AGXStarseed
Well-Known Member
(Not written by me. The original article has several other articles mixed into one, so this article only includes the section relating to Autism)
How young are children who are expelled from England’s schools? We are hearing of worrying cases where pupils may be leaving mainstream education barely after entering it. Among these is the case of Adele Beadle’s son. Last week, Education Guardian met this mother whose child was permanently excluded from a reception class, weeks after turning five.
Adele Beadle’s son was permanently excluded from his infants’ school last June. He was formally diagnosed as on the autistic spectrum in July. Photograph: Frantzesco Kangaris for the Guardian
The boy, whom we are not naming, was expelled from Pickhurst infant academy in Bromley, south London, last June, just as he was about to be formally diagnosed as autistic. Nine months on, now aged almost six, he is still out of school, having spent the second half of last year with no education at all.
The boy was excluded permanently, without having had any fixed-term exclusions imposed, says his family, on the day of an incident in which a teaching assistant was left with a damaged thumb and after what the school told his mother were “numerous behavioural incidents”.
Beadle argues the behavioural problems were generally minor and that the school should not have permanently excluded the child without a lengthier investigation. He was assessed as on the autistic spectrum by Bromley Healthcare on 1 July last year.
The family challenged the school’s decision at an independent tribunal, which recommended governors reconsider because the school had not fully followed procedures. School governors then did so, but stood by their original decision.
The boy was out of education completely until January, when the council in neighbouring Lewisham, where the family lives, placed him in part-time out-of-school provision for excluded children.
His mother says: “It’s heartbreaking. I do not know how they can do that to a five-year-old who, because of his autism, was only beginning to learn the rules of behaviour.”
The school’s headteacher, Leonie Osborne, says: “The school has a number of policies and procedures in place which comply with statutory guidance. In order to comply with the Data Protection Act we ensure that personal information relating to individual pupils … is kept confidential and therefore do not comment on their individual circumstances.”
SOURCE: http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/mar/08/boy-autism-expelled-from-school
How young are children who are expelled from England’s schools? We are hearing of worrying cases where pupils may be leaving mainstream education barely after entering it. Among these is the case of Adele Beadle’s son. Last week, Education Guardian met this mother whose child was permanently excluded from a reception class, weeks after turning five.
Adele Beadle’s son was permanently excluded from his infants’ school last June. He was formally diagnosed as on the autistic spectrum in July. Photograph: Frantzesco Kangaris for the Guardian
The boy, whom we are not naming, was expelled from Pickhurst infant academy in Bromley, south London, last June, just as he was about to be formally diagnosed as autistic. Nine months on, now aged almost six, he is still out of school, having spent the second half of last year with no education at all.
The boy was excluded permanently, without having had any fixed-term exclusions imposed, says his family, on the day of an incident in which a teaching assistant was left with a damaged thumb and after what the school told his mother were “numerous behavioural incidents”.
Beadle argues the behavioural problems were generally minor and that the school should not have permanently excluded the child without a lengthier investigation. He was assessed as on the autistic spectrum by Bromley Healthcare on 1 July last year.
The family challenged the school’s decision at an independent tribunal, which recommended governors reconsider because the school had not fully followed procedures. School governors then did so, but stood by their original decision.
The boy was out of education completely until January, when the council in neighbouring Lewisham, where the family lives, placed him in part-time out-of-school provision for excluded children.
His mother says: “It’s heartbreaking. I do not know how they can do that to a five-year-old who, because of his autism, was only beginning to learn the rules of behaviour.”
The school’s headteacher, Leonie Osborne, says: “The school has a number of policies and procedures in place which comply with statutory guidance. In order to comply with the Data Protection Act we ensure that personal information relating to individual pupils … is kept confidential and therefore do not comment on their individual circumstances.”
SOURCE: http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/mar/08/boy-autism-expelled-from-school
