need help with the school please!

[AwayWithTheFaries]

ds is 5 and was dx with ADHD and mild autism a couple of weeks ago
i picked him up from school today and was told that there was a few issues at lunchtime with him taking other children's glasses and scratching other children (nothing unusual)
anyway there are 2 school events coming up a sponsored fun run at the local park and a day trip to a nature reserve
anyway his teacher told me that as a team they have decided that he can not go to either of these events unless i go too
the fun run is not a problem for me to attend
but the nature reserve i cant go to because
1 i have a 8 month old ds2 who i am still breastfeeding and have no one to look after
and 2 the school wont let me take him for health and safety reasons (fair enough)
but why should my son be excluded from the school trips because of his special needs?
his teacher did not give me any reasons as to why they want me to go with him on the trips and i was so shocked and upset at what they said i just said ok fine and left otherwise i would have rared up!
iv got a meeting first thing tomorrow with the head so any advice as to what i should say/ask would be great!
sorry its a bit long!

This doesn't seem fair!!

I would most certainly mention the word discrimination tomorrow. Don't go in there all guns blazing as this will put their backs up, but I would certainly mention the fact that you are hurt that you feel your son is being excluded because of his diability. Explain to them why you cannot go along to the nature reserve. Is there maybe someone else who could go in your place? I'm lucky in the fact that my mum & dad are heavily involved with my DS1 (ASD) so one of them could go along for me if necessary.

Whoops....disability not diability !!!

thanks chunkey no one can go for me all y family live miles away
they know why i cant go and they said he will just have to have the day off but what about the next day when all the other kids are talking about the trip?

I think you need to talk to the school about the exact reasons for them saying they cannot take him. Is it safety, staffing or is it a punishment?

They do have a duty to make 'reasonable adjustments' under the DDA and that is a question of discussing (a) the precice concerns and (b) what can be done to address them. The LA usually have an Inclusions offcier you can approach for further advice too.

I have been through this recently so I know it can be very distressing to feel your child is being left out and it quite wrong. I would try and keep calm and rational (very hard in these circumstances I know) and approach it on the basis of you discussing with the head how school can include your son and accomodate his disability.

the teacher didt give me any exact reasons why thats why im seeing the head tomorrow to find out
i will keep calm tomorrow but i had to walk away thisafternoon!

No, it's not fair at all.

I would definitely ask them to reconsider. Trust me, mainstream schools panic when the word "discrimination" is mentioned in relation to a child with a disability. Say something like "I feel he is being discriminated against because of his special needs". Hopefulyy, dropping the word in is enough to make them reconsider.

This is what the Special Education Needs policy says about discrimination:

"It is against the law for providers of education to discriminate against your child because of a disability.

Some children with special educational needs are also covered by disability discrimination law and some children may be disabled under disability discrimination law but not have special educational needs. Schools are not required by law to provide aids and services such as sign language interpreters under disability discrimination law, but these must be provided if your child has been assessed as needing them under special educational needs law."

Tell the school that you are worried about your DS's reaction to not being allowed to go. Ask them how they suggest you explain to him why he can't go!!

You need a reason and then get it in writing. If they don't put it into writing, do it yourself and send it to them 'for clarification'. That will either sort it out then and there, or provide you with evidence to take to the LA to ensure they don't do it again.

hth

the lady at the council said to mention discrimination and that schools dont like it!

sorry should add that i phoned the coucil thisafternoon !!

Personally, I'd save 'discrimination' for later. For now, just requesting the reason in writing or else your ds will turn up for school ready to go, should be enough to buck up their ideas.

ok FNN love the name!

I had problems with my DS1 (ASD) when he was at mainstream school. He would get frustrated & sometimes have meltdowns at school. He would then be excluded for a few days. I was advised to mention discrimination by partnership with parents as he shouldn't have been excluded for behaviour directly related to his condition. It did the job & it panicked them!!!

He now attends a specialist ASD school & is like a different child at school.

i want to get ds1 into a special needs school but i cant do that untill he gets a statement and im dreading him going into year 1

All the more reason to get as much in writing from the school as to how they can't manage his needs from their own resources (i.e. asking YOU to come in). Get that in writing too.

will do ninky

thank you everyone ill let you know how it goes tomorrow night

well i spoke to the head thismorning and he said that because ds has ADHD and can be unpredictable with his behaviour they are worried about him running off and having a accident so thats why they want me to go on the trips with him and they ask the same of the other parents of special needs children
but i explained that i wouldnt be able to go on the nature reserve trip and he said that they are going to try to sort something out

Good you are making progress. Can they not get a TA to man mark him? Hope they can work something out.

My school never want me on trips interestingly....or in the school at all. I wonder why?

I think my DS1's mainstream school were sick of the sight of me too to be honest !!!!

Good luck AWTF. Let us know what happens.

This is unacceptable.

The school is basically saying that they do not have the staffing in place to support your son. So, what needs to happen is that they need to get that support, not rope you into doing a learning support assistant's job and threaten to exclude your child if you do not comply.

This almost certainly does break the law (Disability Discrimination Act). It also goes against the SEN Code of Practice (which is guidance, not law, but schools are generally loathe to be considered in breach of it).

Is your child statemented?

Away with the fairies

Would also suggest you get independent advice from an organisation like IPSEA, SOS;SEN and or ACE as they would have experience in this area.

From what you write it sounds like your son is not yet statemented. How far along the process are you with regards to obtaining a Statement?.

AndieWalsh, I agree with what you're saying and I understand your outrage as I was in the same situation myself. It is exclusion on the grounds of disability and if it is a question of staffing, then the school should be using these types of arguments to support statementing application.

For a DDA claim, you have to prove (a) disability and (b) discrimination e.g. less favourable treatment.

However, on my reading (emphasise MY reading!) this can be complicated. The case of the London Borough of Lewisham v Malcolm [2008] UKHL 43 (which is applied in the education context by the Court of Appeal case R (N) v London Borough of Dagenham and Barking Independent Appeal Panel (Feb 2009)) says that in deciding whether the disabled person had been treated less favourably, the court must compare his/her treatment with that of any other person who acts in the same way. If the treatment was the same, there is no discrimination.

This means that the law says the question you should ask is not whether school excldued a child from a trip because of disability but whether a school would exclude ANY child who runs away and presents a risk on a school trip irrespective of disability. If they would, irrespective of whether this is bad practice, it is not discrimination.

However, thre school do have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to accomodate disabled children and they could be in breach of that if what they are being asked to do is considered reasonable in terms of staffing etc (remember the DDA EXCLUDES provision which should more properly be provdied via SEN provision e.g. auxillary aids)

I understand that the Equality Act (just received assent last month but not yet in force) has made changes so that a new ground of disability discrimination, called ?discrimination arising from disability? is created and that this sidesteps the effects of Malcolm. It also introduces indirect disability discrimination. But this is not yet in force.

Here, the school is going to see if they can resolve this. I think Awaywiththefairies needs to see what the outcome is while reminding them of their inclusion duties.

Good advice, debs40!

Where do you find out about the case law?
I could do with a bit of ammunition to fight some of my own battles re: my DS with SEN .

I am a lawyer doing a PhD so have access to databases.

I wrote a speech on the Equality Bill for someone rather famous last year but things may need updating.

Ask away if anyone needs further info.

Ah, I suspected so!

Thanks, I may hunt you down and bleed you of information at some stage