6. What Do I Do When Being Reasonable Hasn't Worked? The School Escalation Pathway Schools Don't Tell You About - with Sara Hocking

The principal told you to contact region. Region told you to contact the principal. You're sitting in your car wondering if you're going quietly insane. You're not — and neither is the principal. The system is built to do exactly this, to everyone inside it. Sara Hocking is back to map a way out, and the news isn't what you think.

What We Cover

• The one subject line that forces an official response — and why most schools have been waiting for someone to send it
• The institutional rule that makes principals back their staff publicly even when they're moving things behind the scenes — and how to read the quiet changes
• The escalation pathway nobody hands you, and the exact point where 95% of parents tap out
• The strategic reason to keep going past that point even when it feels pointless
• Why teachers aren't ignoring you — Sara's frame for what's actually happening in the staffroom, and what they're being asked to triage every day
• The paper-trail trick you can do in 30 seconds on your phone after every conversation
• Why you arrive at every school meeting already at a ten, and what the other parents in the room don't realise about themselves
• What restraint, expulsion and catchment actually mean — and the policy vacuum that hands one principal the call when there should be a system holding it
• Stop waiting for an apology. Sara explains why it isn't coming from individuals, and what to watch for from the structure instead.

Free Resources

School Complaint & Escalation Guide: https://adhdmums.com.au/product/school-complaint-escalation-guide/

Quiet Exclusion Kit: https://adhdmums.com.au/product/quiet-exclusion-kit/

More from Sara

Sara Hocking runs See Beyond — neuroaffirming, nervous-system-informed resources for parents and schools, including free printables you can send straight to your child's teacher: https://seebeyondau.org/

Paid Resources

Making School Work — Parent Guide: https://adhdmums.com.au/product/making-school-work-parent-guide/

School Burnout — When School Can't Cope: https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-school-burnout-when-school-cant-cope/

Related Episodes

• Sara's Part 1 — When You Stay Calm at School and Leave Feeling Like You Didn't Do Enough — Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6LrYWX3eDU3LeoC12kMw4A?si=5OwOPF0oQcGjiXhwzL69zQ | Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/adhd-mums/id1686843092?i=1000753099488
• S3 EP8: Advocating for Your Child Shouldn't Break You — But It Often Does — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-8-quick-reset-advocating-for-your-child-shouldnt-break-you-but-it-often-does/
• S3 EP7: The Great Gaslighting — When Schools Say 'We Don't See It' — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-7-school-series-the-great-gaslighting-when-schools-say-we-dont-see-it/
• S3 EP9: When the IEP Meeting Feels Like a Battle You Didn't Ask For — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-9-when-the-iep-meeting-feels-like-a-battle-you-didnt-ask-for/
• S3: When School Decides Your Child Is the Problem — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/when-school-decides-your-child-is-the-problem/
• S3: Is the Problem the Child — Or the Learning Plan? — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/is-the-problem-the-child-or-the-learning-plan/

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