Bristol Primary School Sparks SEND Row
Bridge Farm Primary School Bristol has upset families with ‘attendance challenge’
A Bristol primary school has riled families of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, with the introduction of an Own Clothes Attendance Challenge.
Acting headteacher of the school, Matthew Flannigan told families this week that children attending school on Monday to Thursday are allowed to wear their own clothes on a Friday.
The parents and carers of those children who have achieved this challenge will receive a text on Thursday afternoon informing them that on the Friday, children do not need to wear their uniform.
‘If a child has a medical appointment on either a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, and parents/carers can evidence this, they will still be allowed to wear their own clothes on Friday if they can attend school for part of the day of their appointment,’ Flannigan says.
Children who ‘mistakenly’ wear their own clothes will have to wear a ‘spare’ school sweatshirt for the day.
The school says the ‘attendance challenge’ that is designed to ‘motivate and encourage’ children to attend school every day. ‘Especially’ days when children ‘don’t want to’ come in.
“Put simply, this ‘challenge’ is going to harm Disabled children. There are lots of children who cannot make it in on some days because they have Send,” a parent told us.
“Hospital appointments can take all day. We have to get there. Sometimes we have to wait around for ages. Then you see who it is you need to see. Then there’s mostly no time to get back to school. This policy penalises our Send kids for things they can’t control.”
Special provisions must be made by schools under the Equality Act 2010 for its Disabled learners. Schools must make reasonable adjustments to put Disabled pupils on a level footing with their non-Disabled peers. This often involved treating Disabled children ‘more favourably’ to achieve it.
Schools must not do something which applies to all pupils but is more likely to have an adverse effect on Disabled pupils only – such as a blanket policy. Schools must take ‘reasonable steps’ to try and avoid that disadvantage.
The school is part of the Futura Learning Partnership.
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