Harriet’s story

Harriet is naturally a very quiet person and because of her disability, is not able to overlook incidents or to walk away from difficult situations and would need support to do this. Any negative language has an adverse effect on her wellbeing and a direct impact on her self-esteem.

Harriet’s school issues

Harriet’s mum, Pamela, wanted to resolve ongoing concerns about bullying/teasing of her daughter through proper investigation by the School, as she could see the circumstances were having a significant impact on her daughter’s emotional wellbeing and overall self-esteem and begun to refuse school. She had previously approached the School on an informal basis but had not received the reassurance that the ongoing issues were being resolved satisfactorily. At the time of the referral, she was in Year 9 of a mainstream provision and has a diagnosis of ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder).

Pamela’s concerns

Pamela contacted SENDIASS requesting support at a meeting with her daughter’s school to help resolve issues she was facing with the school which were; the current level of support in place for Harriet, her concerns around the recent bullying her daughter was receiving and her daughter’s progress.

The SENDIASS Practitioner arranged to meet Pamela before the school’s meeting to discuss any issues beforehand. During this time she identified two main areas of concern; the level of which the school understands her daughter’s behaviours and the adverse effect of the current circumstances on her daughter’s self-esteem. The Practitioner noted all of Pamela’s concerns so that if necessary, she could remind Harriet’s mum of the focus of the meeting.

The schools acknowledgement

Pamela had felt her concerns had been acknowledged and was reassured that the school would investigate any historic or current incidents, as the school had paid particular attention to detail of the specific incidents and circumstances of the incidents of bullying.

The school also agreed to put into place a SEN support Plan for the young person, including an assessment by the Educational Psychologist (EP). To ensure that her needs were fully understood and therefore the correct provisions could be put in place.