Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
A little advice please!
My son was injured at school in march sustaining a head injury which required a ct scan at the hospital and on going treatment up to date,during this time he had to miss school for nearly three weeks and quite an amount of work as he was doing his A levels,when he went back to school obviously the teachers were collecting the work from the previous weeks which he did not have. To cut a long story short we had to go to a meeting and were told that because he had not handed the work in and had fallen behind he could not do his A levels as it was possible he would not make the grades and that would not be good for the school? so he would be better off leaving.
what should i do?.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Maddy on
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That's disgusting, Melanie. If nothing else this could well be in breach of disability discrimination legislation. I would not hesitate to involve a solicitor - you could call the Elfrida Rathbone centre in Camden (020 7424 1601) as they are specialists in this area and could perhaps advise.
I'm afraid this is the way schools choose to manipulate their league table position, with little regard for the individual - I have heard similar stories before.
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Permalink Reply by melanie allen on
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Thanks maddy i will call them.
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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Three weeks is only 10% of the school year. If he was up to date with his work up to that point, it should be possible to catch up. If they knew he was off school for bona fide reasons, did they send the work home meanwhile? It's a pretty weak set of lessons if it can't allow for someone doing a few sessions from home - even if those bits of the course turn out to be a fail, the work from the rest of the year should be enough to pass overall.
It may be better not to get into a big fight at this point, but to ask nicely if your son can just come back to school and see what he can do, exams start very soon. If he is withdrawn form the course, it still looks bad on the school record, so their wretched league table would still suffer.
Are you sure his work before the accident was OK?
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He was doing 4 A levels, 2 in buisness and 2 in media, he did not really take to media but the work was up to date at the time of the accident, incidently when he returned to school because he had not done the work that was set when he was off , he was sent out of that lesson 3 day's running ,when he asked the teacher for the work she said she was too busy. I have called every day this week to arrange a meeting or speak with the head but to no avail, it is just so unfair considering the accident happened on school grounds and like you say it will look very bad on his school record.
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I meant it will look bad on the school record, not your son's. Percentage success is measured by passing the course times completing the course. So taking people who are going to fail off the course, shows up in the results. Otherwise if one person passes and ninety nine are removed before the end, that's 100% success rate.
I have half my class (in F.E.) about to fail their course, I am being encouraged to get them off the register before the course ends but it will still show up in our results and therefore our OFSTED grade, as a fail.
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Permalink Reply by L F T Snowflake on
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Dear Melanie,
I am a secondary school teacher. Currently working in HE, but have worked in mainly in SEN as well as in mainstream in a large Hertfordshire comp.
Now, I am staggered to hear what your son's school have said, and I am prompted to ask if this is a private or state school. If it is a private school, then I am not surprised as many do this. I have known some kick out kids in year 9 if they don't think they will do well at GCSE. The other question is, is this a 'faith' school? Again, faith schools try to do this all the time in order to appear to be better than non-faith schools.
If it is a state school, they simply cannot say that! I cannot make this clear enough. THEY SIMPLY CANNOT DO THIS TO YOUR SON. I take it you have their reasons in writing, and if not, then you should write to the head immediately demanding that they state in writing the reasons for refusing to allow your son to enter for his A-Levels.
I have had to deal with students on long term sickness on several occasions. And when a student is absent for long term sickness the school has a DUTY to see if arrangements can be made to keep up or catch up with the work. For example, if he could have done work at home, they could have put material onto the schools VLE, which is the internet site where students can log in. Even the dusty old 1970's style Hertfordshire comp I worked put all their lesson materials on line.
Let me put it another way. If your son had been on an exclusion for some offence committed, then the school are LEGALLY obliged to provide work for the student to do at home, because even excluded students have the LEGAL RIGHT to keep up with their education.
In conclusion, if your son's school is a state school, then they simply have no argument. Get their reasons in writing, then take it to the Local Authority - they will nail them to the wall. A complaint directly the chair of governors will also do the trick.
I stress again, your school simply cannot do this. If you need further assistance, send me a PM.
Regards
Reggie
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Reggie is right, Melanie, they simply can't do this. Even a private school has a duty of care to their pupils, and proper procedures should be followed - written warnings etc. They can't just tell your son to go away.
I think the time before the exams is now too short for dealing with this politely, and they seem to be ignoring you anyway. You need to move fast.
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Reggie thank you so much for your reply it is actually a state school not in this borough though,
i have sent you a request so maybe we can have a chat.
Thank you.
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Hi there Melanie
I don't have a straight answer but it sounds wrong definitely
if you need specialist advice about this, try looking on the Advisory Centre for education's website and/or call their helpline:
[[General advice line:
0808 800 5793Exclusion advice line:
0808 800 0327Exclusion information line:
020 7704 9822 (24hr answer phone)they have information sheets on their website as well and are ery good at what they do- free, impartial advice to parents and advisors about educational matters...
hope they can help
take care
Suzi
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Thank you so much.
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Permalink Reply by christina edwards on
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i am a secondary school teacher of 30 years i am appalled!!
he should have been given work to do during the time off and he could be given special consideration.
what are his target grades and was he reaching them before the accident?
the school have a responsibility to him and he should be entered for the exams and given every opportunity to be successful in the exams, if he hasnt completed coursework it may have some bearing on the grade as coursework grades need to be handed in before the exam season.
they have no right to withdraw him and at this stage it will cost the school to do so.
good luck
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Hi Christina his grades were ok before the accident he had a bit of catching up to do but was managing,the main problem is that no work was sent home for him until after they excluded him for not handing in the work the majority of which was set when he was off.Thank you for your reply i will let you know what happens.
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