independent place won at tribunal - now LA opening a new free school - worried

[bjkmummy]

as you know i won an independent out of county asd special school placement for my younger son at great expense to my LA. My LA have no special schools in county so most children have to go out of county.

in the next county is a generic maintained special school - my elder son is there and is happy there. when i was going through tribunal for younger son the school refused him a place as he was too academically able. duringmy chat with the head i jokingly said he should open a free school in my county so i was a bit shocked when i got an email saying thats exactly what he now intends to do!

will be a 50 place special school for complex needs - thats all the details i have, doesnt say what age range it will cover. it says there are 8 children in this county going there.

it is due to open in sept 2015 which is the exact time that my younger son will transition into secondary so i can see where this is heading and that the LA will name this free school for my younger son. im in a bit of a panic after battling so hard for independent asd school when in 2 years time i can expect a battle again with the LA.

am i just being extremely over anxious or could this happen? his current placement is 70K a year because of the transport mainly. the current school has inhouse SALT and OT - the new school im guessing will be reliant on the NHS as the other special school has no in house therapy at the moment.

my other headache will be that by then the dreaded EHC plans will be in place. if i do end up at tribunal in 2015 at least i will be able to get reports from the independent school SALT OT and ed psych!!!!

i may be panicing over nothing as they have a long way to go to get it open and may not even get permission

[moondog]

Why are you anxious?
It's the possibility of a brand new school in your area which would releive your son from what sounds like a long journey. I'd jump at the (remote) possibility it will be ready sometime soon

[bjkmummy]

the school he is at now is simply amazing and has onsite SALT and OT - he is a highly anxious and complex kid. the school has the most amazing qualified staff in autism - the new school will be a generic school with kids across the spectrum of disablities so will have children with physical disabilities and with severe learning difficulties. my son is a high funtioning autistic child. the new school will get their therapies via the NHS who will be not as qualified as the staff in his current school and as it will not be in house it will be as and when. the sister special school that is opening the free school has already turned my son down for the school they currently have.

[moondog]

They're highly unlikey to move a child who is settled and happy.
I wuldn't worry.

[beautifulgirls]

I would have thought they would have to have a very good reason to move him at that point and the fact that the provision can be given for less money is not a good reason. If he is settled there then a move would be detrimental to his well being. It sounds like there is a big gap in the local provision so there is a high chance they will fill all the places straight away anyway. Try not to worry, bear it in mind, keep the paperwork supporting how well he is doing and it will all work out fine.

[insanityscratching]

Bjk our LA have now opened the resource that they had pencilled in for ds. We had AR last week and it wasn't even mentioned. Trust the school, if you want him to stay there they will support you in keeping him there I promise. By the end of ds's review last week the LA were so impressed and under no illusion that only SH could meet ds's needs. The HT, SALT and ds's teacher were amazing