What the LEA told me to do.

[Guest Tracey L]

I spoke to the LEA yesterday about my decision to remove my lttle man from his school.

She told me to write to them telling them that i was removing him and that i would be home schooling him until a suitable placement could be found for him.

I did this, i sent the letter last night.

 

My parent partnership lady phoned me today, from home, she was furious.

She said that i should not have sent that letter as it meant that i was removing him from the local authorities responsibility.

 

She got straight on the phone to them and told them this was not the case.

She then drafted me a letter and told me to send that instead.

 

I cannot believe how much parent partnership have helped me. She has even got me an appointment at a prospective placement tommorow instead of on 1st April.

 

We have also written to the headteacher telling her that we believe that she has discriminated against my son.

Other parents from the school have backed me up and are totally gobsmacked that my son has been treated this way, especially as other, not statemented, children have done far worse and not been threatened with exclusion.

 

I really hope that the head gets her just deserts, she has behaved in an appalling way towards my son while letting other children " get away with it".

 

Phew, feel much better now.

Edited March 18, 2008 by Tracey L

[Kathryn]

Hi Tracey,

 

I'm glad your parent partnership person acted swiftly - she seems like one in a million, they don't all act with parents' best interests at heart. She's absolutely right, that LEA would love it if you let them off the hook by removing your son from the system completely.

 

Here's a link to IPSEA's information about exclusions - you can see here if the school was following proper procedures - sounds as though they weren't.

 

http://www.ipsea.org.uk/exclusion-support-sheets.htm

 

Good luck for tomorrow

 

K x

[westie]

Im really pleased you have good support from parent partnership, and also wanted to say I am disgusted at your son's treatment by the school especially the attitude of the head. It sounds like disability discrimination to me if others have done worse and not been excluded. I read your other posts and it seems like they just cannot be bothered, or simply do not want him there. I wish you good luck in finding another school which can provide the help your son needs.

 

If there are no other special schools in area with places, then is there another mainstream with a more supportive attitude and to which he can have the extra support he needs from an external source (who would come into his school?) - if this would suit you and your son, of course. Not all schools are like the one he is at now, though I have no idea about your area in particular. Parent partnership may have a good idea about which mainstream schools in your area are a bit more supportive/ understanding and may be able to provide this support with the help of a statememt.

 

Take care and god luck with your fight to get your little man the support he needs (though its sad that a fight is usually what we have to do to get our children the suport they need)

Edited March 18, 2008 by westie

[stressedmumto2]

WOW A PP like that, our PP isn't nowhere near as helpful, in fact when looking at two placements for two schools in our area I aksed her for the exclusion no's and she couldn't get me that info!!!

 

Sounds like your PP know's her job and has your interests at heart which is rare to find. I had a very similar situation to yourself and removed my son from his school (long time ago now). The LA would love for you to remove your son so then they would not be reasponsible for him.

 

I hope that viewing of the other school goes well, good luck <'>

[Suze]

Glad your getting to see some more suitable placements for your son...............get to see a few............check out the unlawful exclusion page at the top aswell, suzex