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Barred from Science (Health & Safety reasons)

MulgaBill

Our oldest boy (he's an Aspie) has just moved up to S2 (we're in Scotland) and, as well as all the usual turmoil involved in changing classes, he came home today to tell me that "I was locked out of Science". When I asked what had happened, he said his new science teacher had shut the classroom door in his face and locked it. He didn't know what was happening, so he stood outside the classroom until his guidance teacher eventually showed up. She told him that he wasn't allowed to do science for "health and safety reasons", and he'd have to spend science classes doing "other things" in the special needs area. It's ludicrous as science was his best subject in S1 and the teacher he had throughout never had a safety issue with him.

Has anyone managed to challenge a decision like this? And how?

BTW, I'm on my fourth letter to the school in 10 days to the school, copied to the QIO and Head of Education, not that they ever reply or take any notice. Yesterday's letter was about our boy being kept out of all his classes for an entire day, so he played computer games and watched videos in the special needs area. He doesn't know why and no one from the SMT was available to explain why. (He was quite happy to have a "day off", but I'm not.)

Parents

  • What makes you think we haven't been in? We've had numerous meetings with the school, most recently spending two hours on Friday with the QIO and head teacher. The meetings never achieve anything meaningful in terms of our son's support or education. As one person told us, "in the current economic climate there's no budget, no resources, no staff and no will to do do anything for children like him". When I tried to explain to his "return from exclusion meeting" that exclusion for "failure to comply" was counter-productive because he was quite happy to be away from school, his guidance teacher ranted that I didn't know what I was talking about because all children are aware of the "devstating consequences of having exclusions on their file", and that she has "30 years of teaching experience" which means she knows my "account of his feelings is untrue". A depute head conceded the tone of almost all the disciplinary referrals was hateful, angry, discriminatory and inflammatory, but said we had to accept that teachers find out son extremely frustrating and annoying. She also admitted she'd held some referrals back because their language was even worse than the ones we'd received.

    Incidentally, our son was excluded because he withdrew into himself when a teacher got angry with him for not following instructions (he found them confusing). The PT was called in and told him to "work or leave", then complained to us later that even when he raised his voice our son "refused to comply". A depute head was called in and told our son to leave, but was also faced with "refusal to comply". (Later, our son told us he felt like he was in the bottom of a cave with a lots of big, red, angry faces screaming at him, so he just froze.) Eventually, they manhandled him out of the classroom and down to the special needs area, then excluded him for three days for failure to comply.

    So, we do have meetings. And "multi-agency reviews". And "consultations". And "parental engagement sessions". The school regards them as sufficient action in themselves, minutes them selectively a few months after the event and then states that they've followed guidelines on "parental engagement". 

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  • What makes you think we haven't been in? We've had numerous meetings with the school, most recently spending two hours on Friday with the QIO and head teacher. The meetings never achieve anything meaningful in terms of our son's support or education. As one person told us, "in the current economic climate there's no budget, no resources, no staff and no will to do do anything for children like him". When I tried to explain to his "return from exclusion meeting" that exclusion for "failure to comply" was counter-productive because he was quite happy to be away from school, his guidance teacher ranted that I didn't know what I was talking about because all children are aware of the "devstating consequences of having exclusions on their file", and that she has "30 years of teaching experience" which means she knows my "account of his feelings is untrue". A depute head conceded the tone of almost all the disciplinary referrals was hateful, angry, discriminatory and inflammatory, but said we had to accept that teachers find out son extremely frustrating and annoying. She also admitted she'd held some referrals back because their language was even worse than the ones we'd received.

    Incidentally, our son was excluded because he withdrew into himself when a teacher got angry with him for not following instructions (he found them confusing). The PT was called in and told him to "work or leave", then complained to us later that even when he raised his voice our son "refused to comply". A depute head was called in and told our son to leave, but was also faced with "refusal to comply". (Later, our son told us he felt like he was in the bottom of a cave with a lots of big, red, angry faces screaming at him, so he just froze.) Eventually, they manhandled him out of the classroom and down to the special needs area, then excluded him for three days for failure to comply.

    So, we do have meetings. And "multi-agency reviews". And "consultations". And "parental engagement sessions". The school regards them as sufficient action in themselves, minutes them selectively a few months after the event and then states that they've followed guidelines on "parental engagement". 

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