After all my efforts trying to integrate my son into school (and I’m pleased to say he is now doing four lessons a week) I have today been told that the school want to remove his place. I cannot tell you how angry and upset I am but to say to I’m raging is an understatement. How can any caring person or organisation do this to a disabled student in his last year of school? Well it seems that my son’s school think its OK to do this though I rather suspect there are higher powers pressurising the school to chuck my son out.
According to the member of staff who told me this news the school are under pressure over places. I’m guessing from this that because my son is not in full time that the school would rather him out so that another pupil can take his place. However, I suspect that my pathfinding local authority may have some involvement. They pay for my son’s place and knowing the budgetary constraints they’re under I can just see them trying to pull his place and provide him with shitty home tuition which to date has been so useless in engaging him. I’ve had a whiff of this attitude from my LA last year so I know they are more than capable of behaving like this.
I explained to the Family Support Worker (god bless her, she has proven to be much welcome support and a shoulder to cry on) that to pull his place at this late stage will cause irreparable damage to my son. I explained that my son loves his school and to reject him like this will probably cause him to become even more reclusive. Indeed when I tenderly broke the news to my son he verbally exploded with anger and said very much what I said “how can they chuck me out in my last year”. I had no answer to that except to say that he needs to build up his hours there while me and his dad deal with the authorities. He said he would try which is good but whether it will be enough to stop this lunacy we shall have to see.
In the meantime, me and the other half are busily making plans before next week’s review meeting. We shall not be going down without a fight.