violence at school / exclusions

[vickibee]

My son has an EHCP as he is high functioning autistic, in the plan it says that he should be monitored at breaks as he cant cope with these unstructured times. He is usually just boistrous / rough play even though he is 11 and all his peers have moved on from playing . On Friday he was being wound up by other kids as they know he has a low flash point. One child actually dared the retard to hit him, unfortuntely he got him in a choke hold and it took two adults to get him off. His usual supervisor was on training course and no other provision was put in place. I am clearly very upset by this and understand that my son should not have behaved like this under any circumstances. The other child's parent wants him excluded for the rest of the term (a week), he is in Y6 and it is his last week and clearly something went very wrong. He has never done anything this extreme before. HT said she wont exclude due to his SEN. How can I avoid this happening again at his new school, he can be triggered really easily and I don't know what I can do to help.any advice appreciated.

Oh how upsetting for all of you. It's amazing how quickly things go wrong when usually supports are unavailable isn't it? It took me 2 years to get support for my DS because the school just couldn't see the problem - so if there is a silver lining it's your new school really can't ignore your advice! It's a difficult episode but quite good timing in that your son isn't going to be with these children for much longer and it has provided strong evidence that he does need help and that you aren't "just making a fuss". If it were me I would get written evidence (eg emails, letters from school) about the incident and pass it to the new school. Explain as you have above that it's never happened before and - with the right support - presumably will not happen again. How can they help? His new school really need to instigate a quiet room or buddy system or TA support for unstructured times. It's really standard stuff and presumably once this is in place you will do fine. Good luck

Thanks for replying i feel so alone and isolated
I am getting medusa looks from the other parents. The ehcp is quote new after years of fighting to get it. He was.overlooked.for ao long because he is high functioning and actually passes his sats. He cant see what he has done wrong

The outcome of this case could be useful to you at secondary school:

specialneedsjungle.com/challenge-to-the-law-that-doesnt-protect-disabled-children-from-exclusion/

That is interesting let’s hope the judges have some empathy with situations like this.

It seems to me the incident happened because the school didn't put a replacement supervisor in place. If he/she had been there, the situation probably wouldn't have escalated as it did.It's good that the HT refused to exclude (many would have done) but maybe she realises the school is to blame here?

Is the obnoxious child who called your son a retard and dared him to hit him being disciplined?

ellie
no because no adult heard this and it is Ds word against other child who is folden boy in the school and his parents are on PTA.
They all know he has a low flash point and go out of their way to discreetly wind him up out of the earshot of staff. There is one child in his year who is kind of friends with him becuase his sister is ASD and I think he has a bit more understanding than the others. I hope he can have afresh start a big school and actually find kids to be friends with. It is my dearest wish and I pray for this

You need to make sure the new school is aware of this incident and what happened when supervision/support was not in place, and ensure that they put proper support in place for break and lunch times.It would be helpful if there is some quiet place that DS can go to at lunch time if he is feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Has there been a proper programme of transition to the secondary school?

he is being kept indoors for his last week,doing arty stuff which he does enjoy. however he is so desperate to fit in but just keeps getting it wrong and doesn't know hoe to get it right. he wants to go outside and join in even though he cannot cope - no self regulation
we have met the 2ndry senco and she is aware of EHCP and additional needs. he has had extra visits and seemed to enjoy them. they said he can revisit at end of august before school formally starts also.they are giving it two weeks to see how he gets on before thet review interventions. at least he can walk the as it is 200m from our home, no school bus bullying

What are the new school doing for him in September? Can they provide the same level of supervision?
School failed him here.

the EHCP is pretty new only finalised on 6th July but they have said they are going to follow the recommended interventions in it and concentrate on improving his social and communication skills. I guess it is a learning curve to see what will work. He needs directing towards quiet areas as he cant self-regulate and wants to be just like the other boys

I would worry that at secondary they won't provide one to one at breaks. Do they know about that? I would want a plan in place for September. Just thinking a secondary is more likely to have to move staff around eg for illness cover.

Thanks i might drop the wenco an email explaining

Get as much support front loaded at secondary as possible. Better to have lots of scaffolding to then remove when possible, rather than see how he's coping with things and then put the support in if/when things go wrong.
Definitely be clear on how they plan to support him during free times (break, lunch etc).

I have emailed new School senco and am waiting for a reply.

ZZZZ
this is what I am hoping for, he stands out at the small village school (less than 100 kids) as being different. is new school has 320 kids in year 7 so surely there must be someone he can relate to ? He has already mentioned attending chess club which will suit his logical thinking. Problem is he was overlooked for so long because academically he is quite able, he got 100 in his maths SATs :), less well in English because of his difficulty with language. He has had very little support in primary