need to move but there are many practicalities to sort out.

I can't imagine school not being a battle. How do you find these places!!

Benito. All schools are meant to be inclusive, and a lot are. It is nothing to do with being 'middle class' or anything else. It is purely down to whether or not they have a good HT and SENCO.

School does not need to be a battle.

Either move now and then again when you move house - or Home Ed.

The statement stays in place if you Home Ed.

Ring up a school you like and tell them your child has a statement. It'll soon be obvious if they're inclusive or not.

And definately don't look for an 'outstanding' school or one with good SATS. Consider all the schools that you can get to. Ring them up, look round etc. And purely base your decision on what the HT and SENCO are like....

Thanks Indigo. I didn't mean to suggest that inclusivity and middle classness were mutually exclusive - it just appears to be the case here. Parents see SEN kids as holding back their own and I know enough parents through the NAS and Early Bird Plus course to know that these problems seem to replicate themselves in all schools.

You are right about raising the statement and watching the reaction. I did look at a school in the next county and the head was clearly not interested and was full of excuses about delegated funding and how hard it would be for them to meet his needs.

Look around the schools with rubbish league table scores.... The reason may well be the school is full of happy SN kids :)

Also, if you look here you can tell how many children are on the SEN register for each school.....

Probably don't even approach a school that has less than 20% on the SEN register...

9% at present school - thanks. That is really interesting!