ACE News archive

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New exclusions guidance comes into force

New Department for Children, Schools & Families (DCSF) guidance on exclusions comes into force on 1st September 2007 and covers all exclusions which took place on, or after, 1 September.

Any exclusion decision made before 1 Sept 07 will still be covered by the Sept 06 guidance. So for a short period of time, there will be a parallel system in force:

- The head’s decision will have been made having had regard to the Sept 06 guidance.
- The governors and Independent Appeal Panel (IAP) will have to have regard to the Sept 07 guidance

response to the consultation on draft revised exclusions guidance

ACE has responded to the DfES consultation on draft revised exclusions guidance.

We are concerned that the revised guidance does not sufficiently take into account the specific needs and considerations relating to disabled/SEN pupils and the positive legal duties to promote race and disability equality. These children are over represented in exclusion figures.

We also believe that in many parts of the guidance, the new law on Day 6 provision and reintegration interviews is not accurately reflected.

Download our full consultation response ( Word 120kb) >

ACE Conference Success

Greater involvement of parents in shaping education services at local level was the theme of a conference held by the Advisory Centre for Education on Tuesday, May 15.

Thanos Morphitis (Assistant Director of Childrens' Services, Islington), Miriam Rosen (Director of Education, Ofsted) and Margaret Tulloch (Chair of ACE Council).

Speakers including Peter Wanless, Director of School Performance and Reform at the DfES, David Hawker, Director of Children's Services in Brighton & Hove and Thanos Morphitis, Islington’s assistant director of Children’s Services, explained how parents working as partners in the shaping of local services was one of the challenges and opportunities for achieving better outcomes for children in education.

Peter Wanless (Director of School Performance and Reform, DfES) and Margaret Tulloch.

Sir Bruce Liddington (Schools Commissioner).

Choice advisers, parent partnership officers and local voluntary organisation workers were among those attending the conference entitled Local authorities: supporting families, delivering choice.

Chris Waterman (Investors in Families).

Representatives from Southampton Children’s Information Service  received an award for their website which came top in the ACE/SAGE Family Friendly Website award. Wendy Lay and Niki Hellyer accepted a certificate and prize of £200 of books on behalf of the information service from Marianne Lagrange of SAGE, academic publishers who sponsored the award.

Wendy Lay and Niki Hellyer (Southampton Children’s Information Service) recieve their award from Marianne Lagrange (SAGE) centre.

A new look for ACE's magazine

ACE Bulletin has been redesigned and relaunched as 'Ask ACE'. The new magazine marks the relaunch of ACE's membership scheme with a host of new services, including a members only area of the website, a regular email update to replace the printed Digest pages, discounts on ACE training and publications, a searchable archive of back copies of ACE Bulletin and other ACE publications, plus a forum for members to air their views on the education topics of the day.

'Ask ACE' will be published four times a year, with a new focus on providing the information and support that those who advise parents need.

Check back in the next few weeks for full details of the new scheme.

All Mobile Calls to ACE Advice Lines Now Free

The Telephone Helplines Association (THA), the membership and good practice organisation for helpline services in the UK and Ireland, have announced that they have struck a deal with O2 which means that the public can now call charity and non-profit helplines for free from all of the UK's major mobile networks.

Advice lines with numbers that start 0808 80 are all full members of the THA, which means they are committed to providing high-quality services for callers. There are currently 140 services in this range, including ACE.

Read the full story on the THA site >

Parents top the bill at education conference

Greater involvement of parents in shaping education services at local level will be the common theme of speakers at a conference called by the parents’ advice charity Advisory Centre for Education on Tuesday, May 15.

Choice advisers, parent partnership officers and local voluntary organisation workers are among those attending the conference entitled Local authorities: supporting families, delivering choice.

Department for Education and Skills Director, Peter Wanless, will flag up new initiatives such as Parent Charters aimed at ensuring minimum levels of information, advice and support service for families. Mr Wanless will also highlight government initiatives to ensure parents are able to make confident, informed choices and shape services to respond to their families’ needs.
Other speakers include:
David Hawker, Director of Children's Services in Brighton & Hove, will explain how families have been involved in designing services in the authority. He will also describe the controversial lottery method of allocating secondary school places in the authority.

Sir Bruce Liddington, Schools Commissioner, will describe parents’ role in new trust schools which have been criticised, among other things, for lack of accountability to parents. 

Director of Education at Ofsted, Miriam Rosen, will describe new statutory duties for Ofsted to deal with complaints from parents about standards in schools.

Islington’s assistant director of Children’s Services, Thanos Morphitis, will describe how parents are regarded as partners in their children’s education. Islington supports ACE’s Step-by-Step Education programme offering an education manual and training to local community workers throughout the borough.

The Advisory Centre for Education (ACE) is an independent charity providing free advice and information to parents and carers of children in maintained schools in England and Wales. Visit our website www.ace-ed.org.uk for advice information, publications and details of ACE services.

Further information from Margaret McGowan at ACE, 1C Aberdeen Studios, 22 Highbury Grove, London N5 2DQ Phone: 0207 704 3385;
email: margaret.mcgowan@ace-ed.org.uk

joint initiative with Foster Care Associates (FCA)

The Advisory Centre for Education (ACE) is set to launch a joint initiative with Foster Care Associates (FCA) which aims to raise the profile of looked after children in 25,000 schools across England.

In launching the new project, FCA will host a conference on April 25, targeting local authority representatives.  Underpinning the Government Green Paper: Care Matters, the initiative offers free guidance to schools, in particular designated teachers for looked after children as well as school governors.  It includes the production of a free leaflet as well as a new section in the ACE step-by-step manual which is widely used by local authority professionals, community and voluntary organisations, as a source of reference on key educational issues.

Entitled ‘Taking Care of Your Looked After Learners’ ( PDF 104.2KB) the leaflet provides comprehensive information and checklists to support the role of designated teachers. It highlights key areas of responsibility and sets out information for schools governors, in line with the Government’s vision for a better deal for looked after children in school.

 “ACE is taking an increasing number of calls from foster carers who are concerned about the educational needs of the children they care for. We are delighted to be able to support teachers and advisers and to give carers up to date accurate legal information to help make the right decisions,” explained ACE adviser, Margaret McGowan.

Commenting on the partnership, FCA education director, Tim Whittingham, said: “So many looked after children’s lives are characterised by disruption and sometimes school is the only stable factor.  In launching this joint partnership we are reinforcing the Government agenda for better provision in schools for the looked after child to bring about stability and ultimately raise their academic attainment.”

The ACE/FCA ‘Taking Care of Your Looked After Learners’ leaflet will be distributed free to local authorities.

ACE offers tailor made CHOICE ADVICE training

ACE has received many enquiries from new choice advisers desperate to find suitable training to enable them to perform their role of advising particularly the most disadvantaged families in applying (and appealing) for a school place for their child.

As a result, ACE has designed a course just for this purpose. It can be tailor made to suit local circumstances and can be offered in a region to several authorities, so that costs can be shared.

The course will cover all topics that the DfES require, including:

1. General background to the education system
2. Admission arrangements
3. Parental preference
4. ‘Prejudice’ and infant class size applications and appeals. 

It will also explain how to find out relevant information about:

1. OFSTED reports
2. Performance and value added data
3. Special educational needs and disability provision
4. School specialisms
5. School day arrangements
6. Transport provision
7. Uniform information

and how to use this in advising parents/carers on applying for a school place.

The course can be offered on a ½ or full day basis.

The cost of the course will depend on exactly what is required, but will range from £500 to £1,750 plus expenses and VAT (although this will probably be able to be reclaimed).  It is obviously cheaper per head, the more delegates that attend.

For further information, please email: training@ace-ed.org.uk or telephone Kati Herannen on 020 7704 3375.

Book your place at ACE’s spring conference

Local authorities: supporting families, delivering choice
15 May 2007 RIBA, London W1

A major one day conference considering the new duties and initiatives in the 2006 Education and Inspections Act.

Speakers include: Peter Wanless, Director of School Standards, DfES; Sir Bruce Liddington, Schools Commissioner; Miriam Rosen, Director of Education, Ofsted; and local authority representatives.

Topics include: new government initiatives, parents’ and carers’ contribution to redesigning LA services, parental choice and involvement in trust schools, school admissions, parental complaints, reaching disadvantaged families.

Who should attend: heads/deputies and their representatives of LEAs and Children’s Services and Children’s Trusts; headteachers, school staff and governors; choice advisers, admissions officers, parents partnership officers; voluntary sector workers

For more details download the conference flyer ( PDF 764KB), telephone Alison Murdoch or Beverley Russell on 020 7704 3370 or email enquiries@ace-ed.org.uk

Final Act or Fresh Start?

ACE is part of the Education Alliance which is running a major conference on Saturday 24th March, under the title: Final Act or Fresh Start? What Government should do to ensure a good local school for every child.

For more details of speakers and how to book, download the conference flyer ( PDF 916KB)

ACE In The Media

ACE has been very busy talking to the media about parents views about school admissions and appeals. We have been interviewed by BBC Radio Kent, Lancashire, Hereford and Worcester, Merseyside, Nottingham, SCR Surrey, Derby, Coventry and Cleveland. We have also appeared on BBC 5 Live, the BBC web site and have been interviewed by BBC Breakfast, The Observer and The Guardian.

Show off your website and win an award

               

Is your organisation helping parents with on-line education information? Are you proud of the way it looks and reads? Is it having a positive impact on families? Then compete for the ACE/SAGE Family Friendly Web Award: it’s as easy as sending an email.

The Advisory Centre for Education (ACE) has joined with SAGE Publications to recognise schools, local authorities, children’s information services and parent partnership services which produce accurate, informative and engaging on-line information for families.

Whether you produce complicated admissions information in a user-friendly way, give comprehensive guidance to parents of children with special educational needs or target ethnic minority families with advice and information, you stand a chance to win up to £200 worth of books from SAGE and a further £100 of ACE publications.

How to enter

Email margaret.mcgowan@ace-ed.org.uk inserting SAGE as the subject, or download and complete the application form ( Word 136kb) and post or fax to ACE.

Tell us in no more than 80 words why your website works for families and makes a difference to children’s education. Add the web address and provide your name and contact details. If your entry is more than one page give us a brief description of which pages you want us to consider eg “the whole parent partnership site”, or “the pages under the following links: A-Z of services” or “SEN pages only”.

Deadline for getting your web address to ACE is March 30. Entries will be judged by ACE with a final shortlist judged by ACE Council members. Winners will be presented with their award at the ACE London conference on May 15, 2007.

The judges will be looking for:

• Accessibility in language and design
• Accuracy in the information given to parents
• The site’s potential to empower families

NEW Training Courses

Details of ACE's new spring training courses are now available. All courses include the Education & Inspections Act 2006 & related changes to regulations and guidance.

All courses are accredited by the Law Society, the Bar Council and the Institute of Legal Executives (ILEX).

Visit our training pages for more details or download our new training brochure and booking form (PDF 1.5mb).

Raise money for ACE just by searching the web

everyclick.com is an internet search engine with a big difference - it donates half its revenues to charity.

Please go to http://www.everyclick.com/uk/advisorycentreforeducationace and click on the "make home page" link so that you can help ACE every time you search the web.

It does not cost us, or you, a penny so please use it - and pass this message on!

Rescheduling of ACE training seminars

Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control, ACE has had to reschedule our two new autumn 2006 London seminars.  These are:

17 November 2006: How to draft and implement a school’s drugs policy
29 November: How to draft and implement a school’s anti bullying policy

These will now be offered at the earliest in our spring 2007 programme.

The reason for this change is that as a result of major changes to education law and guidance linked to the Education and Inspections Bill 2006 and several major consultations on related education law issues, ACE trainers have decided that in order to continue to work on our much-in-demand advice lines, devote time to a major update of our existing course packs this term and respond to an increased demand for our tailor-made training, it is necessary to delay the new courses.

If you have any queries about this, please contact our training team:

Tel: 020 7704-3375

Email: training@ace-ed.org.uk

ACE Written Evidence on Bullying

ACE has delivered hard-hitting evidence of the lack of response to parents and children in its submission on bullying to Parliament’s Education and Select Committee’s inquiry into special needs. ACE says that this issue is the one parents find most difficult to get an effective response from schools.

ACE argues for:

• a fresh look at what can be done to get a speedy and effective remedy;
• anti-bullying policies to be made mandatory on schools;
• those policies to make explicit links with special needs and anti-racism policies, disability equality schemes, and to contain anti-homophobic bullying policies;
• an agency in each local authority (LA) area to which parents and children can turn, and which can offer mediation between parent, child and the school and advise the school on training and behavioural issues.
• LAs, in their role as champions of children and parents as envisaged by last year’s White Paper, Higher Standards, Better Schools for All, being empowered to direct schools to draw up effective anti-bullying policies and strategies where parents’ complaints have shown these to be missing or ineffective.

Download ACE's written evidence to the Select Committee ( PDF 176kb>

New Guidance on Exclusion From School

The DfES has issued new exclusions guidance which came into force on the 6th September 2006.

ACE has provided a brief summary of the changes made ( Word 52kb)

The final version of the guidance is not available online, however print copies can be ordered from the DfES publications centre on: 0845 602 2260.

ACE's exclusion pack has been updated to take account of the changes. Parents of children who have been excluded from school can order a free pack by calling ACE on: 020 7704 9822.

New Training Brochures

 

 

 

 

 

 

New brochures are now available describing ACE's training on education law, guidance, policy and practice.

ACE Annual Review 2006

ACE's Annual Review for 2006 is now available for download.

Download Annual Review 2006 4.5mb >

 

 

Academies should come back into the maintained sector, says Fiona Millar

In a wide-ranging speech on current and future schools policy, Fiona Millar, parent, governor and author, pointed up difficulties parents and children can have with academies because they are outside most of the law covering other publicly funded schools. At ACE's AGM on 4 July, she said

‘Over time the government will have to exert pressure on academy sponsors to incorporate into their funding agreements the same rights for pupils as they would enjoy in the maintained sector.

This is only a short step from bringing them back into the maintained sector, something which may be too humiliating for the present ministers to do but which should be a priority for a future Labour government.’

A spokesperson for ACE said, ‘We agree with Fiona Millar that the loss of clear rights in law in the switch from maintained school to academy, especially where special needs and exclusions are concerned, is serious for parents and children. As a charity advising parents and training professionals, ACE wants the easiest possible solutions for parents and schools when things go wrong, and those are best provided by clear and widely known law and guidance applying to all publicly funded schools.’

Download ACE's briefing on Academies 137kb>

Download ACE's briefing on Academies and SEN 145kb>

ACE calls for a fresh look at the Education Bill

As an organisation advising parents, the Advisory Centre for Education hopes that members at Third Reading will look afresh at the Bill. To portray it as a Bill offering more choice for disadvantaged parents does not reflect the reality. In fact some parts of the Bill will affect these parents and their children very negatively. ACE is looking for improvements to make parents genuine partners in their child’s education and for parts of the Bill to be dropped or amended to avoid parents who need support being demonised.

Download ACE's Briefing on the Bill ( 36kb)

New ACE promotional materials

ACE has a new poster advertising our advice lines and publications. If you could help us by displaying a poster somewhere, please download a copy or ring us on 020 7704 3370. We also have new leaflets giving details of our Step-by-Step training for local advisers.

ACE poster ( pdf 417kb)

Step-by-Step leaflet ( 208kb)

National Bullying Survey 2006

The charity Bullying Online is carrying out a large scale investigation into what goes on in the nation's classrooms and aim to help government, schools and anti-bullying charities to come up with more effective ways of tackling the misery which blights so many young lives.

To complete the survey or find out more visit http://www.thenationalsurvey.co.uk

Safeguarding vulnerable groups

The  government is planning to introduce a new Vetting and Barring Scheme for people whose jobs bring them into contact with children and vulnerable adults, following the Bichard Inquiry Report. The enabling legislation for the scheme  will be part of a new Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Bill to be introduced in 2006. To find out more about the scheme and the planned new policy visit the Vetting and Barring Scheme website www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/vettingandbarring

Schools White paper

The Advisory Centre for Education applauds government aspirations for fair
access and better provision in the Schools White paper, but has grave
reservations as to its capacity to deliver, particularly for vulnerable
children.

'Choice and diversity need regulation to ensure fairness,' said a
spokesperson, 'particularly for vulnerable groups of children and
disadvantaged parents. Market forces coupled with harsher actions against
parents and pupils could drive even more poor or otherwise disadvantaged
students out of schools and defeat the many initiatives the Government has put
in place to tackle social exclusion.'

Read ACE's full comments on the White paper (136kb) >

ACE response to the Steer Report

ACE welcomes the thoughtful and comprehensive Steer Report on School Behaviour and Discipline, especially its recommendations for more pastoral and home-school support.

We were dismayed, however, that the Secretary of State's press release cherry-picked the report for punitive measures against pupils and parents, out of over seventy recommendations which were overwhelmingly about school, pupil and parent support.

We do not believe there is any necessity for more legislation on discipline and restraint, as teachers already have powers here.

We agree with the Practitioners' Group that exclusion appeal panels need more training, but our experience of advising parents suggests there is no bias in favour of pupils or frequent instances of pupils being reinstated on technicalities.

One of ACE's key concerns around exclusions is the incredible over-representation of pupils with special needs/disabilities in the figures (two-thirds of exclusions are of pupils with special educational needs), and here we are disappointed that the Report has not discussed that issue. We therefore hope that the Ministerial Group on behaviour will make it a priority to investigate further, and that it will seek expert views from practitioners in this field, including those representing parents and children. It is now a widely held view that it is entirely inappropriate to use the most punitive sanctions in a
school's armoury against children whose behaviour difficulties arise from special
needs/disabilities.

For more information please contact ACE Policy Officer, Chris Gravell on 020 7704 3384

ACE on BBC News 24

ACE is today featured on BBC News 24's coverage of the debate around the new education white paper.

The Prime Minister's speech on education is available to read online.

ACE has also posted comments on the ePolitix site along with other education professionals.

ACE Response to DfES Admissions Consultation

ACE welcomes the improvements to the guidance following on from the Select Committee’s recommendations, but feel there are some missed opportunities:

• The law could have been amended to place a statutory duty on all involved in the admissions and appeals process to follow the codes of practice.
• There is no reference to children/young people’s rights in the revised codes.
• ‘Hard to place pupils’ is a rather derogatory term and there is not enough detail to assist panel members in identifying these particularly vulnerable children.
• Statutory weight or stronger guidance to prohibit interviewing could have been given.
• Guidance on disability, race and sex discrimination as well as human rights has been curtailed; there is no reference to inclusion in terms of SEN and the different statementing admissions process is not made clear.  
• Terminology been changed from the stronger ‘bad’ to the weaker ‘poor’.
• Clarification and consistency is needed in the way the terms 'Looked after children (LAC)' and ‘children in public care’ are used interchangeably.
• There should be consistency in references to CTCs in the codes.
• Fresh Start schools and Academies should be deleted from the list of exceptional circumstances when certain schools can refuse to take pupils with challenging behaviour.
• Co-ordinated schemes:  The guidance needs to be strengthened to prevent some schools from flouting the regulations.
• Requiring parents to express their preferences BEFORE they know the outcome of selective tests for grammar schools should be reinstated.
• For Infant class size appeals the panel should be able to rehear all the facts.  They should be envisaging the decision the admission authority would make at the time of the hearing as in para 4.57 of the previous code and thus new evidence should be admissible.
• Annex B should give examples of bad oversubscription criteria as a useful warning to schools not to use them.

Download ACE's full response to the consultation (344kb) >

ace defends statements of sen

ACE has delivered compelling evidence for the retention of Statements of Special Educational Needs in its submission to the Education and Skills Select Committee's current inquiry into special educational needs. In a strongly argued defence of parents' role in ensuring the support their children need, ACE also argued for more accountability over special needs funding, better advice and advocacy for parents, and the removal of children with behaviour arising from their disabilities/special needs from the exclusion process. The submission tackles the attack on Statements head on:

ACE strongly disagrees that the problem for parents is bureaucracy. In this area, the word 'bureaucracy' is frequently used by providers as an excuse to reduce information, accountability and legal duties owed to parents...

The parents ACE speaks to every day on our advice lines may be worn down with trying to get support for their child and do complain of bureaucracy. But they are not complaining that their child is being assessed or that the help is being written on a Statement or that they are asked to meetings to review an IEP.

In ACE's view the statementing system itself, with its guiding principle of matching help to needs, could not be more compelling...

The law says that a child's education is so important that extra help to give children with SEN/disabilities the same learning opportunities as other children must not be rationed, delayed or subject to blanket refusals to provide. But where resources are not available to match this legal duty, local authorities respond with policies which impose a form of rationing.

For parents, the system offers, in both law and guidance, a truly participative role in the education of their child, an acknowledgement that the parents of a child with SEN/disabilities are the experts on their child, and that their involvement is vital in ensuring the educational progress of that child. Their role is also that of watchdog over their child's right to support. To reduce this role by changing or reducing Statements because of concern over parents' struggles with the system would be to adopt an out-dated welfarist view that parents need protection more than they need equal, active and informed participation in the decisions over their child's education. As parents are acting for the child in many of these decisions, a reduction in their rights to participate in and challenge decisions would be deleterious to the child's rights. Since 2001, the statementing system has also become a part of the delivery of one of the positive requirements of disability discrimination legislation in schools, as it is what should provide disabled children with the aids and services they need to access education. It is therefore essential that it is maintained and improved.

Read ACE's full submission to the Select Committee (421kb) >

Children Out of School

Any parents and/or children/young people who have experienced problems with missing out on their education, truancy or attendance generally who would be interested in attending the launch of a report on this issue by New Philanthropy Capital on the evening of Wednesday 16 November 2005 please contact ACE by email enquiries@ace.dialnet.com or by telephoning 020 7704 3370.

Establishment of Islington Parents’ Forum

As part of the development of children’s services in Islington the council is hoping to establish a Parents’ Forum that can contribute to the future planning and development of services for children across education, family support, health and social services.

An event - ‘Have your Say’ - is being organised on Wednesday 2nd November between 9.30 a.m. and 2.00 p.m. at the London Voluntary Sector Resource Centre, Holloway Rd, N7.

Free lunch and a creche will be provided.

Programme for the day (295kb) >
Booking form (38kb) >

New ACE Website

ACE's website has just relaunched and includes more free advice and information for parents as well as a new online shop and discussion forum, which we hope will be a way of parents sharing their experiences.If you have any comments about our new site we'd love to hear them.

School's Out?

A new report School’s Out? looks at the twin problems of school disaffection; truancy and exclusion from school. The report, produced by New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) concentrates on the following areas:

• The numbers of children and young people affected and a look at the reasons why some children are at greater risk than others;
• Government’s response to the problems of truancy and exclusion;
• The role of charities in supporting children, young people, their families and schools;

Analysis of the results of such activities.  

The research highlights activities that are most likely to benefit those at risk and those affected.  
 
NPC is a charity that advises donors and funders on how to give more effectively.
Their aim is to increase the quantity and quality of resources available to the charitable sector, and they do this through a combination of independent research and tailored advice. NPC’s research identifies charities, large or small, that are achieving excellent results and where funds and resources can be targeted most effectively, with the long-term aim of benefiting the people that the charities serve.

ACE’s work on exclusions has been examined by NPC as part of the new research. We are delighted that ACE’s is being recommended to potential donors as an organisation that has high impact and potential. You can access the main report School’s Out, and also NPC’s recommendation for funding for ACE.

ACE Plays Crucial Enabling Role for Parents

ACE’s intervention plays a crucial role in enabling parents to improve their situations and ACE’s Parentline referral service is offering an extremely effective and valued service for parents. These are some of the findings of a new evaluation of ACE’s general and Parentline referrals advice lines by independent consultant Diana Parkinson.

General Line:

20 parents were interviewed in June 2005, one year after their initial call to ACE’s advice line, and were asked how their situation had changed:

• Three-quarters of the parents felt their situations had improved since they had first been interviewed.
• In over more than eight out of ten (87%) of the cases where parents felt the situation had improved, they attributed this to ACE.
• In four cases, parents felt that there had been a dramatic improvement which had come about as a result of ACE’s advice.
• Two of the three parents who had been successful in getting their child into the school of their choice felt this was because of the specific advice they received from ACE.

“Speaking to ACE made a hell of a difference. It gave me confidence to battle on and made me feel stronger. They told me to keep going and encouraged me that I would get there in the end – and I did!”

Parentline Plus Referrals Line:

Twenty callers who had spoken to ACE advisers on the Parentline Plus referral line within the previous six weeks were interviewed about the quality of the service they had received. Callers gave an average rating of 4.95 out of 5 on all aspects of the way their call was handled. They were unanimous in praising the advisers highly, with comments such as:

“She was absolutely brilliant, so helpful and listened to me.”

“She was lovely.”

“They were marvellous.”

“I couldn’t hold her in high enough regard.”

All callers felt that their questions had been answered either completely or partially and 95% felt their questions had been completely answered by ACE.

• Callers who remembered receiving information from ACE had found this helpful.
• Several callers commented on how quickly they had received this information.
• All the callers found the advice provided by ACE to be extremely helpful.
• All callers said that they would contact ACE in the future if they needed further advice or information.
• All the callers were extremely satisfied with the service they had received from ACE.
• 16 of the 20 callers gave ACE a rating of five out of five in terms of their overall levels of satisfaction with the services. Some callers described them as ‘marvellous’, 'absolutely brilliant’ or ‘fantastic’.
• 75% callers had taken further action following their call as a result of their contact with ACE.
• In other cases, callers had felt equipped to take action as a result of the help and information they had received from ACE

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For more information, please contact Julia Parnaby on 020 7704 3376

ACE AGM Hears About the Link Between Exclusions and SEN

ACE's AGM, held on July 13th, heard from Policy Officer Chris Gravell about the disturbing links between exclusions and SEN. Below are some excerpts from her speech.

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In exclusions, in 2005, what schools are doing to children may be part of a wider response by society to children, where adult irritation, impatience, anger and fear have recently dominated headlines and political rhetoric, and poor and disadvantaged children have become objects of punishment and banishment by ASBOs and curfews...

When the 2003 to 4 exclusion figures were released two weeks ago, the Minister for Schools, Jacqui Smith, applauded the steep rise they revealed because it showed that: ‘Heads are acting on misbehaviour and permanently excluding pupils where their behaviour warrants it with exclusions up by 6%'...

ACE's briefing on exclusions provides the background on how exclusions disproportionately affect the most vulnerable children and is backed up by some of the exclusion stories from our advice lines, most collected in the last two weeks:

• A 12 year old with sickle cell anaemia has to go the toilet and get drinks too often. This, said the school, is persistently disruptive behaviour. They have given her a 5 day exclusion.
• A girl with ‘too much’ fake tan – sent home.
• 6 year old humming – sent home.
• 12 year old made a remark about a teacher’s haircut – excluded for verbal abuse.

More seriously:

• A child who told his mother he had been sat on by a teacher, whose mother then collected witness statements from lots of other children, was excluded after she complained about the teacher.
• A child with asthma being persistently bullied was unofficially and indefinitely excluded for her own health and safety (this is unlawful).
• A 6 year old with a special educational needs statement for ADHD was subjected to an escalating regime of exclusions from 1, to 2 to 4 to 8 to 16 days and so on. His mum called us when he was at 8 days – he’d just returned to school after being very anxious that he would fail again, and was sent home at lunch time – apart from anything else, if this regime is not working, why are they continuing with it and why have they not reviewed the amount and kind of help he was getting through his statement?
• Another six year old who was not being allowed back in school after being excluded for two weeks, even though the LEA had said he should not have been excluded in the first place – he was receiving 6 hours education a week at a PRU...

It’s worthy of note that in 90% of our exclusion calls, there is a defence within the terms of the guidance – ranging from ‘didn’t do it’ through exclusion too severe or unfair, to provocation, such as the worm turning on bullies...

Most frequently we hear stories that show that the school is not by any means using exclusion as a last resort, and is not looking for every alternative to solve the problem without excluding. This is most distressing for parents and advisers when it is clear that the child has special needs that are not being properly addressed by the school – or where the school should be calling in outside agencies and won’t or thinks it can’t...

Two-thirds of children being permanently excluded have special educational needs...

Just how destructive schools can be to children with special needs whom they don’t want is revealed in the NFER’s research for the DfES reported earlier this year. Teachers admitted excluding in order to ‘improve’ the school:

"[The school] has improved quite a lot and a lot of that is due to exclusion – we have rooted out quite a lot of the undesirable kids."

and further, that they wound children up to create outbursts for which they could exclude. Another interviewee in the same school reported ‘pushing’ a year 7 pupil with ongoing behavioural problems until a confrontation occurred and the pupil was eventually permanently excluded.

"As far as I’m concerned if a kid is misbehaving in class then they should be removed …I always make a point of challenging those pupils, and it’s either black or white, they either conform to what I want or it results in a very serious incident where I challenge them to the point where they swear at me or do something. …I challenge them to the point that neither of us will back down."
Head of year, secondary school...

I do believe that schools are as sinned against as children are – it’s very difficult for a lot of schools not to exclude when they have to meet all the measures they are meant to succeed on, with the rigid curriculum they have, and a very unresponsive special needs system, especially for secondary schools...

In this area, we should note that secondary schools are where exclusions get really bad. Many people have blamed this on puberty and associated teenage problems, but a look at the exclusion age profile shows that the dramatic jump in exclusions happens at transition from primary to secondary, and then rises more steadily to drop again after 14...

The SEN statistics also published in June show that the issue of new statements has fallen from 36 thousand per year to 26 thousand – in the space of 6 years. No one in our field seriously believes the need for statements has fallen by that degree. Figures for the number of disabled children have risen enormously since 2002: the government found it was using the wrong estimate, but also many more children have complex, severe needs as the result of surviving premature birth, and many more are being identified as having autism, for instance...

So some suggestions for positive moves:

• No school should feel that support for behavioural needs is (a) not their business and (b) rationed by their LEA.
• All schools and LEAs need the support that about 300 (out of three and a half thousand) secondaries are getting from the Behaviour Improvement Programme funding...
• Schools need to work together and not as islands.
• Schools need to make children feel safe and valued, assuring them of their rights and responsibilities, and to engage them through the curriculum and teaching methods.
• If all children with suspected special needs in danger of exclusion could at least be seen by an educational psychologist before they were excluded, that would be an enormous step forward. If they are on one of the SEN stages or have a statement, the provision they are getting should be reviewed and if necessary increased or changed in kind.
• Procedures like that need to go into regulations, not just guidance.
• Whether the exclusion is a result of special needs or not, child welfare should be the focus of the process rather than blame and punishment - supporting the child to solve the problems.
• The challenges to exclusions where schools have ignored the special needs framework need to be more powerful, possibly by making disability discrimination claims easier and more effective.
• And last but not least, the government guidance that currently should ensure a balance between the rights of the school community and the rights of the accused child is not being followed in all cases. If some schools ignore children’s rights, they endanger the whole community. By demonstrating the successful use of arbitrary power, they do real harm to the children they purport to educate.

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For a copy of the full speech please contact Chris Gravell, ACE Policy Officer on 020 7704 3384If you are interested in becoming a member of ACE please visit our membership page >

ACE Training Accredited by Law Society

The Law Society requires all solicitors to attend training courses by authorised providers every year in order to keep up to date with the law. ACE is now an authorised external course provider. From September 2005 solicitors attending ACE training will be able to claim these compulsory Continuing Professional Education hours for accredited courses.

ACE training will now develop and expand to include specialist training for solicitors working in the field of education law.

Two new ACE SEN titles

Two new 'My Child in School' booklets have been produced. "Getting the Statement Right: a Practical Guide to Parents' Legal Rights" and "Understanding Annual Reviews: a Practical Guide to Parents' Legal Rights".

Copies are available to order by post or fax for £2.00 each (inc p&p).

Download "Getting the Statement Right" (98kb)>
Download "Understanding Annual Reviews" (114kb) >

You can purchase print copies at £2 each via our online shop >

Mobile users can now call our advice lines for free

The Telephone Helplines Association (THA) has just announced that Orange, Virgin Mobile and 3 will no longer charge their customers to call any of the 233 freephone helplines registered with the THA.

As a THA member, ACE welcomes this news which means that even more parents will be able to access our advice lines for free.

School Admissions Appeals - ACE Advice Booklet

From today parents will be receiving letters about their child's school place. If you have not been offered a place at your preferred school you have the right to appeal to an independent panel.

ACE's booklet "Appealing for a School" provides straightforward advice to help you put your case together, and unlike some of the material you may find on the internet, costs only £2.00 (or £1.00 if you wish to download it as a PDF file).

You can buy a copy of "Appealing for a School" for £2.00, or by sending us a cheque for £2.00 made payable to 'ACE Ltd'.

You can also download the "Appealing for a School" booklet as a PDF file for £1.00 >

ACE has been advising parents on education issues since 1960.

Anti-Bullying Week 2004

PRESS RELEASE
Date: 24 Nov 2004

Bullying ‘a triple blow’ for families says Advisory Centre for Education

The Advisory Centre for Education (ACE) has warned that if schools do not act quickly and effectively to stamp out bullying it can spiral out of control and become a triple blow for families.

Strike 1 - The child suffers bullying at school.
Strike 2 - The parent feels the school isn’t doing enough so keeps their child at home. The child misses out on their education.
Strike 3 – The school or Local Authority continue to leave the bullying untackled and instead threaten the parent with prosecution. The family faces more stress and the child falls further behind in their schooling.

“Many schools simply don’t respond quickly or effectively enough to put a stop to bullying. This puts a massive amount of pressure onto entire families and can lead to huge problems,” said Jenny Edlington, an advice worker at the charity. “We often hear from parents who are so concerned about their child’s safety that they have removed them from school and now face criminal charges. This is an unacceptable situation and we therefore welcome Anti-Bullying Week and hope it will go some way to tackling the problem.”

ACE receives over 6,000 calls to its advice lines each year and in the past six months 12% of those calls have discussed bullying.

Earlier this year two senior judges criticised the London Borough of Sutton for taking a case against the parents of a bullied girl who refused to go to school all the way to the high court.

Parents who are worried about any aspect of their child’s education can call ACE for advice on 0808 800 5793. Lines are open from 2-5pm every weekday.

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November 24, 2004

ACE Helps Write New Guide to Who Does What

The Social Exclusion Unit recently asked ACE and the Who Cares? Trust charity to draw up guidance for social workers and foster carers on supporting the education of children in care with the DfES.

"Who Does What – how social workers and carers can support the education of children in care" is the result: a new guide to who deals with education issues affecting children in public care.

Read ACE's press release for more information > (Word icon Word document 23KB)

"Who Does What" can be downloaded from http://www.dfes.gov.uk/educationprotects//upload/ACF20A2.pdf (PDF 359kb)

October 15, 2004

Welsh LEA Web Sites Fail Parents

Most of the 22 Welsh local education authorities are not publishing vital information required by law on their web sites about extra help for children with SEN.

This was the outcome of a recent ACE survey of LEA web sites which found that none of the 22 Welsh LEAs came anywhere near giving the information required by law and many failed to link up with the parent partnership service and voluntary organisations which could give parents help and advice.

Now Estyn, the body which inspects schools and LEAs in Wales, has agreed to beef up its advice to its inspectors to ensure they check web site compliance. And Education Minister Jane Davidson has asked her officials to write to each LEA reminding them of their duties.

Read ACE's press release > (Word icon Word document 28KB)

October 12, 2004

More Exclusions Guidance Changes

Paragraphs 15,16, 18, 24, 80 and 120 of the DfES Guidance on exclusion from school which was issued on 22 March 2004 have been revised again as of 21 July 2004. The Department inform us that the final print version of the Guidance will be available from mid-August. In the meantime an updated version is available online at: http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/behaviour/exclusion/

We will be working over the summer to update our exclusion booklets to take into account these changes and new versions will be available in time for the start of the September 2004 term.

July 23, 2004

Ofsted to Amend Guidance Following ACE Campaign

Following ACE's concerns arising from our survey of SEN information on LEA web sites (see news items below), we are pleased to report that HM Chief Inspector of Schools, David Bell has informed us that an addendum will be made to the guidance, requiring inspectors to establish whether information on SEN policy and provision is published on the LEA's web site This will be published in time for inspections in autumn 2004.

July 19, 2004

ACE to Expand Advice Line Support for Parents

Children, Young People and Family Minister, Margaret Hodge has announced that ACE has been awarded £200,000 from the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) Parenting Fund to set up a dedicated advice line to take referrals of up to 1200 callers pa on specialist education matters from parenting organisation Parentline Plus.

For more information please read the DfES press release >
or ACE's own press release > (Word document 34KB).

June 18, 2004

LEA Web Sites Still Missing Vital Information For Parents

Two thirds of 12 recently-inspected LEAs are not publishing vital information on their web sites about extra help for children with SEN.

This was the result of a recent survey of the LEAs by ACE. The survey comes almost a year after a similar survey of all English LEAs by ACE revealed widespread non-compliance with the legal requirements on information.

For more information download our press release > (Word document 30KB).

April 5, 2004

ACE Response to Exclusions Changes

ACE has submitted a detailed response to the DfES on their proposed changes to the exclusions guidance. For more details see our exclusion project update page

February 26, 2004

Web Helps ACE Reach More Parents

Two years on from the redesign and launch of our web site the number of advice booklets being downloaded continues to rise at a tremendous rate. With a total of 59,703 downloads in 2003 we have seen a 140% increase over the last year, whilst the total number of visitors has increased by almost 10,000, each of whom spent an average of 6 and a half minutes on the site. As we’d expect the most popular sections of the site continue to be our advice, publications, news and training pages.

The huge increase in downloads is largely because of the introduction of a number of new publications over the last year, including Welsh language versions of our exclusion and bullying booklets; along with new “My Child in School” booklets on disability discrimination, early years extra help, and choosing a school. However our existing material has also continued to be extremely popular – an enormous 16,268 people, for example, downloaded our booklet on appealing for a school place – a 57% increase on 2002, whilst “Tackling Bullying” saw a staggering 123% increase! When you consider that these figures cover only those booklets actually downloaded onto people’s own computers and not those consulted and read online on our site you will see the incredible impact the site has made to our work.

Parents, in ever increasing numbers, are now gaining access to materials which help them get a better deal for their child in school. In recent months ACE advisers have noted that the calls we receive on our telephone helplines are becoming more detailed and complex. We can only attribute this to the numbers of parents now being able to help themselves after downloading booklets from our site, leaving space on the lines for those with more complex or especially difficult problems.

January 22, 2004

Exclusions Guidance to Change Again!

The DfES has just announced updated interim guidance on the standard of proof for exclusion decisions, taking into account the YP School Court of Appeal judgement and listing consequential amendments to the revised guidance on Improving Behaviour and Attendance: Guidance on Exclusion from Schools and Pupil Referral Units (DfES/0087/2003), which replaced Chapter 6 & Annex D of Circular 10/99 in January 2003.

They have also given notice of further changes to come in March 2004. At this stage, they have only published the revised guidance on the Internet. See:
www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/behaviour/exclusionupdate/

They will be issuing a new set of regulations to amend existing Pupil Exclusions & Appeals regulations for maintained schools (SI2002/3178) and PRU's (SI2002/3179).

In addition, they will be issuing revised guidance on ‘Improving Behaviour and attendance’ (i.e. to replace the existing 87/03). Both should come into force on or about 22 March 2004.

For more information, and ACE's view on this please see our exclusion project update page.

January 20, 2004

2003 Annual Review Available

ACE's 2003 Annual Review is now available. Please contact us if you would like a copy. Alternatively it can be downloaded:

ACE Annual Review 2003 (PDF 336kb).

October 8, 2003

New ACE Handbook - Children Out of School

Our new book Children Out of School has just been published. It is a guide to the law on attendance, exclusion, home education and the education of children with health needs. Grounded in ACE’s advice line experience Children Out of School provides a detailed one-stop reference to the law and guidance. It also covers the education of school-age parents, travellers, issues such as school phobia and pupil mobility and the law and guidance on reintegration and alternatives to mainstream schooling.

In addition we have produced two new booklets as part of our 'My Child in School Series': "Choosing a school" and "Early years extra help".

Please see our publications page for more details on these brand new publications.

September 12, 2003

ACE Survey Reveals Gap for Parents in LEA Web Sites

Parents and the public are being denied crucial information about LEAs’ policies on special educational needs (SEN) which by law should be published on their web sites

In a survey of 150 English local education authorities, ACE found that only ten gave all the information on their policies which is set out in the Schedule to the SEN (Provision of Information by LEAs) (England) Regulations 2001. Around 17 per cent of LEAs covered some of the required information.

Read our press release (Word document 31KB).

May 16, 2003

Current ACE news >