DD has a type of dwarfism and is going to face practical challenges at high school. She got her second choice school but we're going to appeal - I've read loads of advice on here so I'm hoping I've got the right idea but it would be great to get some feedback.
Most provisions can be put in place by OT at either school, but preferred school has some significant advantages that can't be matched by offered school:
- DD gets pains in her legs if she has to walk long distances without having rest days in between, which can be really debilitating - we have a consultant's letter to confirm this - so walking between classes/canteen/etc needs to be kept to a minimum. Our preferred school is a single square building and has the smallest "footprint" of any of the local schools, which minimises distances between classes. The offered school has several buildings spread in a line over a larger area, so depending on the timetable would involve walking longer distances - easy to demonstrate on a google map print.
- Preferred school has an inclusion centre where dd could leave bags so she's not carrying them round, and also rest if her legs do get tired. It's a separate building but right next door to the main one so easy to get to from wherever she is. Offered school has similar but it's right at one end of the stretch of buildings so nothing like as useful - if her legs ache she's not going to want to walk all the way to the other end of the school to rest them.
- While dd struggles with continuous exercise, short bursts, e.g. PE, are fine, and she does love sport, but there are some sports she is medically advised not to do. At preferred school the class is split into groups for PE, each doing a different sport, so if dd is on a rotation for a sport she can't do she can join a different group instead. At offered school all the class do the same sport so dd would have to go and sit in the library during particular rotations - she would hate this.
- The height difference between dd and her peers is now significant and will get larger (height charts/forecasts to prove it) - even in a school with an anti-bullying policy we are concerned about social exclusion as she's not at head height and can easily miss conversations, plus the OT provisions will mark her out as "different" anyway. Only one of her friends has a place at her offered school, most are going to preferred school, and the support of her existing friends is going to be crucial to her fitting in at high school. We have a letter from a large dwarfism charity to support this - not sure how much weight this carries?
Any comments or advice greatly appreciated, thanks.