Daughter in plaster cast-school can't allow wheelchair

[Spicychicken]

My DD (4) is in a plaster cast for 6+ weeks following a fall. She needs to use a wheel chair for this period. (hospital can't issue crutches at her age and she is not allowed to put any pressure on her foot). Due to lack of space/problems with toilet visits etc, the school don't feel able to include her under those circumctances. Should I accept their response considering it is only a temporary situation or should the school have some kind of policy for this?I appreciate how difficult it would be for the staff to 'care' for her like this but she only started school this term and I am worried that such a long absence will unsettle her.

A friend of mine had this and they were happy for her to go in if someone was with her. Could you or a friend be her carer?

The school cannot exclude her for medical reasons. I would ask for a meeting with the teacher and head and ask what they propose to do to enable her to be in school.

I know legally she isn't required to be in school yet as she is so young but if you want her there they can't exclude her.

Maybe she could do mornings for the 6 weeks?

The school should have a policy that deals with this kind of thing. IIRC they are also expected to make reasonable adjustments to allow access.

I'm not an expert but think they may well be on dodgy ground here as they are effectively excluding her from school. What provisions are they making for the 6 weeks that they want her to be out of school?

I think the school are being unreasonable.

DS is using a wheelchair atm, the TA helps him in the toilet (I showed her how to hold his leg).

Are there loads of steps into the school?

The school - and LEA - should have a policy, yes!

If you scroll down to the section about "If your child can't attend school" on this site here it tells you that the school has to inform the LA if a child is going to off for more than 3 weeks. They also have to continue to provide her with an education. I suspect the school might have a re-think if they know that you are aware of your dd's rights. I suspect the LA would not look too kindly on a school excluding a child for 6 weeks because of a broken leg when they are well enough to attend.

they can't exclude her BUT the fact that she is under compulosry school age may swing the legaliites their way

DS uses a wheelchair currently full time at school, but the school had to put in a lot of adaptions for him (disabled toilet etc). He also needs an extra member of staff to be with him, so that might be the reasoning behind your DD's school, that they might not have enough staff. I know that before in DS's school other children who had temporary plasters were not able to attend school for more than a couple of hours due to the issues with toileting.

Could you ask what their exact worries are, and then try to come up with solutions? Maybe going in at a certain time to help her with the toilet?

Thanks very much for your replies and the link-all incredibly useful to me and I now feel better informed. I shall contact the school again and find out if there can at least be a compromise once her absence exceeds 15 working days. I am perfectly happy to go in and help out myself if the school can allow that. As you say though, 'needmorecoffee' her age may will swing in the school's favour. Guess I'd better check out the Home-ed section....

It's not exactly a bad investment to put in disabled adaptions (adaptations?) in a school. How about you offer to help kickstart a fundraising campaign with the PTA to do it (should be plenty of suitable grants out there.) Would make them stop and think about your DD's case at least.

If she's still only 4 then the school will be claiming the funding they get for the under-5s. I don't know what the rules are for that but I'm not sure they'd be able to claim it and then refuse to have the child in school.