School exclusions

[drypond]

My son is 6, diagnosed asd and gdd he's down as having mild learning difficulties... Always had a brilliant relationship with school always had regular tac meetings and although his behaviour has never been perfect he made quite a lot of progress last year after school gave him 1-1 help at dinner time. We have just been turned down for assessment for ehcp but I'm waiting for a mediation date.

Problems with exclusions started when the new teacher did, slightest thing he does seems to end up being escalated. he managed a full week in school last week but I was pulled in because he'd refused to do his work which then escalated into the head teacher restraining my child and him spending the afternoon with her. thing is the work that he refused to do is beyond him he cannot read or write yet expected him to do independent writing on his own... I don't even k ow how it escalated into him being restrained I'm at a loss what to do, he's had 5 days of exclusions this term already :-(

Gee! Poor boy and poor you! On what grounds did they turn down your EHCP request? It sounds like he needs more support!

How much support does he get in the classroom and were school supporting your ehcp request?

Be kind to yourself, this is not your sons fault or yours! The system is failing him!

I think you should phone IPSEA or go online and book a call back!

What Ineed said and she does know her stuff.

In what realistic world does a child who can't read and write yet - get given a pen and paper and told to get on with it?

An analogy I use is to ask the teacher straight out to imagine that they are given pen and paper and asked to write an essay in Chinese or they'd be in trouble. Ask them how they'd feel and how they'd complete the task?

They are failing your son.

Have you got all the paperwork for each exclusion and paperwork that states what support he was given previously? It's important to make sure everything documented properly.

Sorry I'm late replying, I've got every it of paper work saved, the echp was turned down because the school failed to show they had acted on advice given by professionals something called assess-plan-do-review I'm waiting on a mediation date which should be very soon.
School was very very supportive till recently, his exclusions have generally been for his reactions which they've said have put staff and children at risk, he hit the pe teacher because she told him to stop what he was doing(advice is to give him prior warning) and it just escalates...the day before he hit the pe teacher and that was because he's got mad he tried getting out of the pe hall, she dragged him back in for the head teacher to come and 2 of them drag him out.
Il go on ipsea website for the number all his exclusions follow a similar pattern something triggers, it doesn't get solved then it escalates

Just to add just had a letter from the ed psych apparently they had a meeting on the 24th of September just got the letter about recommendations... No invite like usual and not even told about it absolutely furious

Are all the exclusions properly documented - do you get official letters every time telling you about your right to ask the governors to review the exclusion? If so I'd suggest you take them up on that right, pointing out that making your child do something that is impossible for him and then punishing him when the situation escalates is disability discrimination. They probably won't overturn the exclusions but the fact that the staff know they will be held to account may make staff try a lot harder.

If you don't get official letters then the exclusions are illegal and you should tell them so.

Sounds familiar.

I think every last one of the ds's exclusions (and there were several) I felt if only the teacher had done something different it might all not have escalated.

But then they have also had many a meltdown at home that I have not managed to avoid and there were many situations where the teacher did manage to defuse if I am being really fair.

The only good thing about the exclusions is that they do provide uncontestable evidence that your son is not coping with current levels of support so I can not believe that they will not concede at mediation.

Infact if these exclusions are since the EHCP was turned down I would ring up and ask for an immediate reconsideration.

drypond join the club!
My son is 5, he has no diagnosis yet but has had one appointment with cahms. He was permanently excluded from school on 3rd September and is now in Pupil referral unit.
I had the same problem where professionals were called in and gave advice but the school didn't implement any of it.
Also the school failed to review and update his pupil profile or IBP over the entire year etc etc etc
I am now in the position of applying for assessment for EHCP myself as the school failed to do it.
I would strongly recommend that you contact your local SENDIASS or used to be called Parent Parnership if you haven't already. I found them to be excellent at asking the right questions in the right way!
I also had the problem of my son having a meltdown and then staff ending up restraining him which is the only times he lashed out.
Best of luck!

One of the things I discovered when I went to Mediation against refusal to assess, (and this was incidental as by that point I was homeschooling) was that I should have used ParentPartnership to resolve some of the difficulties I was having with school. You can ask for an independent supporter to accompany you to school meetings to try and resolve the problem of school not supporting him adequately or using the right methods to deal with his issues. I just wanted to say that in case you feel that it is all your responsibility to pursue the EHCP; in the meantime you need to get the school to do their bit adequately and that will help with the process of getting an EHCP, as they can show evidence of doing extra things ( I think it is called a graduated response)

One of the things to realise about mediation is that it is not binding in law, so they can agree to take it back to Panel as they did in my case, but without an Appeal against refusal to assess in place, there is no comeback on them if they don't take it back to panel, and just fob you off. I would get your appeal in as soon as possible citing the evidence you have given us, (namely school says he is a danger to his classmates and teachers AND the exclusions) as well as organising a separate meeting with school with a independent supporter from PP. Then whilst you are waiting for Appeal date to come up you can use all the evidence of your meetings, send in all the original evidence and reasons for requesting EHCP again.

They tend to turn down most requests as a matter of course just to delay things. Sad but true. They conceded my Appeal against refusal to assess, but only after a very tortuous process of me presenting most of the original evidence all over again, plus some extras they requested.

You might want to get a mediation certificate without going to mediation and just appeal immediately. This is what my solicitor recommended, and in hindsight it would have saved a lot of time and worry, and being strung along. I waited for mediation because I felt I had a really strong case (they asked for an additional piece of evidence and I organised it immediately) but as I say, mediation usually means the LA saying oh why don't you try this and get school to do this, NOT oh yes we see your point of view now and we will definitely organise an assessment. They have no power to compel the panel to reassess or to confirm that you will have an assessment only that they will resubmit the evidence to Panel. Which starts the process again, and makes a new date six weeks hence by which they consider the evidence and can turn you down again. Whereas going to Tribunal, or Appeal brings independent body to judge your case and is likely to be more effective/just.

Mediation in cases involving refusal to assess can work if you have strong evidence, and the exclusions will certainly help with that. Have you got any independent reports? They're supposed to arrange mediation within 30 days of you applying: if they still haven't, chase them up. In the meantime it could be worth you writing to the LA anyway with full details of the recent exclusions and asking if they seriously want to continue refusing to assess.

Also write to the educational psychologist with the same information, also saying that you really aren't impressed that you weren't invited to a meeting about your son and that you don't feel that she can make reliable recommendations without having information from you.