Q:
Can my son's school mark his private speech and language therapy sessions as "unauthorised" absence?
1) My son was diagnosed postnatally with a rare neurological condition that affects fewer than one in a million children born in the UK each year. He is currently under the care of the Neurology department at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), where he will continue to have regular check-ups and MRI scans every six months throughout his childhood.
2) In 2022, his condition deteriorated, and after a series of urgent and invasive interventions at GOSH, his clinical team referred him for Speech and Language Therapy (SaLT) in January 2023.
3) We later discovered that the school (an Academy) had opted out of the NHS-provided SaLT services. Additionally, the school's SaLT, who was employed through a third-party provider, went on maternity leave, leaving the school without any SaLT cover.
4) By July 2023, we, as his parents, felt it was crucial to privately commission SaLT services to ensure our son received the necessary support. Given the complexity of his rare condition and significant developmental delays, we decided to continue weekly private SaLT sessions alongside the therapy he receives(only started in January 2024) through his Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCP) at school.
5) Since 2023, when my son began attending private SaLT sessions, his school attendance for these appointments have been marked as "authorised," as they were recognised as medical appointments.
6) However, as of this morning, we have been informed that moving forward, his attendance for these sessions will be marked as "unauthorised" and this will be reflected in his annual report.
The school's policy defines authorised absence as:
• When a child is absent, because of illness, and an acceptable explanation has been received
• Religious Observance (as defined in the exemptions list)
• Where a child has had a fixed term exclusion from school
• Medical/dental appointments. As above, appointments should be made outside of school hours.
wherever possible and the minimum amount of time should be taken.
• Exceptional circumstances (unavoidable absence)
• Any prolonged absence may trigger an unannounced home visit by the attendance/safeguarding team
7) Our son enjoys his private SaLT sessions. We have previously inquired about alternative time slots outside of school hours, but none were available.
The school is effectively forcing us to discontinue his private therapy, despite being the very reason we had to seek it in the first place.
8) As I understand, in Bromley v Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (1999), it was determined that where speech and language therapy is necessary for the child to access and benefit from education, it should be treated as an educational provision, even if the therapy is delivered by health professionals.
At the same time under the Children and Families Act 2014, SLT is recognised as both a medical provision and an educational provision.
Gordon M.
20 Sep 2024
A: SenseCheck
- 0 Yes
- 0 No
- 2 Other
- 25 Sep 2024
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Other
Simple
Can't answer yes or no.:
- Sean's suggestion about asking if the therapy can be held on site is a good idea.
- If the circumstances are as you've said, I'd be surprised if a fine for non-attendance stands up in a court.
- Ask your school contact if they can mark it as B. B is used for off site educational activities. It counts as present.
This is abridged info from the Department for Education guidance. You'll perhaps find it interesting re point #3:
Code B: Attending any other approved educational activity
310. A pupil can only be recorded as attending a place for an approved educational activity if:- the place is somewhere other than the school, another school where the pupil is registered, or a place where educational provision has been arranged for the pupil by a local authority…
- the activity is of an educational nature;
- the school has approved the pupil’s attendance at the place for the activity; and
- the activity is supervised by a person considered by the school to have the appropriate skills, training, experience and knowledge to ensure that the activity takes place safely and fulfils the educational purpose for which the pupil’s attendance has been approved (Supervision means the pupil is physically supervised by someone who meets this definition.)
311. Schools must also record the nature of the approved educational activity, examples are:
• attending transition days at other schools;
• attending courses at college;
• attending unregistered alternative provision arranged by the school.312. Schools have responsibilities for the safeguarding and welfare of pupils attending an approved educational activity. The school will need to be satisfied that appropriate measures have been taken to safeguard the pupil. Schools should ensure that they have in place arrangements whereby the provider of the educational activity notifies the school of any absences by the pupil. The school must record the pupil’s absence using the relevant absence code.
313. This code is classified for statistical purposes as attending an approved educational activity.
Read the full quotes on page 80 of: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66bf300da44f1c4c23e5bd1b/Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance_-_August_2024.pdf
Aaron King
9000 Lives SEND Consultancy - 20 Sep 2024
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Other
Other
Too fact specific, I can't generalise.:
Mr M,
This situation appears to be exceedingly stressful. While I cannot offer legal advice, I am happy to highlight a few salient points that may be of relevance.
A useful starting point might be to reference s100 the Children and Families Act 2014, which imposes a statutory duty on schools (including academies) to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/6/section/100
If a school does not consider an intervention necessary, it may be advantageous to seek expert or professional evidence to demonstrate how essential this support is to the child’s well-being. For example, a contribution from an organisation like GOSH (Great Ormond Street Hospital) could be helpful.
More specifically, if a child has an Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCp) and parents are supplementing the special educational provision detailed in Section F, it may be necessary to amend Sections B and F of the plan. The appropriate mechanism for addressing this would be through a review meeting, which either the school or the parents can request at any time. That said, if a review of the EHCP has recently taken place, and fewer than two months have passed since receiving the notification (essentially a letter from the Local Authority (LA)) of the outcome, the parents can initiate mediation with the LA regarding these issues and/ or appeal directly to the First-tier Tribunal (FtT) to have the relevant section of the plan amended. Many would regard this course of action as the most efficacious.
With regards to the SALT (Speech and Language Therapy) provision identified in Section F of your son's EHCP, it is not clear if this is being delivered in accordance with the EHCP, but the LA has an absolute duty to secure this provision. If this is not happening, a parent has the right to make a complaint to the LA using their official complaints procedure. If this process is exhausted and no resolution has been achieved, the parent can also seek the assistance of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. Alternatively, they can look into Judicially Reviewing the LA.
Additionally, it is always open to parents to ask a school whether independent Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) sessions could be conducted on school premises. This, however, would require the headteacher’s approval, which may not be given.
The facts are important here, but a parent could argue that the school policy, such as the one you mention, places a disabled pupil at a disadvantage by denying them necessary interventions. Reasonable steps should be taken to avoid such disadvantage. This relates to the obligations imposed on schools by Section 20 the Equality Act 2010. A parent could perhaps also contend that any unauthorised absences on a child’s record should be expunged, as they are tainted by discriminatory practice.
There is much to contemplate here, and I suggest reflecting upon these points. You may also wish to consult other questions on this platform, as they offer additional information, often illustrated by references to the excellent Noddy Guide, which is available for download here:
Can I download the Noddy 'No-nonsense' Guide as a pdf?As always, I look forward to reading any further contributions people may wish to make.
Sean Kennedy
Talem Law
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2 Comments