Your child’s education is incredibly important but what if the school isn’t up to scratch? In this article, we’ll take you through your options for when your child isn’t being supported at school.

As parents, we put a lot of trust in our children’s’ schools and their teachers as well as the local education authority. We often trust the word of the teachers more than our kids and take their complaints about school with a pinch of salt.

But what if there is truth to some complaints? While most schools and teachers are committed to excellence, education lawyers see a significant number of parents are dissatisfied with the support that their child is receiving.

In this article, we’ll take you through the options available to you if you feel that your child is not being properly supported at school.

Ways a Child May Not be Supported in School

There could be various ways a child isn’t receiving correct support, but the most forms include:

Bullying by other children - Bullying can be devastating for a child and can lead to a feeling of isolation as well as fear of physical harm. Figures show that one in five children experience some kind of bullying at school.
Bullying by a teacher - In rare cases, a teacher may, for some reason, pick on a particular child through excessive discipline or teasing.
Academic support - A child may feel that they are being left behind in class due to not receiving enough support and attention from the teacher.

How to Approach the School About Your Concerns

When your child is unhappy, it can be tempting to launch an aggressive attack, however, this is often counterproductive. The following is our guide to the steps that you can take to tackle the problem:

Ask for Details

If the information you have has come directly from your child, it’s a good idea to delve a little deeper before taking action. This starts with having an honest conversation with your kid to get the whole story.

For example, if your child is reporting bullying by their teacher, ask questions to find out why they think this is the case. It may be that the teacher is targeting your child because they are being disruptive in class.

Children often choose to present themselves in the best light by omitting their own behaviour, while complaining about unfair treatment. Therefore, it’s important that you have all the information before steaming into the school.

Monitor Situations

If you feel that there is fault or negligence on the part of the school or a teacher, work with your child to note down specifics and dates. For example, on Monday the 3rd of May, the teacher disciplined only your child for an activity that several children took part in.

Similarly, if your child’s performance is suffering through a lack of support from the teacher, be sure to write down examples.

Ask Other Parents

If your child is experiencing problems with a particular teacher or another child, they may not be alone. Speak to other parents to find out if other children are experiencing similar problems and, if so, join forces.

As well as supporting one another, two or more parents are able to put together a much more compelling case to take to the school.

Request a Meeting

Once you have all the facts under your belt, it’s time to request a meeting with the school. In some cases, a casual chat with the teacher may be enough. However, if the teacher is all or part of the problem, it’s best to go directly to the head teacher.

Take your evidence to the meeting, along with some ideas about how you would like to see the problem resolved. If you have support from other parents who are experiencing the same issues, it’s a good idea to take along a list of names and / or a signed statement to the meeting in order to highlight the seriousness of the problem.

Take it to the Next Level

In many cases, a meeting or two with the head teacher / teacher should be enough to have action taken to resolve the problem. If not, you may need to get in touch with your Local Education Authority.

Your local authority may be able to mediate between yourself and the school and, if a resolution cannot be found, provide help in moving your child to a different school in the area.

Help find the best resolution for your child…

Our children spend a lot of their time at school and this time has a great impact on their educational and social development. If you feel that the school is not adequately doing its job in supporting and protecting your child, you have every right to make your voice heard.

As laid out in this article, it’s a good idea to start with an open and honest talk with either the teacher or head teacher as it may be that they are simply not aware of the issues. In an ideal world, this will be enough to gain a resolution but, you do need to prepare yourself for the fact that this may not be the case.

Depending on the severity of the issues, your next move may be to contact your local education authority or, if the matter is urgent or extreme, you might want to consider getting in touch with a good education law solicitor to help you to get the result that you need.

What Can You Do If Your Child Isn't Being Supported Properly at School?