moving schools

Legacy_user

after 3 months of hell im thinking of moving my dd to another comprehensive ,has anyone done this whats the 1st step ?

maman

CHRISSYG wrote: »

after 3 months of hell im thinking of moving my dd to another comprehensive ,has anyone done this whats the 1st step ?

You don't say what the 'hell' has been but the first step is definitely find a place for your dd in another school before moving her out of the current one. To find a new school, talk to friends and neighbours, visit school during school day etc etc. However, before that I'd suggest trying everything possible to resolve whatever the problems have been with exisiting school as it's possible you could just move the problem elsewhere.

System

basically she has been the victim of bullying and what the school terms "unwanted attention" from a group of older boys this has resulted in her being diagnosed with stress induced abdominal migraine and has also increased the amount of fit she is having ,to be fair the school do appear to be dealing with it they have identified a couple of the boys involved but im sick with worry hence the late night !she is only 11 yrs old and was really looking forward to the "big" school

maman

It does sound as if the school is doing their best to deal with the problem. I don't know why she should come to the attention of these older boys. If you think it's just bad luck (wrong place, wrong time) then go ahead and look for another school place for her so she can have a fresh start.

eira

Make an appointment to talk to Head of Year/Pastoral Support/Learning Mentor-whoever deals with the pastoral side
See if you can get the school's view of what's happening
Is there a history from primary school/neighbourhood/ other families
What year are these 'older boys' in-what is the history behind their behaviour
What is the school's policy on bullying/peer mentoring etc
Where does the bulltying take place
Look on the Ofsted site for school reports and ask around other parents for their views of local schools-different schools have different cultures and some are far more pupil centred than others.Ofsted don't tell you everything

Local schools have places in different years-some may have places in Y7 but not in Y8 etc.The LEA should have this information

Good luck

Gingham_Ribbon

If it's unbearable where she is, one option is to home school her until you find her another place. Check out education otherwise for more information if you think that's an option.

System

got a meeting with the head 8am friday because she was locked in the girls changing room on friday during a pe lesson not a big deal had not been for the fact she is epileptic and had only had a grand mal fit the previous day which the school knew about . the head of house had assured me the previous day that she would be having extra support and then this happens!we have had previous problems with 2 older boys one going as far as involving the police when he assaulted her,the problem is she loves this school and doesnt want to leave she has also been diagnosed with abdominal migrain brought on by stress !

Gingham_Ribbon

Crissy, what a strain on you all. School have a duty of care and should be keeping her safe. This clearly isn't happening. Why do you have to wait a week to see the head after such a serious incident? Can you go to the governers?

System

cant get past the secratary shes worse than a doctors receptionist ! maybe they think i will have calmed down by then if thats the case its not working, ive already had 3 meetings 2 with the same staff explaining her epilepsy issues clearly [or so i thought !]

Gingham_Ribbon

If you didn't send her in, and explained why, I bet you'd be seen quicker.

Carmina_Piranha_3

Who locked your daughter in the PE room? that's shocking - I hope the person who did it was punished severely!

It's probably different with every LEA but here's what happened to us - I called the other high school near us to see if they had a spare place (we are not in the catchment so we couldn't get in to this school during the normal application process). This school said they would let me know, but then they called his current school to discuss 'his issues'. Apparently this is standard procedure.

His current school were unaware of his 'issues' because he doesn't talk to adults and is very shy. He has special needs but never got a 'label'. He had a meeting with his tutor and the pastoral care person to try to figure out ways of improving life at his current school. The pastoral care lady also called me.

His current school asked him to give it a month and see if things improve with the new measures they put in place to make him happier.

That's it really - the month is up and he has said he'll stay in his current school. If he had decided to move then I'd have to fill in an application for a transfer to the new school, and would be told if they had room for him. If they didn't have room (they don't) then I could appeal.

Some of the things school might do is find a friend for her, or point her in the direction of clubs where she might make friends. They might agree to move her to another seat in lessons if she is next to somebody who bullies her. They might mention her to individual teachers, and ask them to keep an eye out for her (for example, notice if she is getting changed for PE but doesn't appear on the field). They can make sure she knows the pastoral care person and where to find them, and get that person to introduce themselves so it's not scary for your daughter to make contact for the first time.