Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi all,
My daughter has Autism and is at a private, full-boarding school. Within the last 5 weeks she had a mental health crisis and was sent home. Since then she has only been given very limited access to the school and her friends. She was not allowed to go on a school trip to Alton Towers because she could not be properly supervised. We have learnt that certain people who have a prominent role in her pastoral care believe that "Autistic children should not attend full-boarding schools" and we have now been summoned to a meeting with the Headmistress where we believe it will be confirmed that she will be permanently exlcuded from the school at the end of this term.
Since her mental health crisis, my daughter has been assessed by CAMHS crisis team, a consultant psychiatrist and begun therapy at a specialist centre dealing with teenage and adolescent mental health. All of these people agree that she should be back at school. Whilst the CAMHS team believe that she remains a risk to herself, the psychiatrist reports that she is low risk for suicide and self harm, but believes she remains a vulnerably individual. CAHMS and the psychiatrist agree that therapy is required.
Our daughter is performing well academically at this school, in on numerous sports teams and has made many friends; she desperately wants to remain at the school and rejoin as a full boarder. She has broken no school rules that we justify permanent exclusion.
What I am trying to understand is whether a permant exclusion from school would be a form of discrimination against my daughter under the Equalities Act, and would be very grateful for any thoughts or experiences that you are able to share with me.
Many thanks. Bill
Hi Bill, Sorry to hear you're having difficulty with your daughter's school not accommodating her needs. We do have some information on the NAS site about resolving issues with schools you might want to have a look at, in particular the 'Resolving Differences' page here - https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/education/resolving-differences - and the school exclusion page which you can find here - https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/education/exclusions. Both these pages are split into different sections depending on which country of the UK are you in, as the laws in each are different.
As to the specific question of whether your daughter's exclusion from school constitutes a breach of the Equalities Act, it might be worth consulting a solicitor who has experience in education and/or discrimination law to see what they think and find out where you stand from a legal point of view, if that's something you're able to.
Hope this is of some help,
Ross - mod