Child's views - help - letter received from LA this morning

[bjkmummy]

They phoned me a few weeks ago re the views and I wrote and asked them to send me the paperwork so she could do them over half term. Heard nothing, 2 weeks came and went so got her to do the,, then got a letter last Monday saying school was approached and happy to take her views. Anyway got my daughter to d them ourselves and views handed over at the meeting last week, they are quite powerful in what she wrote.

Got a letter now saying the following - thank you for the completed pupil view pack which you sent to e authority on the 26 February 2014. ThenLA did contact you and also write to you stating that the school would collect the views on our behalf for the send tribunal. The authority still request that this is done and seek your permission for this at the beginning of next week.

Now I know that the class teacher will be called as a witness for the LA! Also my daughter won't be honest with her teacher as she won't want to upset her! Can I tell the LA to poke off! I don't know why they want accept my daughters handwritten views - could it be because she has hand wrote them and they can barely read them! Call me a cynic. Why do they need the school to do it and like I said the school will be giving evidence that she's fine etc! I need to respond ASAP.

Very powerful.

A key piece of evidence but heartbreaking that she has got to that point in her educational career.

I would question the integrity of professional that would even consider putting her through having to think all those things again.

I suspect the LA is implying that you dictated/wrote the views for dd. Ipsea's approach seems to me to be perfectly sensible.

i emailed the LA yesterday lunchtime and all is quiet - have served her views on both the LA (again) and tribunal as per ipsea so if the LA do kick off then her views will be before any judge to read.

nennypops - I suspect you are right and as her views are her own they don't want them anywhere near the tribunal plus I think the fact they are handwritten by her is another issue for them. I feel okay as I know they were written by her with no help from me except to read the questions to her, then I left the room and left her to it

but it likes star says are her views important or not? LA just want a sanitised version that say very little. if they do get them again, at least now her true views are before the tribunal. I think the LA are deffo going to fight me every step of the way -again.

shes fallen over at school yesterday and came home limping - now waiting to see how her ankle is this morning, im hoping its okay and she can go to school

I don't know whether to send a note into school saying I dont want her views to be taken but am conscious if I do that then that letter could appear at any hearing but rather now leave it as I have emailed the LA - she says she wasn't asked to do any paperwork with her class teacher yesterday

I don't think you can instruct the school not to take her views tbh. But if they do so whilst it is pretty clear you do not consent, it could go against them at tribunal.

If they insist, I would let them take your DD's views. Then if her new views are radically different from her views taken by you, then the school will have some explaining to do at Tribunal.

I would also tell her now that if they do take her views at school then she mustn't be "polite" but say exactly how she feels and she won't get into trouble because she's being honest.

If she is honest, and does get into trouble with the school, then that'd be another black mark at Tribunal.

okay towie - as ive just put the LA have emailed this morning and now offering up PP so I guess I will have to allow PP to take her views - nice to know that the LA know she wont come to tribunal so no conflict of interest cos the LA basically wont allow her to help parents who are going through tribunal. I also emailed PP this morning as well so im a bit concerned now that shes acting as a middle person but I guess that is her role and as she doesn't have my permission to speak to the LA on my behalf I hope that she adheres to confidentiality

No harm in PP asking some non-leading questions, and scribing what your dd says. Providing dd feels comfortable enough to explain her views.

Having them (badly) handwritten, and then the same opinions articulated more coherently by an independent person... has to help tribunal take them (and the dyslexia) seriously. I think most PP are well-meaning, and not many are back-stabby, but they're usually dis-empowered by LAs and thoroughly misled about the law.

my daughter hand wrote them - PP at some points I felt was leading her but my daughter wrote very little - one sentence to each question but wrote that she needed help and that she struggled with her work so they do mirror what she h as already said but wrote less with PP today - my daughter was very good and took control when she had answered enough she just turned the page over. my dh read them when he came in and he was shocked by her writing and spelling and feels the LA have shot themselves in their foot by insisting they were done again - bit they are done and it was completely and utterly pointless

PP at some points felt I was leading her sounds a bit ominous.

Presume that's the line your LA carefully fed the hapless PP person in advance, but your dd put her right by the end? If she was a total carrot, it's possible she could be naive enough to write something quite harmful.

If you're in any doubt, I wonder if her dyslexia teacher (or a helpline- maybe ipsea?) would take her views verbally. Somewhere neutral , with you totally absent... just in case

Maria I think you've misread bjk - although I don't disagree with you.

"PP at some points I felt was leading her"

yes I felt like pp were leading her - asked her about what she liked about school then purposefully asked her about sport and what sport she liked and what sport she was good at and encouraging her to write it down. she didn't. I think that was a loaded question as we have questioned whether she may have dyspraxia so I guess they wanted that as evidence to show she is good at sport but my daughter didn't write any of it down.

Still a bit sore about Tribunal swallowing LA's made up erroneous "dc's views"

its all good maria - what she wrote still shows a kid who is struggling and is asking for help