Thursday 16 July 2015

A Telling Phrase…

A council spokesman said the school has apologised. “The school has dealt with many of Ms Harrison’s complaints, which are now concluded,” he said.
“It is happy to continue with the process with those that remain unresolved. It has apologised for any mistakes it has made.”
Put in a lot of complaints, does she?
Kate Harrison said Eastbury Comprehensive School, which won an award for kindness in February, subjected daughter Rosie to flash photography in November despite knowing her condition.
“She was flashed about 30 times,” Kate said. “She’d taken her hair down because she wasn’t feeling very well – that’s a warning sign in her care plan. She carries the risk of death – if that seizure had continued and got worse she would have fallen down, banged her head and she could’ve died.”
This seems to be written as if the child herself is incapable of recognising the danger and removing herself from the area or telling someone about it.
And after having the fit, Rosie was sent unaccompanied to find help and left suffering for three hours before the Barking school eventually called her mum. This was the second time Rosie had been left alone after a fit, after the same thing happened in October.
And despite the seizure, the Hulse Avenue school used flash photography near Rosie twice more – once in the school canteen and again in the library.
This is most odd. Surely the school is not so huge that all teachers can’t be made aware of the issue? 

But maybe there’s more to this than simple epilepsy:
But Kate said problems predate this, when she claims school teacher Natasha Lillywhite gave her the nickname “dozy Rosie” . And when Kate complained that her daughter’s specially-designed educational care plan wasn’t being followed, the school gave Rosie three 11-year-old supervisors.
And it’s not just Rosie who’s suffered – her sister Stephanie, 13, was barred from a ski trip to Ypres after a dispute over a hurt ankle. After complaining to the school, Kate was told Stephanie would not be able to attend the ski trip because she had “broken trust” and would now have to earn it back.
Hmmm…
“I’ve followed every complaint process at each stage I’ve communicated with them,” Kate said.
“Every single thing is very serious – but I’ve just been brushed away.
“They need to be held accountable for what they’ve done.”
And you’re doing that by …. appearing in the pages of your local newspaper?

10 comments:

AndrewWS said...

Ypres? That's in Belgium. Skiing in Belgium? Something odd here ...

Anonymous said...

Maybe she has a valid reason for submitting so many complaints?

Ever thought of that?

Jim said...

@AndrewWS: I thought that too, but guess what, there is indeed a dry ski slope near Ypres:

http://www.skiresort.info/ski-resort/ice-mountain/

The more important question is why a State secondary school is taking kids to Belgium to use a dry ski slope when they are not exactly unknown here in the UK? Nice little jolly for the teachers perhaps?

Northish said...

"the school gave Rosie three 11-year-old supervisors." What is the meaning of the word "gave" in this context. Does it mean that three other pupils were coerced into giving up their own break time or learning time? The school should have asked one of the parents to come in and supervise their child, which would encourage both of them to mend their ways.

Anonymous said...

Schools get extra money for each statemented child they have. Obviously, this money is supposed to be spent on the child to implement their care plan. Some schools don't see it that way and spend the extra on whatever they see fit.

Anonymous said...

Bunny

Yes I am with you on the Ypres as a ski destination, then I realised that there is excellent beer in Belgium but surely that can't have anything to do with it.

Anonymous said...

Complaining to the media often gets results. So why not do it ?

Anonymous said...

Typical chav self entitlement, using faux disabilities to abuse the use of scarce resources and of course, blame, blame BLAME anyone but themselves. Wheedling, whining fuck pigs!

JuliaM said...

"Ypres? That's in Belgium. "

Indeed so. Surely we have dry slopes here, as Jim points out?

"Maybe she has a valid reason for submitting so many complaints?"

I did briefly consider the possibility, yes.

"Does it mean that three other pupils were coerced into giving up their own break time or learning time?"

In exchange for...what?

JuliaM said...

"Some schools don't see it that way and spend the extra on whatever they see fit."

Hence the use of other pupils to watch Dozy Rosie?

"Complaining to the media often gets results. So why not do it ?"

You're on to something there!

"Typical chav self entitlement..."

And THAT'S why I only briefly considered that she might have a valid reason!