[anon]

My nephew and neice are slow in their development - being 5 and 4 years of age still not walking and talking properly.

They started a special needs school a couple of months ago  - I did not feel that they were happy at that school and at the same time I wanted to see if their needs were being met.

So I requested a day long visitation. They said to me that it was rather a strange request but they let me attend.

I am so sorry to say that I am not happy with what I saw - I found that many of the children were neglected - including my nephe and niece.

The school had been informed that my nephew was to be given only guten free food - yet they were not paying any attention to this and giving him glutenious food. Additionally the school had been informed that they can only take finger food by themselves  - but otherwise they need to be spoon fed by someone else - but all of the assistants were busy feeding other children whilst - my nephew and niece were expected to eat by themselves and given spoons - even special needs spoons. They could not eat and just sat there, with the asisstants sat far away  - occasionally coaxing them to pick up the spoon up and eat.

There is more in what I saw but I don't want to go on.

After reporting all of it to my my sister in law  - she now tells me how when they come home from school they eat a hearty meal and  - unlike how they eat when they are at home all day.  She assumed it was just physical exhaustion  - but she feels what I have said makes better sense to her.

I also felt that some other children were also neglected. It is very hard as the parents can have no idea how their child is being treated at school and those poor children can not even communicate it to their parents.

I did not want to be confrontational with them in a face to face manner- so I just adopted an observational approach.

I will be writing a full report based on my obseervations but I am not sure how to take this.  I need to know how to better go about this. I feel certain that this is a culture accepted by the school - going up to the top level management there.

The children's mother is ready to make a similar visitation, and we have discussed that she needs to find a way of teaming up with the other parents (though they do not get to see each other as there is a school bus that collects and drops off every child) or seeing if there is a PTA.

Also can I ask - is it normal to have parents evenings in such a school only twice a year?

Any further advice will be greatly appreciated.

thanks.

[paula]

What a sad situation - it makes me so angry when I hear things like this
as we assume that our children are safe and well cared for at school and
if this is not the case then it is scandalous, especially when our
little ones can't voice their fears.

I am not an expert but can only advise from the point of view of a Mum.
I do not know your sister in laws situation, but is she able to pull
them out of that school even temporarily whilst the situation is
rectified? I know that I would not be happy sending my children off
every day to a place which I was not happy with but I do not work so
this would be an easier option for me. Before I had our children, I was
a teacher in a mainstream secondary school and I know that with my
teacher's hat on, I would have been more than happy to discuss problems
with parents when they arose. I do perhaps think that this should be
your first point of call - might not get anywhere if the culture of the
school is unsuitable but at least your points have been raised and it
would enable the teacher to explain the situation if they can. I know
that it is easy to say, but don't worry about being confrontational. As
long as it is done in a constructive and evidence based way, then the
concerns have to be put across. If the whole school is failing then the
best avenue that I would follow is the governor's route. Head teachers
are accountable to the governors so it might be that you might have some
luck there. Different governors are responsible for different areas so
try and approach the most relevant one - the school secretary should
have a list.

On a wider level, then contact the children's case worker at the local
education authority. This will be the person that you were in contact
with when writing their statement. If you are unsure who this is then
just ring up the local education authority and ask for the person
assigned to the school. Also, if you have a social worker, get them
involved too. Depending on the scale of your concerns, I would also
forward any correspondence to as many people as possible, including the
director of education in your region, Ofsted and your local MP. It might
be worth you arranging a surgery time to talk to your MP as we have
found ours really helpful when we have had education problems in the
past and they tend to know someone who knows someone and can point you
in the right direction.

A lot of this can all be quite daunting so I would strongly recommend
that you find an advocate to come along to any meetings that you might
attend. I do not know what is around in your area, but where we live
there are parent support groups who will send someone along as support
for you. All this may be new to you but the advocates are used to
dealing in such situations and I always believe that there is safety in
numbers. Furthermore, I would consider seeking legal advice. Not really
sure the best way to do this as we have never done this but your local
Citizens Advice Bureau would know. The CAB may also be able to point you
in the right direction for support specific to your local area so it
might be worth contacting them anyway. Depending on how you want to
handle things, there is also the option of the local press - people do
not tend to want negative publicity and I know that when we were having
issues with Elise's provision that was one avenue that we started to go
down before it was resolved.

Very, very importantly, WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN. The more evidence that
you get, however inconsequential it may seem, is vital. Get you sister
in law to keep a diary of how the children were any conversations that
she had copies of letters etc. It is amazing how people will back down
when you have the evidence and things are not just vague opinion.
Definitely contact IPSEA too who are an independent panel for
educational advice. We have used them before and they were fantastic -
persevere if you can't get through first time as they are really busy.
There web site is http://www.ipsea.org.uk/ and they have a section on
negligence in education at http://www.ipsea.org.uk/phelps.htm.

Regarding the frequency of parent's evenings, I am not sure on the
normal number but it doesn't sound that dissimilar to my children. It
doesn't mean to say however that you are restricted to those times. If
you want to go in and talk to staff then you can do as often as you like
by prior arrangement. I am always going in to discuss things and I think
that I have been on the phone every morning this week to talk to Elise
teacher! If you find that by raising your concerns the relationship with
the teacher deteriorates to a significant degree, then this is
unprofessional and I would report the matter either to the Head or again
to the governors.

Lastly, I think, do suss out the other parents attitudes if you can via
the PTA. The more complaints there are the more weight they will carry.
Do be wary however on relying on others too much as often people say
they will do x y and z and either through forgetfulness or whatever it
doesn't come to fruition (this is probably me being cynical however!)

Hope that this has given you some ideas. I am sure that others will be
able to help too. Please let us know how you get on and if there is
anything else we can do. We cannot let this situation continue and owe
it to our children to do the best we can.

Good Luck and keep fighting!

Paula

[anon]

Thankyou so much for your warmest and most detailed reply  - certainly there seems to be alot of important pointers there.

I was starting to think last night that withdrawing the children from the school would be best for them.... and aswell for resting my own heart (!)

The unattentive environment is totally not conducive to their well-being or development. And that was all I saw just in front of my eyes - I do assume that worst occurances might take place when a third party people such as myself are not there.

The children's happiness is the most important thing. I am not even concerned so much about their learning as I am about their happiness.

I just don't think that I could trust those particular assistant's teachers any more regardless of whatever legislation/pressure is brought to them.

A change of their heart is what is required foremost - and this is not something that can be easily changed in people  -  love is not something that you can legislate.

Additionally, I really understand that other children need to be addressed as well - both present and future cases.

I think that a withdrwal together with the observational statements and alerting every single person concerned (both other parents and authorities) - may allow for some kinds of changes to occur.  And I do recognise how easily my nephew and niece could become  punch bags in such a process if they were to remain the school during it. I am hoping that this is the course of action that the family will support.

Anyways I will keep you updated here.
Thanks again for your wonderful effort - really appreciated indeed.

Blessings

[rockyroo]

Hi,

Just a note to say that we had similar problems with our son, and withdrew him from the school, and although he now attends a school 20 miles away, it was the best thing to happen to him as he is now making excellent progress.  It was a very difficult situation and not a decision that we took lightly.  And it was only after we took him out that some of the staff voiced their concerns to us.  I hope that you get things sorted out quickly for the children's sake, and if I could give you any advice it would be to trust your instincts and don't be bullied into a corner, stand your ground and fight for what you know is right.

Good Luck

Dave

[Speeds]

Hi

Welcome to this forum from me despite your very sad post.

While I have not experienced this at the school my son is at, one of the reasons that I would not send him to the school with a rescourced unit was due to the lack of care shown to the children.

I think you have had super advice already but the other thing I personally would do would be to speak to other parents - maybe you or your SIL already have.  Get them to go and observe too and this would add weight.  Several parents versus one set of parents is always more powerful

For what it is worth you have brought tears to my eyes and made me realise that my silly arguement at school today over water and squash is very childish compared to your heartache.

Please, when you are able, keep us posted and we will always offer as much moral, written and vitrual support as we possibly can.

[pixie]

As some of you will know I have just withdrawn my son from his special school too.

His needs were not being met and he was being treated like a slave by the teachers as well as being bullied by teachers and pupils alike.

It's an utter disgrace that any of us should have to worry so much with our children's schools.

My son's school is private and they were being paid around £50,000 a year to treat him like thay have.

My son is now much happier at home and we are taking things further with the school and the LEA who were paying his fees.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do and let us know how you get on.

[anon]

Thankyou all very much for your support. You will never know how useful it has been to have your support like this - for someone feeling so alone in all of this. Your responses have been very timely indeed.

You will be happy to know that after two days of protest with my family I have finally managed to have the children removed from the school. The thoughts of my day spent at the school kept haunting me to tears amidst all the protesting and kept pushing me to on to battle - powered by the tremendously supportive comments by you people here on this thread.

There was a very deep existential crisis taking hold within me - like something had to give - I felt that my heart was such a liability to me  - and now I feel so relieved of this outcome.

You people are so very special indeed and your children are extremely lucky to have you as their most caring and very understanding parents. It may be easy to take the attitude that parents of children will always do whats best for their children - sadly - I feel that the caring and understandability factor comes in different shapes and sizes people.

The next concern is I have is to find an alternative school for them - but I'm prepared to deal with this one step at a time - though definitely  it will only be the school that we all feel confident that teh children will be happy in. Personally I would not mind for them to just have home-schooling but the parents don't feel they can give the required/ideal education themselves. 

If anyone knows of anywhere that contains a list of special needs schools - I would really appreciate that - or perhpas I will just contact the LEA etc.

I have so much of an attachment to my own nephew and niece but I know that those other children in the school might well have been mine too. I now do feel the power to campaign on their behalf too and would certainly wish for such vigilance to spread to all schools.

I am hoping to take the report to the other parents. I'll keep you posted on the developments. I also expect to post the report here (not giving away any names) for those of you who may be interested to read it.

Thankyou all so very much for everything - you are such a blessing in this world.

xxxx

[Speeds]

I am pleased that a decision has been made for you - it must be a weight off your mind - albeit a small removal as now you need to find more suitable schools

You will be able to go to your local authority and those LEAs around you and go to their web pages and you should be able to find all schools and identify special needs ones.

Hope this helps

[Lilly]

Hi I work in an integrated Additional Support Needs Nursery ages 0-5 year old children where due to the complexity of their needs they need to be protected 100%.  I am in Scotland and urge you to contact the Care Commission, Head of Education in your LA and voice your concerns.  Remember this is huge and you must document everything that you are doing and saying and hat people are saying to you and alway ask the question LA always have ....."Can I have that in writing..."  As far as the parents evenings as far as I know when a child has additional needs they should have an Individual education program with a additional support plan or record of needs and this should be reviewed evey 8-10 weeks max with all agencies involved with the child.  This is just answers to a few of your conccerns also check the HMie report for the establishment your neice and nephew attend and them you can challenge it with the managers/teachers at the school.   Remember Im in Scotland - English law and education may be different.... hope this helps


Lilly

[Speeds]

Lovely kind advice Lilly.

Just posting to say that I am still thinking of your plight Anon and I hope everything is working out.  Don't forget we are all here if there are more questions to ask.

Good luck

[anon]

Observational report - Wednesday 23/01/08

Abbreviations:
C.A – Classroom Attendants (inclusive of teacher and assistants)
M&S – Nephew and Neice

Fact: The school had previously been informed by a guardian that
1.   M should only be fed gluten-free food
2.   Both M&S were capable of eating finger food but otherwise needed to be spoon-fed.

Reason for visit: To check to see that they are happy at school as I did not feel it to be the case.

Intro
I entered the premises at roughly 9.15am. I understood that I was to be shown around the whole school. I found this a kind gesture as I had not requested it. However in hindsight I realised that I was only shown the lower school and not the upper. Anyhow, Alison kindly showed me around  and maintained that the school was very capable of producing results even to GCSE level. I made clear that I was not here to see about M&S’s performance but to see how well they were fitting in, whether they were happy or if they needed anything more.

Breakfast scene
At roughly 10. 30am I entered the classroom of M&S.  I found the class were huddled together around a table eating breakfast. That consisted of singular pieces of peeled oranges and tubs of ‘cheap supermarket brand’ yoghurt. I was told by a C.A that they were trying to introduce a healthy breakfast system. I stood over, behind M&S as M turned to face me and I made eye contact with M.

M was starting to smile at me – but S looked extremely vexed. There was not the usual glee of smile that she gives me each time I see her.  Each time she turned to look at me- she looked really worried. Perhaps over 20 minutes later – she did smile at me. I stood behind them as their teachers kept requesting them to eat. from the yoghurt pots with the spoons laid out in front of them. Later a special needs spoon was given to M to use. But M&S kept looking towards me – I felt I may be distracting them form their teachers so I exclaimed that I did not want to be distracting them and went to the opposite side (so that I am facing them on the opposite side.) With hindsight I feel that they were looking at me for support or to feed them rather than it being the case that I was distracting their attention.

Every other child was being spoon-fed and had a C.A sat next to them. There were about 4 or 5 C.As and about 6 or 7 children. M&S were the only two children who were not separated by a C.A. On reflection I feel hurt that when I realise that some of those assisted children were capable of feeding themselves, whereas M& S weren’t. Why were M& S singled out in this manner?  Sadly, I myself did not understand until later at lunchtime that M&S were actually physically incapable of feeding themselves using spoons  - it just did not click until I experienced the lunchtime session. (at home I had always seen them eating slowly with their fingers or otherwise they are fed.).

I hovered on the opposite side for between 5 and 10 minutes, neither of the C.As made any conversation with me – they simply kept requesting for M&S to eat their yoghurts and I think were occasionally were fed – but in all honesty, I do not remember such a feeding occurrence.. I was feeling very uncomfortable already by the scene itself and then again uncomfortable by their lack of welcoming me. I looked around for a seat to pull up  - but I could not see any additional seats in the whole classroom for me to sit on – except further a way there was a singular type of couch which had couple of books on it. So after about 5-10mins of standing there, I finally requested if it would be o.k. for me to sit down on that couch. One of the C.A responded by saying ‘oh you can pull out a chair’, but I said ‘no it’s o.k. I’ll sit on that chair’ and proceeded to sit on the couch that I had pointed to. That was the first conversation we made.

After breakfast, one of the C.As invited M to go over to me if he wanted to. M at first hesitated to move, and the question was repeated to him another 2 or 3 times – thereafter he very cautiously started moving towards me like a frightened staggering and cautiously watching the reaction of his superiors the whole time  - very slowly eventually he came over to me. This was odd to see  - not only the frightened approach but both children always come to me enthusiastically and without hesitation.

On first impression of the whole breakfast scene I felt that both M&S were scared, feeling apprehensive/singled out. My gut instincts told me they were deliberately being neglected.

M's deteriorating self-confidence.
As M started playing with a car – a child went over and snatched the contents that were inside the car. The usual response for M is always to defend against others taking his toys from him – yet I noticed him cowering away.

Going back last Christmas break – I noticed for the first time how M appeared to have reduced self-confidence. He always seemed to be cowering with his head down low. I mentioned this to my mother – she said that that she was not treating him in any way out of the normal range. I responded by saying that there must be something wrong in those normal activities. At the same time I had mentioned this as a concern to my younger brother and also to my husband.

The second aspect to this is that the C.A’s certainly should have kept more awareness of injustices going on and the normal expectation is for them to be dealing with this. However I felt that in a room full of C.A’s, such matters were easily overlooked.

Outside play activity.
All of the children were being taken outside to play.  There was a boy who was crying continuously and was not being attended to. Eventually I went over to him and tried to console him but was not able to.

It is possible he did not want to be wheelchair/contraption bound. But one of the C.A’s exclaimed that ‘ he is new and he is just like that – you will think that he wants something – but he does not – we have learnt it is just his personal expression’. I found this deeply disheartening. If emotions are the way we express ourselves – then he is obviously trying to express something about his needs which is simply not being understood. The child continued to left like that without any attention.

M&S were not approached for taking outside. There was just another girl left by herself in the classroom. Again I felt M&S were being singled out – so I enquired as to whether M&S were going to be taken out aswell. I received the reply that if they wanted to go out they could and they would be shown their coats to elicit a yes or no response. M&S chose not to go out but strangely I did not observe that any of the other children were asked whether they wanted to go out or not – they were just taken/led outside. As I played with them, I noticed that the other girl who had been left inside was crying, I knew that she was wanting something – possibly some attention or to get out of her contraption. When the speech therapist came over for S, I seized my chance to go over there and console her. The minute I went over there she ceased crying and we played together for awhile after which she requested to go outside but first wanted her coat. It is sad that she was not taken outside and neither were her feelings attended to by any of the C.As.

Weighing of M
A lady came in to take M’s waist measurements, as the nappies were too small for his waist. There was a seat nearby for weighing children. As the lady spoke about the need to weigh M, one of the C.A’s butted in and said M is too heavy they are not allowed to lift him. She seemed to say it with a certain scorn in her voice and at the same time did not offer any solution as if – M should not be dealt with. It felt like he was not going to be dealt with until one of the other C.As suggested that he be swivelled on to the chair, and so then the lady mange dot weigh him – but it was as if almost she did not out of fear of the other C.A who had discouraged it.

Lunchtime
M&S escorted themselves using the walking frames along the corridor – whilst I was pleasantly surprised by the level of independence that I had never witnessed before I was also concerned that there was not closer supervision at hand – should they encounter any difficulties. I am aware that S suffered a fall recently where she hurt her head – I would not be surprised if this was due to her being improperly supervised/looked after. At junctions – they had to wait to be steered.  I did feel that the handling and steering was a little on the harsh side as I saw M’s feet was dragging behind as the frames were edged forward.  This happened with each successive manoeuvre  - of which there were about 5 at the point of exiting the classroom. It almost felt like there was some amount of anger as to why he was not more able. 

Again at lunchtime it appeared M&S were expected to feed themselves. As I approached the dinner table – it was suggested to me that I could sit with them and feed them if I wanted to. I replied ‘I am here to observe – I don’t want to get in the way of what you would normally be doing – so please you should carry on the way you normally do’. I don’t think that my wishes were at all accepted as the reply was given to the effect  ‘no, no it’s o.k…’

Thereafter, as I sat down, the C.A’s kept coaxing M to eat – he kept looking at me with a stone cold face – as if he was not listening to their requests. As I was still not aware by that point that they were unable to lift the spoons by themselves I was also requesting him to eat – but he just kept staring at me and as I wondered why, the C.A urged that he is not lifting the spoon because of me. Yet he remained with a stone cold look about him. I proceeded to lift the spoon with his hand and my hand together. He did not lift the spoon by himself. S was sat next to him – but again as during breakfast time there were no C.A’s sat next to them – they were all concentrated around the other children. Occasionally after long intervals S was fed by a C.A – but the other children that they had surrounded were being continuously fed. M was not fed by anyone at all apart form myself. After a few spoonfuls, M&S each did not want to eat anymore. Then it was desert time. One of the C.A’s decided that they were going to offer S a choice between fruit and pudding. S indicated that she did not want either – or so was what everyone understood. Thereafter M was given the (custard & cake) pudding without being offered a choice, and then the fruit was given to S. However again M was not fed – but his face was glowing with excitement because he knew that this was a really tasty dish. Alarm bells went off inside my head as I knew he was not to eat gluten products. But I kept quiet, as I was sure if instructions had been given that he was not to be fed those products. He kept rattling the cake with the spoon – unable to pick it up and feed himself. It was then that I realised that although he really truly wanted to eat the cake he was unable to do so.  After the first spoon he sneezed and I realised that this was not good. It was the first time I had seen him sneeze that day and it indicated how his body was rejecting the food. Thereafter I became sad and distraught as I knew how much he wanted to eat the desert the same time I knew it was not good for him and at the same time – his feeding did not appear to be supervised by anyone. As I saw M continuing to rattle the desert with his spoon – I felt so sorry for him and I gave up on holding back and started feeding him and he really delighted in this.

Lastly I noticed that the girl who I had attended to whilst the other children had been taken outside to play was in the far corner being fed. She had been so quiet that I did not even notice her there. Yet there was a scornful remark made against her by the C.A for some reason (possibly for wanting to get a more comfortable) and I felt that she was scared.

After lunch
Most of the children were taken up by the C.As with various activities. Three of the children were being read stories too. I really felt left out in all this – as I looked around. I knew that M&S loved listening to stories. So after a while I chose to read them some stories and m particularly delighted in this. Again I saw a ball throwing activity and a traintrack installation but M&S were not invited – but at times I struggled to maintain their attention to the stories as they observed the other activities going on. After the ball came our way accidentally, I showed M the way to throw it back and he did so – but I felt so sorry for him as he was not positioned in the right way to throw the ball and needed extra assistance to put him in the right position – but no- one seemed to care.

Meanwhile the child who had been at first crying in his contraption the whole morning and (for whom I had been told that it was just his way of personal expression)  - was no longer in his contraption and had come around near me and was laughing and giggling with happiness that seemed to be for no reason!

Last session
I asked one of the C.A s whether M had had an allergy test as S had. She replied that she did not know anything.  I proceeded to say how I would be happy if M had allergy testing done – just as S has had hers done. We then had a discussion centering around allergies and I mentioned to her – that she saw for herself how M had sneezed at the first spoonful of desert. At this point she stated that no – she had gone away by the time that had happened. Firstly I remember feeling embarrassed that M might have sneezed in to his food and I also noted that the C.A did not make any comment or do anything about it and later moved away. And secondly how does she know whether she had really moved away or not by that point – I mean she is stating that it happened but she was not there! Isn’t it possible that she had not moved away but simply had not seen it? What I feel someone ideally would have responded had they not witnessed the event is something to the effect of  - oh I didn’t know that happened – really – oh o.k.
I requested to know whether there were parents evenings held. Without at first answering that question I was told of reports that would be compiled when M goes up a notch in class and a sample copy of another child’s report was shoved under my nose. I was then told that there are two parents evenings a year. I do understand that there must be certain reports for M&S but I was not shown any. I again emphasised to them that I am not so interested in their development as I am in their being happy and settled here. The C.A’s kept emphasising that M&S were happy there and that it will just take a while for them to learn to socialise with the other children. However I did not witness M&S being happy there except for rare times that they felt comfortable around me.

Trying to make contact with the teacher in order establish a day of visitation was difficult. On first contact with the secretary had sounded cold. Her manner of finding out what I wanted was without any warmth. I had to phone at least on three different days across the span of about two weeks to speak to the teacher who did not call me back. Two out of those three days I did not go out – waiting to be called back until I expressed annoyance at having to keep calling back after which I was called back. This first experience of the school I would not raise as an issue but it would appear consistent with my overall experience during the school visit.

I did not see any teacher trying to establish any personal relationship with either M&S. The C.A’s felt like they had great practical skills in teaching but at the same time it felt like rather a cold place – there was very little warmth between the children and the C.As – except perhaps with the children who were able to speak and walk properly – for whom there was more jovial interaction.

I don’t agree with the children having to stand for long periods of time in their contraptions – I observed at least one girl be in this state for the whole morning. I think this is torture – therapy that has gone perverted.

I don’t feel that the C.A’s have the best interests of the children at heart – they are just doing a job and no amount of legislation could ensure that when your backs are turned that the required care and attention would remain. However change is not an impossibility and during that process of transition -  I would think that it is safer for M&S to stay away from that school.

[johnvb]

Hi Anon,

I think you should be proud of yourself that you have taken significant but positive steps to sort out your nephew and neice's education. It upsets me to know that there are many other cases like this around but where the families are either unaware or unable to take action. Hopefully your report will highlight the issues at this particular school and have a positive affect on many other children.

In terms of searching for another school, take heart from the fact that there are many special schools around where the staff are caring, skilled and very professional such as the school our son goes to. I really hope you find one soon!

Best Wishes

John

[Julie]

Hello Anon

I have read your thread over the last few days, and it does make me feel so sad, to think that you have witnessed your Neice and Nephew's unhappyness at first hand.  All I can say to you is that if any alarm bells go off in your head about a school, then there is usually reason for it.  It does not sound as if the school is being run properly or that it has the correct staff there.  My children are in Mainstream school, and only my youngest has Special Needs, and I have only encountered staff who are caring in their schools.  My youngest son has always had a 1:1 teaching assisitant with him for the whole day (even at lunchtimes and playtimes) whilst he is in school because he needs it.  I don't understand why a special school would not have enough staff for all the children to have 1:1 support, as they would need this level of support too.

Keep up with your mission.   Changes will only occur if people complain about what is going on in the school.  If no complaints are made, then everyone will think that the school is running ok.

Good Luck and Best Wishes too.
Julie

[anon]

Thankyou again everyone for your continued support. It is really appreciated as I still feel up against my family in their feelings about this. Sadly I also feel that the children are also now being fed their own vibes.

Sorry if the report was a difficult read - I did  not check through it properly as I found it quite hard to even write it.

There is something important I would just like to ask - could I be sued for slander if I gave a copy of this report to the other parents of the school?

My other question is why are ofsted and any other inspection services failing the children in this way. Does anyone know how is that happening?

[anon]

Hi there,

Just to update you - After reading the observational report  - My SIL now claims that she did not inform the school of the gluten issue. It is clear that the removal of the children from the school has been against her wishes.

I have removed the gluten issue as a  fact from the report. I think that I can not proceed with any formal approach to this matter any more because if she as the mother does not support me, - then I lose face and credibility if I was to I approach any of the authorities whern they request for the parents representation.

The rest of my family after having read the report - do support me now.

I am trying to make contact with the other parents of children whom I saw abused in the school  in the hope that I can help to shed light directly to them so that they may take matters in to their own hands with the school.

With regards to my last post - I am not familiar with the legal system at all - and am not aware whether someone can sue for slander even if the information is true (but obviously there is no back-up evidence for it.)