Gavin Report post Posted July 9, 2013 Hi I thought we had put the problem of unlawful exclusions behind us with DS (AS, very bright) well settled in a special school where he is generally getting on OK. Lately they have had a lot of staff turnover and he has complained that the school is going downhill. Anyway today I received a phone call saying he had run away during an outdoor activity and that they had decided to send him home - could someone please come and collect him. I thought this odd as he has no history of running away but I went to collect him (c. 1 hr drive). What is clear is that an activity had been organised which involved putting the boys into groups, grouped with others that were not necessarily their friends or classmates and then getting them to roam the grounds looking for clues to a 'murder mystery'. They had been told in assembly that someone had been murdered etc. - anyway you get the idea. Basically it beggars belief - you could not deliberately design a less appropriate activity for children on the autism spectrum. DS and friends had decided they did not like the groups they were put into and formed their own. They then went off as instructed - looking for clues in the school grounds. Anyway the staff panicked and went looking for them. DS returned of his own accord, somewhat oblivious to what all the fuss was about. When I saw him he was apologetic about any trouble he may have caused but disputing some of the facts asserted by staff (who seemed to be trying to get their stories straight but were very inconsistent). When I arrived at the school I asked on what basis DS was being sent home - was it an exclusion? I was told no. I asked whether they thought this was legal because it seemed very like illegal exclusions we had experienced in the past. This question was sidestepped. It was clear that the staff were sending him home as a punishment - or rather as a sort of natural consequence of him supposedly absconding, although a senior member of staff admitted he had not done this deliberately... A shambles. I am a bit cross! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sally44 Report post Posted July 10, 2013 Is this an ASD specific special school? Would it help to have a meeting or phone call with the SENCO to discuss what they think went wrong. I don't understand WHY they sent him home. If he had not done anything wrong, why send him home? Then after any meeting or telephone call, I would put it all in a letter, ie. what you said, what they said, what was agreed, what action the school say they will take in future to ensure that he does not wander off. Children cannot always be grouped with children they are friends with etc. But in this kind of task I would have thought that each group should have had an adult with them. Are the school grounds closed to keep pupils in? If not, again I would get in writing that in any future activities like this will ensure he has an adult with him - due to the safety issues involved. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bed32 Report post Posted July 10, 2013 How frustrating - of course they are not allowed to do that, sounds as if the school have made a mistake here. To be honest as a one off then probably not worth making a fuss. You could either just let it go or ask for clarification from the school as to why he was excluded (preferrably in writing). Make the point that it is inconvenient for you to pick him up and ask why they were unable to deal with this themselves. You can of course make a formal complaint - but that is likely to get their backs up and won't necessarily do any good Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oxgirl Report post Posted July 10, 2013 Does seem annoying, yes. Were the other children with him also sent home or just him? I don't see the value of sending them home anyway, if they were in trouble some other form of punishment should have been implemented. I agree that it's probably not worth making a massive fuss, though. It would only be to the detriment of good feeling with the school and you all need to be on the same side. I would bring it up and discuss it with whoever was in charge and register you weren't very happy and ask for clarification and then leave it at that. Of course, if another similar incident occurred, you'd be justified in making a more formal complaint and bringing up this previous incident again. ~ Mel ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sally44 Report post Posted July 11, 2013 I think it is worth getting it all in writing, at the very least in a letter after having discussed it with them because you say you have a past history of alot of illegal exclusions. And because how they handled whatever happened [and you need to establish exactly what did happen], they seem to be sending him home because they could not cope, or did not carry out a proper risk assessment for the activity they were doing. If he can run away/get lost within the grounds, then you need to know that that will not happen again because he will be accompanied by an adult on any future tasks that are similar. And you also need to know if the grounds are secure because if he did wander off, and you don't get in writing an agreement of what they are going to do in future it could happen again - and if he can actually get off site something even worse could happen. You don't need to go in guns blazing, but just get it all documented. Because if this is a 'provision/funding' issue regarding his Statement, then you will need evidence that he needs this extra support/funding adding to his Statement. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
