Manage move/appeal

[Julieannshaun]

Hi, my name is Julie,
I have an awful dilemma and my son is suffering from severe anxiety.

My older son was removed by myself from our local school due to bullying. My younger son witnessed this and was always adamant he did not want to go there! As years went on we came to the point to view his secondary school and after conversations with the headmaster he made us feel confident that although out of catchment many children do succeed entry into the school. And this is true there are 14 in my road attend the school. Cutting it short he was refused last year and we went to appeal, we lost but were unable to attend in person but they were informed. We were so disappointed and he was placed on the waiting list. We carried it through to the ombudsman but sadly due to a small detail they never found fault. We tried to comfort our son as he had to attend our local school. From day 1 he’ was unhappy and by December i was requesting a managed move but was told he didn’t meet the criteria. We battled on with him continually deteriorating in his his mental health. At the beginning of march after quite a few very emotional moments. Not going into too much detail but it sadly ended up with him running away from school. I found him trembling, very emotional running up a main road. From then until recently the school have not contacted myself. His anxiety and depression is in an awful state due to the school. I feel they failed him dreadfully. He has not spoken to anyone but family and refuses to any school work apart from what i can source online. His concentration is low and he does not sleep. Very emotional. He has been assessed by CAHMS and they he is now under their care. Since the school found out by the attendance officer that i have been communicating with. They have now agreed to a managed move on social and emotional grounds. Unfortunately its all been too little too late as both schools have refused the managed move as they have no places. My relationship with the school has broken down as i feel so let down by them. They are offering to bring him back into this school but i know His anxiety will only be heightened if i was to return him there. He has already said he will run away again. I’m not prepared to let that happen. I have 2 weeks left until the end of term. No school for September. I have an appeal for the other school that i got turned down for last year so not holding much hope., they are also one of the schools refusing managed move. Despite home schooling now has been pretty accessible but come September will all that change. I feel so alone in all this and feel like I’m fighting for my son and getting no where. Whilst he is suffering on a daily basis with no prospect of going back to mainstream school,