Appeal help for son with aspergers

Bridge, when we do the re application, it wouldn't hurt to put on the school we've already been refused though will it?

You could also ask for a EHC needs assessment yourself by writing to the Local Authority using this template Be prepared to appeal if you have to but if your son has already been struggling in primary and has had a spell of school refusal then secondary school could very well prove to be a nightmare.

Sorry to hear you've had problems.

The advice I'd give from personal experience is beware of appealing to a school who are saying things like "we don't take medical cases".

Especially an academy.

Some schools/academies (wrongly obviously!) put their budgets and image above other things and they won't be as supportive as they should and this will cause as many of not more issues than attending a larger/further away school.

Have a look at other options too. Like if the school they've offered is over 3 miles away they have to provide transport.
Meet the senco's in all local schools with his Sen plan and ask them how they meet need. La have a duty to provide a school that can meet need.

Yes, they might. Those are the rules. The waiting list must be ordered using the admission criteria only. They cannot put someone last on the list just because they applied late. So if someone who applies who lives closer to the school than you or is in a higher admissions category they will go ahead of you on the waiting list.

Helpmyhair I rang our LA today to ask about the reapplying and she said I don't have to put the required but refused school down. But there was a very long pause before she answered and it's made me wobble. We were told we have to put down our offered school though if we don't want to lose the place. It's as clear as mud to me.

So, do we reapply stating

1.wanted already refused school
2.new school
3.offered school

Or

1.new school
2.offered school

It makes me twitchy not seeing the one we really want on there though! We will be appealing and in the process of gathering info.

There are 67 on the waiting list for our wanted school. No idea where we are but we will be far down for sure.

"I’ve since found out if I make a second round of applications to a new set of schools then that would superceed my original application (the one where we are ‘top’ of the waiting list for our first choice) so it’s not a good idea to do!"

I think that this is wrong advice. You can ask to go on the waiting list for any school, which is what you have done for the school that you had as first preference. If you find another school that suits you then you can ask for a place at that school. If there are places you get one, if the school is full, which is most likely then you can then ask to go on the waiting list for that school as well as your first preference school. What you cannot have is two offers. I am not sure whether you have accepted the offer made, even though you do not want it, or not. If you have then if an offer of another school is made then you have to relinquish the one you have accepted.

I don’t see how making a second round application could affect your waiting list position, because the waiting list is held in accordance to the criteria, and your situation (distance etc) presumably hasn’t changed

I suspect that what they mean is that if the OP makes a second round application that doesn't name this school her child will be removed from the waiting list for this school.

I’ve had a long day, so I may be having a logic failure somewhere!

I don’t see how making a second round application could affect your waiting list position, because the waiting list is held in accordance to the criteria, and your situation (distance etc) presumably hasn’t changed?

Unless they mean you will then be treated as a late applicant and therefore be admitted after everyone else, but then should you not be given the place now if that is the case? And you would still end up in the same position on the waiting list?

Sorry, I genuinely don’t know the answer to those! Musing rather than trying to suggest something!

Who has told you that there is a space and you are top of the waiting list and more importantly is it in writing ?
There is always a 2 to 3 week period where the LA sorts out what acceptances and what rejections there have been before they reset the admission criteria waiting list. Normally the schools and LA would not give you the advice that you seem to have got as they know that there is always the potential for somebody else to request a place and have greater priority than the current number 1. What normally happens is that the new admission criteria order is created on 22nd March and then they allocate to places based on this list
If you have something verbal then I would go back to whoever it was by email and "say it is my understanding from our conversation that a place has become available and that as top of the waiting list the place has been offered to me. When can you confirm this is writing."
If it is already in writing that is even better.
The reason I say do this is that it creates an expectation that you have been made an offer, even if it was not in writing. Most appeal panels if they got an email saying what you have said was indicated would say that the expectation had been made and therefore should be given a place. I suppose what I am doing is trying to counter a position where on the 22nd March you are not top of the waiting list and therefore miss out on this available place.

@AAA20 I've replied now

@AornisHades, can you please check your mail . Have just PM you . Thank you .

Hi helpmyhair! We chatted briefly via inbox as my son also has been refused and has autism.

Hope you don't mind me following your thread!

Definitely collect together as much evidence as possible. We are going to make an appointment with his GP and see what she says. Our difficulty is we moved 300 miles away 2.5 years ago. Our current area is absolutely atrocious for any help whereas where we were before he had a paediatrician. Obviously we have tons of paperwork from said paediatrician but not sure how valid because of time difference?

Not that he has recovered from his autism of course! The only up to date report we have is a report from our communication and interaction team that came to see him in school, albeit it is an excellent report that clearly lists his issues connected to his autism and several other things that I feel would be beneficial at an appeal.

We are also in the same boat no ehcp. Always been told he isn't bad enough.

We have one failed school place already where he was out of school for the whole of year 3, left old primary at the end of year 2. We then moved and he went back into school in the January of year 4.

After initial upset he has settled beyond our wildest dreams but still always teetering on the edge. He is a bright boy but needs constant encouragement and pastoral care to succeed. By his own admittance he has said if he can get away with doing nothing then he will. He told us at the open evening of the offered school (that we went to with a totally open mind by the way, dh is a teacher and I was a ta before I had my son) that he felt it was a school where he could easily get away with doing nothing

School we want is run by a female head (who is ex army!) and it has super clear boundaries and expectations - realise I've probably made that sound extreme but I knew as soon as we went there it would make him feel safe.

I would keep away from the "he is bright and the school is quite achieving" point. It can easily come across as "my child is clever so needs a good school" which can't win your case and could put the panel's backs up.

Whilst you shouldn't criticise the offered school, it is absolutely fine to point out ways in which it is unsuitable due to his condition. So, "it is an awful school and no-one in their right minds wants to send their child there" is not a good argument but, "the corridors are very narrow and are likely to set off his claustrophobia" is fine (provided, of course, that is truthful).

Also, although I stayed away from criticism of the offered school, I did compare them and in the appeal I did ask if I could tell them a couple of things that made the offered school completely unsuitable.

All of those things are good. Can you get Google views of the school or lift photos from the school website to illustrate its open aspect? Is his claustrophobia mentioned by the consultant?
Are there any inclusion clubs he might specifically benefit from that the offered school don't have?
The panel won't necessarily know either school so you will need to explain and evidence things. Same goes for his diagnosis. Make it clear how it affects him and how the school will help that.

You can submit a far wider set of evidence at appeal than in the admissions round. We had a letter from the primary school considered at appeal for example.

Simply to echo what prh47bridge has said - even if there is no social/medical category in the admissions criteria, you can still argue an appeal on those grounds.