Provision in place and the educational rights of a child when off school sick.

[lynnhun]

My son had a transplant 2 years ago. He has recently contract cryptospordium

He has been off school for 6 weeks. Upon approaching the school they advised us that he was not their responsibility to arrange any home education. The LA advised no resources, not the right illness. On speaking to the school re his return they do not feel any plan (except shorter working days) should be in place to ensure he catches up on what he has missed.

I would appreciate peoples views and also what they have in place fore their child.

Thanks from a very concerned mum.

[Hidden]

How old is your son? You need to ask to speak with the school's EWO (Education Welfare Officer) - in secondary they are able to organise home tuition although you do have to be off more set amount of weeks before home tuition kicks in.

Never heard of illness not right one!!

The EWO CAN also organised phased return for your son.

Again if in secondary your head is year should be organising this for you.

Hope this helps

[lynnhun in reply to Hidden]

Hi thanks. He is in year 5. It was the EWO who said no resources and not the right illness. (he hasn't been admitted to hospital). The Deputy head was the person who said they weren't responsible.

Do you have any plan in place in case off for long periods?

I got the impression from the school he is at was it's to much bother for them.

I'm going to see the head next week and want as much info as possible.

[Hidden]

Does the school have a parent support advisor?

What is your son's overall attendance percentage?

Seems very odd to me that they are not interested. Get your consultant or GP to write to the school!

[mart72]

i have just been through a similar thing for two years with my now 16yr daughter.she has undiagnosed illness still ongoing.she managed to get 5 good gcses without help or support from senior school staff.through the school you should ask to be refered to a caf team who are fantastic and will organise a meeting with all the right people who should be involved in supporting you and ur child.wether its doctors thro to school and anyone else u need .they are adamant that kids hav a right to an education and its not up to u to provide it! after our ewo found out we had genuine illness she was very supportive and together we spoke to individual teachers who went out of their way to support and provide work for home.the heads of school wernt interested as my daughter wasnt goin to help there results!(altho she did!) hope u understand my ramble sorry! i really recomend u find out about the caf team in your local area.its best to go thro the school if poss but u can find there number on ur local government webstite.sorry for spelling!

[CROC]

The school won't have additional funding/resources to tap into which are specifically for situations like this and neither will the local authority. However, if a child is perceived to have additional needs (a broad term - can include children who's health impacts on their schooling, either through absence/tiredness etc...) then the school are expected to support the child appropriately. Individual children will cope differently and given the same length of absence may return to school with varying degrees of success (I.e. some may catch up quickly and others not so quick) and it may be the case that your school perceives your child to be bright and capable of coping well. But, they do need to assess him on return to school. This should take into account how he feels emotionally and the school should take yours and your child's views into consideration. This can be quite a simple assessment, looking at what has been covered at school during his absence etc. The school can be creative and flexibile to deploy support staff already within the school to work with your child or your child to work with small support groups which are already established. The school should bear in mind that a small amount of input now should alleviate greater needs later. Failing to support now may impact on his confidence and knowledge and become a problem later (SATs?). Within your Local Authority there should be a 'Parent Partnership' or something similar, (a group which give advice and support to parents of children with additional needs). They should be able to give you some advice. All this may sound like a lot of work but it needn't be very complex. Remember that six weeks is a relatively short absence but the school do need to acknowledge your concerns and take some responsibility for supporting him back into learning. I hope this all helps and good luck!