School residential SEN

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My child will be attending a 4 night residential trip with school just over 2 hours away. He has a learning support plan but no EHCP. HE is autistic with PDA profile.

The headteacher is worried about his safety on the trip. Does anyone have any experience of dealing with this?

I don’t want my child to be excluded or miss out. He wants to attend. It’s costing £600 so not cheap.

Should they be putting adjustments in place? Should I offer to stay near by? Should he only do half the trip (I don’t want this option).

They are worried that he doesn’t always follow instructions and takes things very literally.

What age? I went on my dd school residential as her 1:1 as her TA didn't want to go abroad

If the school is saying they are worried about his safety then that would be a definite no for me.

That said I am probably not the best person to advise as my son (he was a teenager at the time - developmental age of a baby and completely non verbal) was lost on a special school residential trip several years ago.
I had expressed concerns prior to him going but (unlike your headteacher) the school was very persuasive in insisting I send him, assuring me he would be fine with one to one at all times.
Despite this he somehow managed to exit a fire door unnoticed. The police were called. He was found by a farmer several fields away 2 hours later.
He was incredibly lucky. He has no danger awareness whatsoever and if he had headed the other way he would have been in the lake.

I'm not meaning to put you off and I am sure this very rarely happens, but it happened to us and it was terrifying getting that call to say he was missing.

Regardless of ehcp status your child has a disability and the school have a statutory duty to ensure that your child can access all parts of the education provided by the school including residentials etc.

Only you can say whether you think they are trying their best to meet his needs or whether they're trying to get you to say he can't go.

If they are telling you that they don't have adequate resources to meet need then you should be challenging them on why they haven't applied for an ehcp yet as this is how they access the additional funding they may need.

Offer to go as a parent helper if you would like to do so.

If your child , and they will, is highlighted on the risk assessment as needing extra provision and the school cannot provide it , then yes unfortunately you’re going to have to step up and go or your child won’t. Remember, residentials outside of school hours are voluntary . Everyone coming on here demanding what volunteers have to provide outside of school hours! NO WE DON’T actually.

If DS wants to go, I would do everything to make that possible.

Request a meeting with the school. Have they already undertaken an individual risk assessment and have you seen it?

As per the Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school statutory guidance, which is underpinned by the Children and Families Act 2014, pupils should be properly supported so they have full access to education, including trips. They should not require parents to attend. Although if you want to, you could offer.

My son (autistic/adhd) was due to go on a school residential. Fairly soon before they were due to go one of his teachers said something to me verbally about him not being able to stay overnight and being dropped off and picked up daily.

I was beyond furious and wrote an email to the school suggesting disability discrimination (I waited several hours to calm down before sending a very polite but assertive email)

They backtracked HARD and he went on the school trip. They put everything in place to ensure that he was safe AND that he had a bloody good time. Things just need to be in writing 🙄

Drop them an email asking if they need any input from you on the risk assessment for your son. It looks to me like they’re already laying the groundwork.

You are probably the best judge of this.

Do you think that he will be safe on residential? Is he able to follow safety instructions? Even when he is tired or dysregulated?

Or, is there something else which could be put in place to reduce the risk?

If I was unsure I would offer to go as a parent helper so that I was on site.

What are you expecting and have you ever been on a school residential trip?
if they have to rely on support staff to go, they are paid a very low salary and will be working all hours for no extra money.
It’s a huge responsibility and therefore a risk assessment has to be carried out. If your child struggles at school, imagine on a trip away…..

This is true. But what if staff do not or cannot go?

The school has a duty to ensure they have the staff. For clarity, that isn’t the same as saying any one teacher must go.

It’s common for autistic/adhd children to struggle with residentials.

usually there’s a discussion with the parents.

they do need to make sure he is safe.

has he ever stayed away from home before? Is he used to it? Can he manage meals without “safe food” etc?

going to the days but not doing the overnights is a common reasonable adjustment if the child doesn’t want to do them or parents/school think they won’t cope.

often the activities are more risky than being in school - eg canoeing, archery etc. I have know autistic children have to come home because they were consistently breaking safety rules and even with multiple other adults it wasn’t possible to keep everyone safe.

What if they all refuse? Would the school be expected to hire someone especially? Genuinely curious, I only learned (from here) that teachers aren’t paid extra for residentials.

OP if you have already paid I would not be impressed at these problems popping up now. There should have been a clear plan in place from the get go, unless something has drastically changed since. I’d be concerned about their level of disorganisation and would go stay nearby for your own peace of mind - not that you should have to.

It depends on the individual circumstances. Usually though, with planning and effort (Obviously not all but too often schools jump to saying DC can’t go or parents need to attend as the first option rather than putting effort into exploring all options. These discussions should have been had earlier in the planning stage.), schools usually find a staff member or appropriate volunteers to fulfil their duty even if it isn’t feasible a member of the SLT.

No, but it is saying that the whole trip may be cancelled if a parent pushes that their child must be allowed to attend even if their needs mean more adults are needed than are willing to attend.

On residential, full time 1:1 would mean taking two additional adults (I don't know if the OP's child needs this - it sounds as if he doesn't). What if they're not able to find them? Cancel the trip?

Add to that - some children cannot be kept safe even with 1:1. It isn't just adult support, it's change to routine, dysregulation, personal hygiene, sleep.

A proper discussion is needed, but it might not be as simple as "look harder and everything can be fixed."

I didn’t say it was that simple. The school should take into account all aspect of needs and support required, including staffing for additional needs, when planning the trip since DC should be properly supported to have full access to education including trips, just like schools would take into account staffing standard ratios and other aspects of the trip that apply to all when planning. My original post wasn’t just about staffing, it was wider looking than that.

I've worked somewhere a residential was cancelled for all because no staff felt safe taking one child; it does happen.

OP have the discussions now. Find out what their main concerns are, share your concerns and see if a plan can be made that could include you (if you're happy with that).

More and more school staff are refusing to go on school trips. Not worth the stress and responsibility.
I went on a weeks trip to France, staying in a hostel. Every night we were up until 3am, trying to stop teenagers going in and out of each others rooms. There were men staying in the hostel and some of our girls were running around in skimpy night wear. I was petrified something would happen.
The food was disgusting and there were rodents under the dining tables.
The students kept sneaking out to meet strangers or to purchase vapes.
Then the beds were infested with bed bugs.
So forget it.
i was doing 12 hours overtime every day and being Support Staff, we get money deducted for holidays.
i am never going on another residential trip again.

Having been the teacher in charge of such trips many a time I have only once said a kid couldn’t go and he was an extreme case who was waiting for a place at a special school. Luckily his parents agreed . I have taken others that were very risky with a lot of planning and adjustments. I’m guessing you don’t agree that he’s too much of a risk?

And that is, of course, your prerogative. Schools should look at staffing levels when planning trips and should only organise trips they can appropriately staff. Not just jump to the easy answer of excluding those with additional needs, especially when lots of the concerns you list have nothing to do with additional needs.

I’m a TA and have been on many residentials. Please remember the teachers and TAs are on residentials as unpaid VOLUNTEERS.
They are giving up their own time with their family. My husband has to use up some of his precious annual leave to cover everything I usually do childcare wise for our own children.
Teaching staff are not paid for residentials.
I work mornings only. On residentials I am working 5 days, 24hrs and only paid for 3/12 hours a day (my normal hours).

Residentials are seriously hard work. It’s relentless.
There are always issues in the middle of the night. It’s really full in 24hrs a day.
It’s impossible to sleep as the kids are generally running around or being silly until the early hours, plus you are always lying there expecting a knock on the door as someone has vomited/crying/keeping everyone up/being mean etc
The accommodation is an obviously kept very very basic to keep costs down - it’s generally minging - think rickety beds and rooms that smell of feet.
There’s rarely any thanks from parents, usually just complaints about bedrooms/food etc I come home at the end of the week utterly exhausted.
The kids generally do enjoy it though!

Please bear in mind all the realities of life for staff who go on residentials, particularly the fact that they are unpaid volunteers giving up their own family time.

It sounds like your son will be harder to handle than the other children and they are trying to squirm out of taking him with very vague reasons.
They need to be quite specific as to why he won’t be safe if the right safeguards are put in place.
As they should be. If he is fit for school he should be fit for all aspects of school life.
And no, I don’t think you should be going. This is a great chance for him to flourish and be independent of you.

My child went on a residential and was overwhelmed half way through. We had to collect them as teachers didn’t feel it was safe. To have refused to collect wouldn’t have been fair on either the child or staff. It was a long drive to collect!

Residentials can involve a lot of anxiety - a lot of unknowns, change and new routines, potentially unsafe (unfamiliar) foods and there are a lot of demands- especially with so many activities planned. If there are activities involving water or climbing then safety becomes even more of a concern. Add in some sleep deprivation and it’s hard!
So I would stay nearby if that was an option.

But a reasonable adjustment might be that a child goes on a residential, attends the daytime activities and goes home at night to get some rest/regulation and allow staff volunteers some rest/respite.
There might be safeguarding issues with regards to certain children sleeping in a room with other children with no adult present.
School life often has differences/adaptations to allow children with SEN to attend/cope and remain safe.

Correct. You also have yo safeguard other students.