AWFUL response from an independant school

[Sniud]

Hi All, I am a mother of a 7 yr old boy who is on the spectrum. He is currently in mainstream doing good with some challenges which we are keeping on top of for now! My husband and I wanted to explore our options in the private school sector just to see what is out there etc . Just some field research and to see if there was a place for him that has smaller class sizes ( large classes are a bit of a challenge sometimes) just doing our best ! We emailed a private school explaining our son has an Ehcp , etc and explained he is academically doing well and whether we could visit the school. We got a reply from the admissions officer but it was sent in error - she was actually emailing the headteacher and had accidently copied us into the email she wrote "Do you want me to entertain this" . I was FUMING and obviously replied with a hard response and requesting to complain but they kind of just brushed it under the carpet and said along the lines of as your child is not enrolled into the school cant really complain but sorry etc . Where can i take this? It was so mean ! prejudice and uncaring towards SEN children clearly.

Private schools tend to from my experience not cater for SEN children. The worry from other parents would be your child will potentially have majority of the teachers attention, at expense of their child who they pay fees for.
Money talks, unfortunately. I don’t say this with malicious, but parents who pay for private education tend to have very high expectations of their children’s education and low tolerance. Again, this is the same in grammar schools. You’ll be better off looking at a SEN specialist school.

Private schools don't have to take your money.

Yes I get that , and we are also more than willing to spend just as much money if not more (ie pay for a private TA) for our childs education as he has a very high IQ according to Mensa but writing someone off in this manner without exploring the query is just shitty on her part. And I want to know where i can take this to complain.

I agree, they need more tact and need to behave in a professional manner. You could put their email onto AI and ask what’s best step for complaints? You could post a picture of the email and tag them on it via social media etc. Bad press and media.

I really want to name and shame them . Not because they didnt want to 'entertain" my son but because of the way he was written off . This attitude towards children is a big concern for me. Where the compassion? At least pretend to go through the process?

Do that. Tomorrow is Monday morning. Blast it all over social media and tag them.

I normally wouldn’t recommend this, but some people’s attitudes towards SEN is disgusting. Just awful really. They’re there to educate, not entertain.

and will complaining actually get you anything ?

A private business can pick and choose.

your money may be as good as anyone elses' but they clearly don't want it nor you child.

so why complain - the school is not suddenly say ok we will have your child whether or not you are willing to pay for a TA on top of the school fees.

@OlderGlaswegianLivingInDevon Under the Equality Act 2010, independent schools in England are generally prohibited from discriminating against prospective pupils because of disability.
This protection applies to the school's admissions arrangements, not just to children who are already enrolled.

and that is how to get their backs up.

Would you really still even want to send your child there - knowing he is unwanted ?!

@OlderGlaswegianLivingInDevon i DEF do not want to send my child there but they deserve the shit storm that will come their way. :-)

I'm not really surprised. They are in the education game for the money at the end of the day. My main concern would be it is a cultural thing at the school, and that you don't really know if the administrator has the same attitude they are writing, and they will probably get disciplined or sacked for an attitude that may be coming from a different place.

I would be tempted to post it on Facebook or something to at least see how they respond, then show everyone their original response to you after that, so everyone can embarrassingly see they are shitting themselves.

But my first thought with you being a SEN parent, is you probably don't have time for this, especially if it blows up. Just let it go.

If your son is very intelligent, there might be some other options for him if he has an EHCP and you ask the council for a list of SEN schools. Not all will be for LD. I would concentrate on finding him somewhere he's happy to go, then if he needs extra tuition, you could look at that. It is cheaper than a private school that has a bad attitude to SEN. If he is settled where he is and they are accommodating, I would keep him where he is personally.

Sadly, some independent schools are not inclusive.

Having said that, unless there was more to the email than you have posted, proving discrimination would be impossible. The school could claim the response was about any manner of things including e.g. not entertaining it because they are full in DC’s year group.