Childcare ?? Discrimination??

My son is being assessed for autism at my initiation and pursuit. He is in year 1. I have older children on the spectrum so have an awareness of the signs and traits. I pursued a private assessment whilst waiting for the NHS assessment because I am aware of the dragged out process from past experience. Both adhd and autism were reported as highly likely. 

The report was shared with school But he had been subtle in his behaviours there up until a recent transition into breakfast club. Anxiety took over him and the fight or flight response kicked in (and out!). He was excluded permanently after 3 short weeks. 3 weeks which were disruptive for him due to the Xmas timetable at school, resulting in frequent room alterations - where he did not cope due to joining different children as clubs (infants and juniors) combined to share facilities.

Breakfast club felt they could no longer meet his needs and suggested he needed 1:1 provision. I know school have forced their hand. The club is a separate business from the school but run on their premises. On his last day at the breakfast club he had a meltdown because his safe space had been taken by two other children. He ran off around school with me in toe trying to help him. He threw chairs and pencil pots. Teaching staff came and shouted at him to stop. Then told me I needed to take him home - whilst he continued to kick and punch me (clearly I could do very little with him at that moment and just needed to keep him contained and safe).  I felt like they might as well have waded in aswell the way they looked at us and spoke to us. I was scolded at because he was in a teachers classroom before 8:50am (I was invited to take him in by said teacher) but this made me feel like they didn’t care because their job starts at 8:50am anything outside of that - tough luck when a child and mother were very clearly in need of help not judgement. Later that day I received a phone call from breakfast club to say he was excluded. 

To me he has been excluded due to his disability. One which with time could have been supported and successfully achieved - once he had established a relationship with his key worker. Is this not discrimination??

How do parents work if they have disabled children? My job was already term time to suit. 

Sorry for the journal! And thanks in  advance 

Parents
  • Hi, if the breakfast club is run separately from the school you would need to pursue discrimination with them as in essence it sounds like they just use the school building. This was the case with my sons breakfast/ after school club although it was on school grounds it was different staff and nothing to do with the school. 

    It does sound like discrimination but I'm not sure the links for inclusion in education would be any use as breakfast clubs are not education. You may have grounds in that they accepted your son knowing of his condition but I'm not sure you have quite the same rights

     I would check what the provision states is available for children in your sons situation if they advertise that they cater for all then you may still be able to complain, check with local authorities but I think private breakfast clubs have control over who they accept. 

  • You may be right “I think private breakfast clubs have control over who they accept” and I want to investigate and challenge this if it is the case...can we imagine a country in which this would be acceptable in other forms of discrimination? There would be uproar and rightly so, equally my son has a right to be treated fairly with reasonable adjustments made. 

    Schools are required to be accessible under the Sen code of practice- ramps and lifts are required by law in new or updated buildings, Braille is located around the school, disabled toilets etc I want to see the same for safe spaces in schools for our children. 

Reply
  • You may be right “I think private breakfast clubs have control over who they accept” and I want to investigate and challenge this if it is the case...can we imagine a country in which this would be acceptable in other forms of discrimination? There would be uproar and rightly so, equally my son has a right to be treated fairly with reasonable adjustments made. 

    Schools are required to be accessible under the Sen code of practice- ramps and lifts are required by law in new or updated buildings, Braille is located around the school, disabled toilets etc I want to see the same for safe spaces in schools for our children. 

Children
  • I agree that services should be accessible for all and that they should not discriminate, I just wasn't sure if it fell into the same category as education rights 

    Definitely check with your local authority 

    I wish you and your son luck! 

  • They are still required to comply with the Equality Act and they can’t refuse to accept a child based purely on factors related to a disability (that they should reasonably know about) - that’s what discrimination is. 

    On the other hand, they are only obliged to provide ‘reasonable’ adjustments, and that can be open to interpretation...