Further to the recent Petition on change.org that I put on regarding St Leonard’s School Durham I have now been threatened with legal action from certain members of staff,  despite 296 signatures to date.  All that was said in the original petition was true backed up by the report from Ofsted.

Therefore I have re-worded it to take into account these particular complaints.

This is an expression of our “Vote of no Confidence” in the way multiple children with Special Educational Needs have been treated at this school.  Children are not receiving the support that they should do and that is advised by other professionals and many children with SEN have been punished and suspended for the smallest of reasons, many out of their control which in my opinion, and the opinion of many professionals, is down to the lack of support.  Once again in my opinion and the opinion of many professionals and other parents -  children are suffering by bad decision making, vision, communication and lack of respect for children, parents and staff.

Ofsted have been in to inspect due to multiple complaints and have given the grading “requires improvement” due to SEND and leadership and this is a public document which anyone can access and read.  

It is unfortunate that a huge amount of teachers have left and are leaving (also highlighted in the Ofsted report).

Multiple parents are seeking help and have taken complaints and concerns to to the Bishop Wilkinson Trust, the Governors, SENDIASS, Mary Foy MP to name a few and it has even recently been highlighted in the local paper, The Northern Echo.   

Organisations to support families have said to parents that they are inundated with concerns from parents and they’ve never experienced anything like it.

It is the opinion of many parents that the school does not follow advise from professionals and instead choose to punish and suspend children with additional needs and this can be corroborated by many parents on social media platforms that parents are turning to for support.

Before a child does something extreme as a result of the treatment these children are receiving we are calling for urgent action to be taken.