Prepared to accept I am currently upset and feeling defensive about this - but would you complain to the school in these circumstances ?
I’ll try and keep it short …
Earlier this year I contacted the school SENCO about my DS (age 7) due to increasingly serious behavioural problems at home (he is a delight at school). Various referrals were made including to person A to observe him at school and Person B to provide family support. Both persons A and B are known and regularly used by the school.
Person A observed him in the classroom in June. She had no concerns and said she was closing her file.
Didn’t have any contact with person B until September but we then spoke at length about DS on the phone and in person and she has subsequently made additional referrals for support for him. Went to an arranged catch up meeting with her a couple of weeks ago and was surprised that Person A was also there. Person A explained she worked closely with person B (both local authority) and when she mentioned my son to her recently she remembered observing him and had asked for an update. Unbeknown to me she had (either off her own back or at the request of person B - it wasn’t clear) gone into the school and undertaken a sand play session with him. This was the first I knew about it (son would never in a million years have mentioned this to me). She said he had said some concerning things relating to his father and I and a safety aspect in our home (!!!). I laughed - explained how what he had said was untrue - and assumed that was the end of the matter.
Except it wan’t. Off the back of the comments made a request has been made to social services to come and undertake an assessment.
I am so angry and upset (even though rationally I know it is their duty to follow comments up and we have no reasons to be concerned about an assessment).
BUT I now obviously have huge concerns about how the sand play sessions were conducted for him to have said what he did and whether I should have been told in advance they would be taking place / asked for consent specifically for Person A to undertake them ?
(As an aside I had consented for counselling sessions to be undertaken at school by Person C and these hadn’t started at the time of this session. I had also consented to in-house nurture classes).
From the schools point of view I’d assume they could say they were providing counselling with an individual who is well known to the school and whom I had previously consented to her involvement and who (I now know) works closely with Person B.
Googling doesn’t seem to have given me a definitive answer. Any words of wisdom before I start complaining to the headmaster and SENCO. Can’t decide whether there are huge Consent issues (which I will raise) or just lesser disorganised management/communication failures on the part of the school (which I will overlook) …..