A blind Leeds schoolgirl has become a recluse after her school, deemed ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted, discriminated against her.
Registered blind girl Phoebe-Lea Swales, 13, hardly receives any education, says mum Kimberley, after St. Mary's Menston Catholic Voluntary Academy was found guilty of unlawful disability discrimination last Wednesday (May 18) in a tribunal.
Kimberley, 48, says Phoebe has developed severe anxiety due to the school’s discrimination. The school failed to provide Phoebe with vital educational equipment so she could take part in lessons, which made her feel stressed and unable to cope with lessons.
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Kimberley and husband Ian, have been working tirelessly to support Phoebe around the clock. The mother of five said: “All we want is my daughter in a school that meets her needs. I don’t want to keep fighting for my child. This isn’t fair.
“We’re in the 21 st Century, I shouldn’t have had to bring a discrimination case against the school. It shouldn’t be happening.
“If this was a case of racism or homophobia, they’d be on it, but nobody wanted to know. That’s not fair. If I was abusing my child, social services would be called.”
Phoebe suffers with cerebral visual impairment (CVI) which means she has about 60 percent of her vision, resulting in tunnel vision as she has no peripheral vision. So, seeing instructions on the whiteboard or a regular work sheet is a struggle and causes a great deal of stress.
Kimberley claims she asked the school to provide software for Phoebe’s learning, which she describes as “costing below £100” in September 2020. This was Air Server software which links the class interactive whiteboard to a tablet/computer on Phoebe’s desk, so that Phoebe could interact with materials on the class whiteboard.
Kimberley says the school would not purchase the vital equipment until February 2022, about one year and five months after the initial request, despite being given £3,900 to support Phoebe. This was given to St Mary’s by Leeds Education Authority (LEA) in April 2021.
The tribunal report also said the school headteacher "was unable to explain why the necessary software to enable the whiteboard to be linked to Phoebe-Lea’s laptop, had not been bought earlier, as soon as she had become aware of the situation, she had arranged for the purchase to be made.". It added that "In the circumstances, we consider that a reasonable adjustment would have been for the Responsible Body to purchase the necessary software at a much earlier stage. Their failure to do so constitutes a breach of Section 20 (3) and amounts to unlawful disability discrimination."
The tribunal found St Mary's had procedures in place to adapt materials, which in "many cases were successful". The school acknowledged there were occasions this did not happen and head teacher Mrs Hattersley apologised for this in her witness statement. So part of the claim was chucked out.
“I’m absolutely disgusted, this should have never happened at all,” said Kimberley. During this time without the equipment, Phoebe was getting “visual stress”, which includes extreme tiredness and anxiety.
Phoebe was taken out of full-time education in September 2021, after her attendance had been reduced to just 48 per cent. The blind schoolgirl now does “nothing” throughout the week, and relies on the school to send over work. Kimberley claims this is very “hit and miss”, with “one or two” pieces of work being sent to her each week.
Phoebe has requirements for how worksheets are set out so that she can see their contents. The work sheets need to have a font of size 20, decluttered, just black and white with no shading. But Kimberley claims the school has been sending worksheets which haven’t been adapted, that even she struggles to comprehend.
Kimberley said: “Phoebe does nothing, she stays at home – usually in her bedroom, goes back to sleep. She goes to the garden to look at animals and that’s it."
Kimberley can’t afford to send Phoebe to a special educational (SEN) school as it would cost between £35,000 and £70,000 a year. They’re trying to acquire the funding from LEA. The mum has described the system as “broken” and she is desperate for her daughter to return a normal way of life.
The tribunal ordered St Mary’s to: send letters of apology to Phoebe, Kimberley and Ian; review its SEN policies and technology by the end of summer 2022; and provide training to staff in how to use the supportive technology, by the end of the summer 2022 term.
Kimberley has informed Ofsted of the tribunal outcome, in the hope the school will lose its 'outstanding' status. The school was awarded 'outstanding' by the educational governing body in 2014, eight years ago.
Darren Beardsley, Chief Executive Officer at Bishop Wheeler Catholic Academy Trust said: "We are grateful that the Tribunal Decision sets out the extensive support that we provided for this pupil and our engagement and consultation with external agencies. However, we fully accept the Tribunal’s only finding of a breach of ‘failure to make reasonable adjustments’.
"This was solely in relation to specialist software not being purchased quickly enough when the need for IT adaptations was identified during the 2020/21 school year, and the Tribunal noted that as soon as Miss Hattersley the Head Teacher became ‘aware of the situation, she had arranged for the purchase to be made.’
"In dismissing part of the claim, the Tribunal acknowledged that we ‘did have in place procedures to adapt materials for [the pupil] which in many cases were successful’ and ‘in all of the circumstances, we conclude that the steps taken by [the school] were reasonable and we dismiss this part of the claim.’
"We have apologised, as we did at the time, and have been happy to comply with all the Tribunal’s requirements. The Tribunal Decision drew attention to the difficult circumstances which we, and indeed all schools, were working under during the Covid pandemic and the high levels of staff sickness absence resulting in unprecedented hiring of supply teachers at short notice.
"In the interests of student confidentiality we do not publicly disclose information regarding individual students at our school.
"However, although we are saddened that the pupil’s parents have chosen to put this matter into the public domain, we remain committed to working with this family, as with all pupils, parents and external agencies, to provide all our students across the family of the school and Trust with the necessary support."
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