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Indirect exclusion/discrimination

NAS6817

I was wondering whether anyone has had any experience of issuing a formal complaint about a head teacher in a mainstream school to the governors, LEA and/or OFSTED?

Our 5 year old who was diagnosed with autism last summer (aged 4 and a half) and started mainstream infant school in September.  On his first day at school the head teacher summoned my husband and I to see her at 8 a.m. the following morning and proceeded to say that she thought he ought be educated in special school - this was a complete and utter shock to both of us as he had managed very well for 3 years at a mainstream, busy nursery despite being non verbal.  She went on to list various issues that had occurred that first day ranging from the dangerous (trying to get out of the door and putting things in his mouth) to the mundane (he wanted to take his shoes off when inside as that's what all the children had to do at his mainstream nursery). She went on and on about health and safety but didn't seem to appreciate that the fact she had failed to stagger an intake of nearly 90 new pupils on the first day or the unfortunate accident involving a staff member of the Foundation Unit which required the calling of paramedics might have had anything to do with a stressful first day back at school for all concerned.  Instead she blamed a 4 and a half year old boy.

Despite some valiant efforts by his class teacher, the school SENCO, the CSA's who work with our son under the Statement which was implemented in January and some of the external professionals who advise on the IEP and his progress generally, the head teacher has continued her efforts at indirect exclusion which culminated in her today having persuaded some of the external professionals that there is nowhere in school for our son to have his quiet one-to-one time except the library and he can't go on using the library indefinitely because the other children need to use the library.  She chose to ignore our comments about the fact that our son goes into the playground at breaktime and a sensory outside area for breaks in between his work at the one-to-one station ie there are plenty of opportunities for other children to use the library. 

She has ignored our letter of last December when we raised our concerns about her attitude to special needs (ie in direct opposition to the policy of inclusion), she refuses to allow our own SALT into school to observe him in school and make suggestions to the staff regarding speech, language and communication and basically adopts the "I know best and I don't have to listen to anything I don't want to" approach.  Having shown herself up at the last IEP in February when she acted like a petulant child who would not even look at my husband and I when we spoke to her, she has continued with her relentless efforts to force our son out of the school.

We are now at the point where we cannot keep our son at the school much longer.  Effectively, the head teacher has driven our son out after months of behind the scenes scheming and putting up as many obstacles as she can possibly think of.

Our son has never demonstrated any particular anxiety about going to school.  The general day to day reports have been largely good and his class teacher is a very positive individual.  Having said that, he is completely non verbal and his behavour/anxiety/stimming have noticeably regressed over the time he has been at school which has been heart-breaking for us.  My husband was shown his work station today which was in the most confined, oppresive, claustrophobic area you can imagine - hardly conducive to learning.

My question is whether it is worth making, in my view, a necessary complaint to the governors about her appalling conduct.  My husband thinks they're all in each other's pockets and won't do anything which is probably right.  Also we have decided to remove him at the end of term so the cynic/realist might say, "why bother"?  My view is that we have a duty to report people like the head teacher for the sake of not only our children but other special needs children who may have the misfortune of encountering the hideous old bag and others like her!  All comments gratefully received.

Parents

  • Hi Spadger

    Thank you ever so much for the detailed and considered view that you have provided which is particularly useful and interesting as you can look at the situation both as the parent of ASD kids and also as an education professional.

    I think when the issue of special schools was first raised in September, we were more in shock than anything else and, at that time, there was definitely an element of stigma.  However, we did investigate the issue of special schools and also a mainstream school with a SALT unit attached to it.  The special school provision for children of our son's age in our area is beyond awful in that there is just so little available.  The Ed Psych basically advised us that the local autism school was really just for life skills with the absolute bare minimum of academic provision.  Don't get me wrong, I fully understand that academically he may never achieve very much at all, if anything, but let's not give up hope of any academic potential when he's only just turned 5!

    There is an NAS special school about 40 minute's drive away which I am very interested in looking at but it only takes pupils from age 7 so, obviously, that is 2 years away yet.  I was, however, dismayed to be told by the Ed Psych on Tuesday that as it is not in our area the council won't fund our son's education there.  I have since been told he's wrong.  Confused.com.

    I am convinced that we will need to look at special schools when our son reaches transition stage.  I am also pretty sure that he will be best provided for in a special school as a junior.  At the moment though, the combination of there being nothing available by way of a suitable special school locally for his age group together with the fact that he managed so well in a mainstream nursery for 3 years, leads us to believe that at the moment, a special school is not appropriate.

    We did, however, visit the SALT unit with the mainstream school in January and were quite shocked at the unit because it was so drab and uninspiring.  I fully accept that we were looking at it as non autistic people but we were both particularly concerned about the break-out room which was like a large cupboard but made me think of solitary confinement in Alcatraz.  The lady who runs the unit was very pleasant and informative and she explained that the room is used for managing aggressive behaviour and works well for a lot of the kids.  We are a bit worried though that our little boy might get shut in there if he won't do as he's told rather than when he is aggressive (which he isn't).

    We are, however, going to re-visit the SALT unit with someone from the communication and interaction service to get another chance to look at it properly.  We are also going to visit two or three other mainstream infant/primary schools over the next few weeks, one of which is a third of the size of our son's current school and has a traditional classroom environment.  Where he is at present has what they call a "freeflow" so there's three separate classes but they are all interlinked and sometimes there are 85 odd kids charging round.

    I have heard before the argument that mainstream inclusion is cheaper but bearing in mind the cost of all the one-to-one statement support for special needs kids to attend mainstream schools, is it really that much cheaper?

    The head admitted from the outset that she doesn't agree with mainstream inclusion.  In my view she ought to make all the necessary long term effort required within the profession to bring about change in policy.  I appreciate it won't come about overnight and it may be that she is in the minority.  Her own views on inclusion do not entitle her to take out her frustration with national education policy on a small vulnerable child who is 5 years of age, can't speak and is autistic.  This is the reason that I will be formally complaining about her.

    You are absolutely right about the upset and anger and, believe you me, if you saw the first draft it probably contains every negative adjective within the English language that could be applied to a(n excuse for a) human being!  The draft is going to be left for a while because, as you rightly say, the most important thing is to make the very difficult decision about where is best for our son to be educated at this point in time. 

    I am not offended at all by what you have said and can only thank you again for all the time and effort you have taken to share your thoughts.

    Kind regards

Reply

  • Hi Spadger

    Thank you ever so much for the detailed and considered view that you have provided which is particularly useful and interesting as you can look at the situation both as the parent of ASD kids and also as an education professional.

    I think when the issue of special schools was first raised in September, we were more in shock than anything else and, at that time, there was definitely an element of stigma.  However, we did investigate the issue of special schools and also a mainstream school with a SALT unit attached to it.  The special school provision for children of our son's age in our area is beyond awful in that there is just so little available.  The Ed Psych basically advised us that the local autism school was really just for life skills with the absolute bare minimum of academic provision.  Don't get me wrong, I fully understand that academically he may never achieve very much at all, if anything, but let's not give up hope of any academic potential when he's only just turned 5!

    There is an NAS special school about 40 minute's drive away which I am very interested in looking at but it only takes pupils from age 7 so, obviously, that is 2 years away yet.  I was, however, dismayed to be told by the Ed Psych on Tuesday that as it is not in our area the council won't fund our son's education there.  I have since been told he's wrong.  Confused.com.

    I am convinced that we will need to look at special schools when our son reaches transition stage.  I am also pretty sure that he will be best provided for in a special school as a junior.  At the moment though, the combination of there being nothing available by way of a suitable special school locally for his age group together with the fact that he managed so well in a mainstream nursery for 3 years, leads us to believe that at the moment, a special school is not appropriate.

    We did, however, visit the SALT unit with the mainstream school in January and were quite shocked at the unit because it was so drab and uninspiring.  I fully accept that we were looking at it as non autistic people but we were both particularly concerned about the break-out room which was like a large cupboard but made me think of solitary confinement in Alcatraz.  The lady who runs the unit was very pleasant and informative and she explained that the room is used for managing aggressive behaviour and works well for a lot of the kids.  We are a bit worried though that our little boy might get shut in there if he won't do as he's told rather than when he is aggressive (which he isn't).

    We are, however, going to re-visit the SALT unit with someone from the communication and interaction service to get another chance to look at it properly.  We are also going to visit two or three other mainstream infant/primary schools over the next few weeks, one of which is a third of the size of our son's current school and has a traditional classroom environment.  Where he is at present has what they call a "freeflow" so there's three separate classes but they are all interlinked and sometimes there are 85 odd kids charging round.

    I have heard before the argument that mainstream inclusion is cheaper but bearing in mind the cost of all the one-to-one statement support for special needs kids to attend mainstream schools, is it really that much cheaper?

    The head admitted from the outset that she doesn't agree with mainstream inclusion.  In my view she ought to make all the necessary long term effort required within the profession to bring about change in policy.  I appreciate it won't come about overnight and it may be that she is in the minority.  Her own views on inclusion do not entitle her to take out her frustration with national education policy on a small vulnerable child who is 5 years of age, can't speak and is autistic.  This is the reason that I will be formally complaining about her.

    You are absolutely right about the upset and anger and, believe you me, if you saw the first draft it probably contains every negative adjective within the English language that could be applied to a(n excuse for a) human being!  The draft is going to be left for a while because, as you rightly say, the most important thing is to make the very difficult decision about where is best for our son to be educated at this point in time. 

    I am not offended at all by what you have said and can only thank you again for all the time and effort you have taken to share your thoughts.

    Kind regards

Children
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