1. Inadequate assessment, planning and provision of adult support and supervision...
Assessing how just much adult support each pupil will need in a school day is essential to ensuring that appropriate support is provided at the relevant times. It also, importantly, allows a comparison between the resources needed and the resources available - and for a judgement to be made as to whether or not each pupil's needs can be adquately met.
Having provided the school with pretty specific information about the times and settings that Josie would need to have adult support, I expected the School to 'plan in' the necessary support and supervision arrangements.
However, the school didn't live up to my expectations (or the Guidance provided by the DoH and DfES.)
Following a series of adverse incidents, I asked to see the 'Assessment' that the school had carried out for Josie's needs.
After some considerable delay and only after I'd made repeated requests, I was eventually provided with it.
As soon as I saw it, I realised why the school hadn't wanted to provide it to me. It's a totally unprofessional piece of work - that doesn't even state the nature of the risks! I don't think anyone in their right mind could consider it a 'suitable and sufficient' assessment.
To view the (.pdf) document (1 page) Click Here
Compare it to the Specimen Risk Assessment Proforma provided by the DfES for assessing and managing foreseeable risks for children who present challenging behaviours - and you'll get an idea of what the school should have been doing.
Below are a few examples of the foreseeable, preventable problems that resulted from the school's failure to conduct a 'suitable and sufficient' assessment.
1. Inappropriate arrangements for Josie's arrival at school in the mornings.
This was despite being fully informed about Josie's diagnosis, her sensitivities, her associated behavioural difficulties, the existing practice at Somerford Primary School and some pretty explict advice from Senior Educational Psychologist, Geraldine Chapman in August 2006.
Below is an excerpt from Geraldine Chapman's 'advice' dated 11th August 2006.
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Suitable Education Provision
Josie will be transferring to Ringwood School in September 2006. This is a mainstream Secondary School. Within this setting, an assessment of the times in the school day which will place high demands on Josie's sensory integration and social communication skills will need to be undertaken. Some of these can be predicted, ie.
• Corridors and movement around the school building
• The dining hall
• Outside the school buildings
• Break and lunch time
• Entering school at the start of the day
• Leaving at the end of the day
• Transfer between lessons
However, there may be particular lessons and activities during the school day which are more difficult for Josie and these will need to be considered also.
Once this assessment has been undertaken, then strategies to simplify the settings will need to be put in place. The strategies are likely to need to be supported by teaching assistant time, as well as changes to the organisation of Josie's school routine, eg.
1. A teaching assistant greeting and meeting Josie at the start of each school day
2. A teaching assistant escorting Josie to the school gate at the end of the school
3. Allowing Josie to leave a lesson 5 minutes before the end with a teaching assistant so that she can avoid large numbers of students moving around the school.
The balance of activities across the school day will need to be considered in order to reduce the levels of arousal that Josie may suffer as a result of her difficulties with sensory intergration. Her timetable will need careful consideration, and individual work, small-group work and whole class teaching will need to be balnced across the school day.
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What were the school's arrangements for Josie's arrival at school each morning?
Well, no Teaching Assistant (TA) was assigned to meet Josie at the Reception.
Instead, Josie was relied on by the school to make her way from the school's Reception to a building known as the 'Hive', (where there would be Adult Supervision.)
The problem - overlooked by the school - was that the 'Hive' wasn't staffed and didn't open until 8.30am and Josie was sometimes delivered to the school slightly earlier than 8.30am by the LEA's Transport Service.
On these occasions, she'd taken to visiting the school's 'Breakfast Club' - a busy, highly stimulating environment, completely inappropriate for ensuring Josie has a calm start to the school day.
How did this come to light?
Well, inevitably, it wasn't long before Josie was involved in an adverse incident in the 'Breakfast Club' - that could and should have been prevented!
On 29th November 2006, Josie went into the 'Breakfast Club', saw a couple of her classmates and asked if she could sit with them. When they told her curtly that she wasn't welcome, Josie couldn't handle the rejection, lost her self control and scratched one of the pupils on her arm. The girls' response was to swear and curse at Josie.
The outcome?
Upset all round!
How was this issue finally resolved?
At a meeting at the school on 29th November, it was agreed that Josie should not be delivered to school before 9.45am and that, on her arrival, the driver was to escort her personally to the 'Hive' where a responsible adult would be on duty to receive and supervise her 1:1 and escort her safely to her first class.
2. Unsuitable lunchtime arrangements
Josie's has difficulty organising herself and great difficulty feeding herself without making a mess. Yet, she was expected to eat her lunch on a bench in the playground - without any adult support.
I found this out following another - avoidable - incident.
In brief, Josie had been eating a yoghurt on the bench and had spilt a large dollop on her blazer. Josie didn't take kindly to it when one of her classmates pointed this out and she reacted badly by scratching the girl's face. The girl retalliated by punching Josie in the mouth and swearing at her.
When I asked the school why Josie was eating her lunch outside in the playground (in November!), Mrs Newberry said it was because she believed that being out in the “fresh air” was a good thing for children. She said that in inclement weather, Josie would eat in the “Sandwich Room” accompanied by a sixth former.
When I asked why no member of staff was with Josie in the playground at the time of the incident (during 'high risk - unstructured time'), Mrs Newberry explained that although during her initial weeks at school the arrangements had been for Josie to eat her snacks and lunch indoors (supervised) in the 'Hive', as part of a school strategy aimed at helping Josie to develop her 'independence skills' and for only ten minutes during the lunch hour, the level of supervision had been downgraded from 1:1 to 'a responsible adult being nearby. She said the area where Josie ate her lunch was situated just outside the 'Hive, which was always staffed. Mrs Newberry said that the decision to downgrade the level of support had followed on from Josie having settled successfully into the school.
When I said that given Josie's difficulties it was pretty unreasonable to expect to eat her food on a bench seat, Mrs Newberry explained that the “bench” was not just a bench, but a picnic table and that Josie was able to sit at the table with her feet on the ground (as recommended in Josie's Statement of SEN).
When I checked out Mrs Newberry's account, I found that the place where Josie had been having her lunch (just outside the 'Hive) was, as Josie had told me, just a bench seat!
Yes, the Picnic tables that Mrs Newberry had referred to did exist, but they were a couple of hundred yards away from the 'Hive' - too far away and out of the line of sight of the adult supervisors to have been appropriate!
Note: This was the first in a series of occasions where Mrs Newberry deliberately ofuscated the truth in order to deflect blame.
How was the issue resolved?
I spoke to Miss Paine, Assistant Headteacher and said that to avoid incidents of bad behaviour it was crucial that Josie always eats her snack and her lunch; and that the best way of securing this objective would be for Josie to be taken to a calm (non-stimulating) environment to eat.
I said that, in the light of the recent events (there had been a series of adverse incidents) and the predictability of incidents happening during 'unstructured time', unless the school could reassure me that Josie was going to be supported 1:1 by a responsible adult during 'unstructured times', I would remove Josie from the school on 'Safety grounds'.
I said that the school had a duty of care in Common Law, a statutory duty under the Health & Safety legislation and legal responsibilities under the Human Rights Act which the school would be ignoring if it didn't take the reasonable and practicable steps to protect Josie's health, safety and well being (including her dignity) that I was asking for. I also said I would regard refusal as unreasonable 'constructive exclusion' of Josie by the school.
The outcome was that Miss Paine agreed that Josie would be supervised 1:1 by a responsible adult during all unstructured time - until such time as it was agreed by all parties that it was no longer necessary. Miss Paine also agreed that Josie should revert to eating her snacks and lunch inside the 'Hive'.