What to do when a new HT shows contempt for SEND?

[amunt]

New HT this September has changed Ds' school from SEN friendly to nearly SEN hostile. Lunchtime support for ASD children has been removed and bullying has ensued, EHCPs are being ignored, asd children have been temporarily and permanently excluded, 1:1 supports have been withdrawn, HT openly suggests to parents that neighbouring mainstream schools may be better for their sen children. She apparently has a year to make her mark on the budget and results. Letters to her and governors make no difference and the LA are as bad as she is, so no support there. She deserves to have her career ruined, but I'm guessing there's not much to do. Any ideas how to make it hurt?

Sounds appalling. If there's hard evidence for this it's still worth taking it to the council, making sure that councillors are being copied in. I'm assuming this is an academy? Can you raise it with the academy trust? Ofsted's a possibility but I don't know how that works unless they're about to visit anyway.

If there's a governor responsible for SEN and inclusion, maybe fix up a meeting with him or her?

So far as the disregard of EHCPs is concerned, the best course would be for the parents concerned to contact the LA and say they want the support implemented, otherwise they will have to take judicial review action. Maybe the realisation that these things actually can be enforced will wake the head up a bit. Exclusions can also be challenged through the review procedure, and I'd recommended that families affected go to the School Exclusion Project for help. Possibly disability discrimination claims could be another avenue to go down.

What WouldHave said, basically. Your options are limited.

Ofsted, right now, would be a complete waste of time. Here's what they said yesterday in their annual report:

There is no evidence from our school or local area inspections that mainstream schools, whether primary or secondary, are not welcoming pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities onto their rolls

You have to be trying very, very hard to be that wilfully blind.

Many thanks everyone. Yes, Ofsted are useless unfortunately. The problem is that the LA and Head are of the same mould. Contacting council and copying councillors in sounds like a good idea. You hear about these schools, but you never think you will be on the receiving end. They can get away with it because parents just move schools, rightly predicting that the HT will never be sanctioned sufficiently to become Send friendly.

General Teaching Council? I have no idea about their complaints process or the evidence you would need but if they found against her it would hurt her career and have a much more personal impact.

I too fear that nothing can be achieved here. I'm sure she will manage to put a good spin on anything you claim.

I liked the idea of the General Teaching Council. But I just read on their site that a complaint has to involve a criminal offence being committed - a bit of a high bar.

amut I can see they would want to discourage frivolous or vexatious complaints but criminal offence is too high!