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Wednesday 21 March 2018

Knowing the secondary school policies

This post might sound a bit dull but it can be an extremely useful thing to know. When I was a school governor, part of my role was to read through and update or suggest amendments to school policies. By law, schools have to have policies on various aspects of school life, and they have to be accessible (usually through a website) to anyone who wants to view them.

Policies are put in place to help staff, pupils, parents and school governors. They layout what the school will and won't do in particular circumstances. One of these policies is a Special Educational Needs (SEN) Policy and all schools should have one. Although you don't need to know the policy inside out, it can be a very useful point of reference if you or your child has a problem with school. The policy will outline the school's roles and responsibilities so you can clearly see where they stand. Don't be afraid to use these policies when you need to. If you feel your child is not receiving the care they should be, as detailed in the policy, then contact the school about it and quote their policy to them. Special needs children should be able to access the same education as everyone else and you can hold to school to account if they aren't able to.

I recently had a situation where my son was given a lower than expected mark with regard to one of his subject areas. I knew for a fact that the issue wasn't with the work or subject, but was in fact with the teacher. The teacher caused my son to be so stressed every lesson that he couldn't concentrate on the work he was meant to be doing. I had lots of contact with this teacher but she just didn't understand how to deal with him. I knew the lower grade wasn't down to his ability to work, it was down to the teacher. In this case I was able to check the SEN Policy and quote exactly what it said about him having the same access to education as his peers (including which part of the policy it was in). The school then had to sort out the teacher error, as she had effectively marked him down because she hadn't understood how to accommodate his special needs, in the way the policy stated she would.

There are policies on various aspects of school so if you're having problems in any area, I'd highly recommend looking at the policies first to see where you (and the school) stand. Don't be afraid to challenge decisions you feel are wrong and use the policies when you need to - that's what they are there for.

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