Schools, statements and ASD

[Postmanpatisevil]

Hi everyone,

I'm sorry but I'm quite ignorant and naive about statements, I just wanted to ask a general question.

My DS is 9, he has high functioning ASD. He's very anxious and whilst he's doing fine academically, he's struggling socially. He's in year 5 so I've started to look at secondary schools. The catchment school for us is very high achieving. The pastoral provision is non existent and they actually refuse applications from SN children. There is just one statemented child there. Obviously, it's not for sd but it is where most of his school friends will go.

I'm concerned about this obviously but today have looked at another local school. It's much smaller and one in five children there are statemented. It was very friendly and DS really seemed to like it.

I'm just not sure how it works as we're not in catchment and this school is always over subscribed? It's not far from us and it's by far the best fit for DS. What difference does it make in that he has a statement? I looked at another school earlier this week, it was so big, DS wouldn't cope.

Sorry if this sounds naive or ignorant. I'm just not sure how much weight the statement has in terms of school places.

[fairgame]

As far as i know if it's a state school and he has a statement and the school can meet his needs as set out in the statement then he will get priority over non-statemented pupils.

[whitebikinisand]

At this stage we had invaluable help with statement and tribunal for secondary place from Parent Partnership. I think they are now called www.iassnetwork.org.uk/
Trust your instincts and go for for what you think best, you know your child. Good luck.

[Icimoi]

Have you talked about this at annual review meetings? If not, you need to raise it at the next one. The LA will be looking at changing to an EHC Plan next year, and should issue one by mid February. Before it issues the EHCP the LA will ask you what your choice of school is, and they must meet it provided it doesn't cause prejudice to efficient education or the efficient use of resources. If the other school is local I would have thought you stand a good chance of getting in, and your ds will have priority over most other children for admission there.