Can school exclude my autistic son from wraparound care?

[Sartre]

DS is 6, in year 2 in a mainstream school. He has autism. Since reception he has gone to breakfast and afterschool club at least twice a week, sometimes more depending on work patterns and whether MIL can help out. DH and I both work FT, neither of us can quit our careers for many obvious reasons so we rely on these clubs. He has an EHCP. Spoke with the SENCO lead this morning and she told me she doesn’t think they can provide this wraparound care for him anymore because he keeps trying to leave the hall where they keep the children so it’s a safeguarding risk. She said the EHCP doesn’t cover these clubs and they don’t have the funding for another staff member to sit with him.

Are they allowed to do this? As a separate issue entirely, she also mentioned moving to specialist provision for the first time. This is six months after she told me she definitely didn’t see him ever needing specialist provision. He hasn’t settled into year 2 as well as reception and Y1 and they’re struggling to get him to engage as well as he did before. I have said this is because the TA changed and the new one doesn’t understand him in the same way. He’s very academic but accesses the curriculum in a different way to others, the previous TA really knew how to do this well. He’s a free reader, passed phonics screening with flying colours etc and this is why they always maintained mainstream would be fine for him.

Yes I m afraid they re right wraparound care isn't education and isn't covered by the EHCP, so if there isn't a way to fund an extra member of staff out of their current pot, you can't really argue it's a reasonable adjustment they have to cover if it's down to safety as it's enough wages they could argue it's "excessive cost".

Now whether there happens to be a short breaks scheme with your council for sen kids with after-school clubs that might work out you can look into but they don't tend to collect from schools, or whether a childminder could help and then if your child gets DLA then you get more funding through tax free childcare.

I d be directly asking, do they think they won't make it to year 6 in mainstream and also asking for a provision map for the current EHCP provision with considering to ask to have their next ECHP review held earlier?

Has the school looked at why DS is trying to leave the hall? For example, is it the noise? What have they already tried to support DS within the before/afterschool club?

The school must still make reasonable adjustments at the before and afterschool club as per the Equality Act. There’s no one set list of what is classed as reasonable adjustments. Whether 1:1 (although you don’t actually say if 1:1 is necessary or if other support would work) would fall into a reasonable adjustment would depend on the individual circumstances. Sometimes it is and refusing to provide it would be disability discrimination. In other circumstances, it isn’t a reasonable adjustment.

You could request social care assessments. A carer’s assessment for you and an assessment via the children with disabilities team for DS. This could lead to funding for 1:1.

It doesn’t apply in all cases, but in some cases it is possible to get provision included in the EHCP for before/afterschool clubs. For example, for some, it does educate or train.

In terms of placement, what do you think/want? What support is the school providing the new TA?

Is the wraparound care provided by the school itself or an external company? In our primary school it's a totally separate company providing breakfast and after school care but only to children from our school, and on our school site. This means we have to make our arrangements and communicate needs directly with the provider, the school don't have anything to do with it. My child is autistic and was very close to being asked to leave the after school club for regular, dysregulated behaviour that was disruptive and the staff didn't understand or know what to do. The school are not involved at all so I met with the after school club leader on site and we talked about it. I made sure they know my child is autistic and we agreed some strategies to try. At first I was fuming about how they perceived my child (they kept a log of the behaviour in a red book which they would be at pains to show me at pickup in front of my child) and the meeting was fractious, but they did prove willing, and they actioned what we agreed. The behaviour turned around and by the end the staff were fully emotional to see my child leave for secondary school; my other child now attends the same after school club but doesn't have SEN, and the same staff frequently ask after my eldest. That was the only really straightforward positive change an education setting has ever done for us. But the school has no involvement, so if your wrap-around care is not run by the school you will need to engage it like yours starting at a second school. Give them the EHCP, write a pupil passport and meet to check in on it. The staff may not have much SEN training or knowledge but hopefully they are kind and willing to learn

No they haven’t at all and the staff never mention him being difficult when we drop or collect them so it’s the first I’ve heard of it and he’s been going for over 2 years. I don’t know why he’d want to leave, I can only guess it’s boring in there. My older DS finds it boring so I guess this is the case. If he gets bored, he absconds. It’s rarely about him being overstimulated, more understimulated.

The new TA is very young and doesn’t seem as experienced as his previous one who just really understood him well. I have nothing against her at all obviously but she can’t deal with him in the same way. I’d prefer him to work with the previous TA again in truth.

It is provided by the school. I was told they can only afford to pay for two staff members so when he runs away and one has to chase him this leaves the remaining one alone with the other children. I don’t know how many children attend each day but I’d guess up to 30. I pay around £180 a month for the privilege so I’m not expecting it for free. I’d pay more if they wanted to hire a third staff member in truth, I need it so I can work.

If the before/afterschool club hasn’t even looked at why DS is trying to elope and also looked at ways to prevent the cause and the potential to elope, they shouldn’t be jumping straight to excluding DS.

If you aren’t already, I would start following up verbal conversations with emails so you have a paper trail.

Does DS’s EHCP include training, qualifications and experience the TA should have? I would request a meeting with the SENCO to ask what support the school is providing the new TA.

She isn’t new to the school, I’ve seen her before with other SEN children who have since moved to specialist provision so presumably she has training in this field. She’s new to DS though and he doesn’t gel with her in the same way. He had the previous TA for two years, she’s still in the school so hasn’t left but they’ve decided to give him a new TA this year and he hasn’t been engaged in learning as much as a result.

I honestly just think he’s bored. They generally put a film on the projector but it won’t be something he’s interested in, he has very specific interests. They also generally have a few toys/board games out but again, doubt he’d be bothered for many of those. He’d be fine with Lego, cars or if he could sit making collages etc. He runs when bored of a situation though not always, sometimes he runs towards something he’s interested in which can be dangerous.

Even if the TA isn’t new to the school, only new to DS, it sounds like she still needs support in order to be able to effectively support DS. And, actually, the fact she isn’t new to the school doesn’t mean she has any training.

It sounds like it would be fairly easy for the afterschool club to adjust what is available to include something that will hold DS’s attention.

Du just double check. If it is the school that owns and runs it even if it's their staff running it, I think schools do it a number of ways. All settings have a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments according to the equality act and if it's the school running it, they already know your child's needs and are well placed to put in adjustments. It sounds under resourced with only 2 staff, but you know that he runs when he's under stimulated and the things you're suggesting are really simple and can be beneficial to all the kids, so the school should try those, and do a proper risk assessment for the risk of running they are aware of, which can then give them a clear view of the risks and how they are to be managed or reduced. Staff then sign this so they know what to do. If it doesn't work for him to be sat staring at a screen, it's really basic stuff for any setting to provide good alternatives. In my school's after school club they gave a regular roster of physical games and quiet playing, keeping kids able to move, I don't think they actually ever use screens. They should not have offered a place to you if they cannot manage his needs so they need to now work with you, not exclude you.

As an update, I was phoned to come and collect him because he is no longer allowed to attend. I told them this was not what SENCO told me this morning, she’d just he might not be able to attend but didn’t explicitly say he couldn’t. His class teacher brought him out to me, she had to sit with him in the classroom until I came. She was sympathetic and said she couldn’t understand the decision, according to her he has settled in well and is doing a great job. I’m not entirely sure where to turn. Without the clubs, I can’t work.

Look up your borough's send service, I'm in the London borough of Southwark which calls that service SIAS - "free, confidential service providing independent advice for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans, and school exclusions for ages 0–25 in Southwark (local to your area". There's hopefully one where you live and they can help you draft letters, attend meetings with you, advise you on the law. There's also IPSEA which provides free legal advice around SEN and education across the UK. If you haven't already, you will need to get up to speed with your legal rights and be ready to challenge this.

I would follow up with an email including setting out what the class teacher said when you picked DS up. I would complain and also request a meeting.

Be careful with SENDAISS. While some are good, some are not and do more harm than good and repeat the LA’s unlawful policies.