Exclusions

[AndieWalsh]

I am absolutely furious. My reception age son has just been externally excluded for the fourth time this term. I was summoned to come and collect him at 11.30am and told he would be officially excluded this afternoon and all of tomorrow. Apparently, he tried to escape from school and had to be physically restrained. He is five years old and has Asperger's Syndrome. I am just FUCKING LIVID that they are excluding him.

I have fired off an angry email to the (useless) exclusions officer at the LEA quoting the Lam,b report and asking her what on earth the LEA are going to do about all of this. They are currently doing a SA, by the way, and I the noises from the Ed psych and Paed and school all look promising for a statement. But what are the LEA going to do in the meantime?

I had a heated conversation with the headteacher this morning, and am making an official complaint to the school governors first thing tomorrow.

Who else can I harass?

Can't answer your question but I did find IPSEA advice on exclusion helpful. Ds (LD/ASD) was excluded often in reception.

Sorry to hear you and your son are having such a tough time. This is exactly what statements should be for I guess. If the school together with you can identify what triggers the behaviour, even while waiting for the statement they should be under an obligation to do something about it

I'd be furious that they are excluding him for such relatively trivial things. Were you told what events led up to this behaviour? Had something upset him, or was it purely impulsive and seemingly unprompted? An exclusion is going to do little or nothing to correct a 5 year old's behaviour, never mind one with AS, so what steps do they propose to take to make sure it can't happen again?

The school had better deal with it positively, since this is their chance to push for funding for themselves, if they feel your DS's behaviour poses safety issues. Do you get the impression the school are being positive about SA for him, or do you think they treat it as something being done to them?

Sorry, lots of questions.

(DS1's escape while in reception was in the impulsive category and while potentially serious, prompting an early review of his statement, along with other events, everyone saw the funny side and they vowed to ensure that windows were locked properly and he was supervised more closely during free play.)

Hi,

This could be helpful to you as well:-

www.ipsea.org.uk/What-you-need-to-know/Exclusion

Have the LEA actually agreed to make the Statutory Assessment for your son?.

Personal advice from ACE's exclusion advice line (Mon-Fri 10am-5pm): 0808 800 0327

Give them a call as well.

Thanks for your replies. It is much appreciated.

To be fair, this 'escape' episode is part of a pattern of behaviour that has been escalating ever since he started school, and certainly in the last couple of months. He has violent tantrums, attacks staff, tries to escape the school grounds. I realise it is extreme and very difficult for the school to deal with. I just think they have got it all wrong. Constantly ringing me up to collect him and routinely excluding him = not the answer. If they cannot manage his behaviour, they need to make this the LEA's problem, not mine (I should add that his behaviour is nowhere near this bad at home).

In answer to your question, ouryve, the school are very keen on getting DS a statement. I made the request for SA, but they have supported it and the SENCo has written an excellent supporting statement and been pretty hot on compiling all the evidence from their side.

The thing is, they are at a loss as to what to do with DS, I think. It is becoming quite clear that the school's support staff - a TA and two learning mentors who provide him with a cobbled together 1:1 support full-time - cannot cope with his behaviour and he really does need some sort of specialist support.

Sorry, should also answer your question re: escaping from school. It is not just impulsive behaviour (although he does have poor impulse control in many respects). He gets anxious and upset over something seemingly trivial and then says he wants to go home, goes to get his coat, is asked to come back, runs out of the classroom, heads for the gates, tries to climb them...and so on

Thanks Attila. Spoke to IPSEA a couple of months ago and they were great. Am going to call them tomorrow morning, i think. Just need to get my head straight. Havent heard of ACE - will definitely give them a ring.

Yes, the SA is happening now. The panel should be meeting at some point in June (just been harassing the LEA for a date, actually ).

I have been a teacher in a situation like this. We had whole school behaviour management training which at the time we got from the LEA. It was called TeamTeach. Thing is schools are not really trained to deal with this type of behaviour, although it is becoming more common because of inclusion.
Initially our Head used to exclude the child just because he didn't know what to do.
I feel for you because it is a horrible situation to be in. Your comment that he isn't that bad at home is also quite common. The whole stress of school is too much for some children, and schools don't always get it right.
It is worth trying to press for behaviour management training for the staff when his Statement comes through.
Unfortunately Statemented children do get excluded sometimes so the pain doesn't necessarily stop then. My DS was excluded quite a few times after he was Statemented, although it hasn't happened for a year now.

Sorry, AndieWalsh - I didn't get to reply again, earlier, since I had to deal with assorted kid stuff. I've got one of them to bed now, anyhow!

I was going to mention TeamTeach, myself. DS1's school have just got funding for all the staff to receive training, since his tantrums at school have been increasingly physical and he's becoming increasingly big and strong, so it's not like he can be easily carried to a safe place like he could when he was in nursery. The training isn't merely in the use of physical restraint, but focuses on preventing a situation from escalating to that point in the first place.

They have had lots of really good support form the LEA's own ASD advisory team, too. The lady who has been visiting for a few years is moving on to a new calling, in the summer, unfortunately, but she has helped his teachers so much: originally with ways of implementing visual timetables etc and then, when he was fiercely rejecting those, giving them the confidence to throw away the ASD rulebook and stick to what works for him. She has also been great at finding the funding and support packages they've needed.

Most LEA's should have someone in this sort of role - the school need to make their case for it to the LEA.

Thanks ladies. His class teacher has had TeamTeach training, and apparently they are trying to get a specialist advisory teacher from the LEA in to do some more training with other staff. So I suppose that's a good sign.

I do genuinely sympathise with the teaching staff at the school, but I think the Head is mismanaging the situation by excluding DS.