Secondary school appeal help needed for medical grounds

@Susiwoo As you have only just joined, I'll let you know that prh47bridge is a very well respected helpful appeals expert on here also with many years experience in this area.
Hopefully you will become a useful addition to the MN appeals experts if you stick around.

As I said I hope you’re sorted, if not I’ll help.
I’m a fully trained appeal panel member/chair with over 15yrs experience and I sit on appeals in the north west and all over the south of England (just so you know I actually know what I’m talking about).

OP's case is long since over.

An appeal allows an appellant to raise medical reasons why their child needs a particular school even if the school does not have an admissions category for medical needs. For example, if a child is confined to a wheelchair and they have been allocated a school which is not wheelchair accessible, an appeal for a school that is fully accessible is likely to succeed even if the school does not prioritise on medical grounds.

Hindsight is wonderful I know, most schools who have a medical criteria state that the relevant evidence be submitted on application NOT at appeal, this allows them to deal with them prior to national offer day. Did you read that on their website/application anywhere? I’m presuming they have that criteria because not all schools do?
you may already be sorted, I’ve only joined today.

As others have said, what you really need is to go down the route of appealing for your ehcp, otherwise none of the additional support is protected. The school may talk a good game now about adapting these catch up sessions for your son, but equally without an ehcp, if they later decide it's too difficult or stop running the sessions altogether, you don't have a leg to stand on.

It's very common for new schools to invest intensively in their first few cohorts, but over time this can become impossible to scale and things almost inevitably have to change.

I agree with the pp who said that the secondary schools saying they can't meet your son's needs without an ehcp are probably more realistic.

As others have said unless there is a social/medical needs category, the LA don't consider needs when allocating schools for most children - they haven't behaved incorrectly here, but they probably have in terms of the ehcp.

As well as appealing for the school you think can meet DS’s needs and pursing an EHCNA via appealing to SENDIST, is alternative provision already in place for the times DS is unable to attend school but well enough to do something? If DS can’t attend school full time the LA has a duty to ensure he still receives a suitable full-time education.

Y don’t need to pay anyone for advice. The bar for an EHCNA is relatively low - has or may have SEN, and may need SEN provision to be made via an EHCP. You have enough evidence to meet that threshold. Unless money is no object, you would be better saving your money in case you need to appeal refusal to issue or content/placement later down the line and need independent assessments. If DS is not attending school full time, have you requested the refusal to assess appeal is expedited?

Be careful with SENDIASS. Some are good but too many repeat the LA’s unlawful policies.

Also, be aware that Sendiass are funded by the local authority. Some are better than others in terms of their support and advice.

SOS!SEN and Ipsea are fully independent organisations. They both offer free advice and were invaluable to me when I applied for my DS's EHCP.

With your DS only able to access school for 50% of the time, it is vital that he has an EHCP in place. This will enable him (if it's written correctly) to have a tailor-made package of education and support - potentially up to 25.

I don't think this is totally accurate. The op has said that the after school classes are in English and Maths and it should be completely doable to support the boy in these subjects during this time. Given that he may be well enough to do some independent study at home when he is recovering from his bouts of illness and if he is a fairly able child this may be sufficient to keep him working at a reasonable standard. Don't forget that a school day takes up time with registration, assemblies, moving between lessons, PE that might not be accessible to the op's son anyway, etc. it may well be that it will be sufficient for the boy to do well in GCSE and it might also be possible to negotiate a reduced number of GCSEs too if needed.

LA have said it’s not his place to say that and disregarded the evidence.

LEA act illegally shocker🙄🙄🙄. You have both failure to assess need and failure to provide and with only 50% attendance failure to provide an education fit to need.

Yes

You need to challenge ehcp. There is no way in the world the afterschool tuition will be in any way adequate you really do need alternative provision.

You need

1. contact the consultants secretary and current senior. Confirm referral to Ed phsych has been made. Get contact for Ed physc team check referral made

2. get a mediation certificate and (assuming you are within time) apply for tribunal( you might have already done this if it is gone to mediation

3. make it clear that

4. remind the LEA that you will he providing the consultants letter to the tribunal bundle

5. I seriously think you need some expert legal help. Yes it is worth it. But you really do need it. Check if you are entitled to legal aid funding

If his attendance is 50% then with the best will in the world catch up sessions will not make a massive amount of difference, unless you’re looking for those catch up sessions to run from 3.15 - 8.15pm every evening.

you need a provision such as online schooling so he can complete his lessons at home / flexibly as and when he is well enough

Unfortunately without an ehcp - school places are not allocated on which one meets the child's needs.
They are allocated according to the criteria published and needs is never one of the criteria.
You need to accept the school place offered by the council so that you don't end up with no school come September.

Do you have evidence after speaking with them that they can't meet his needs? E.g. you spoke to the Senco to ask how he would be supported in catching up and they said 'x, y, z'? - because while you are appealing for the school you want - this will support your case of why one school is better suited.

Do not just quote the ofsred report as evidence. That is not enough - because it shows you haven't even tried to engage with the school you were given.

That being said - I also think you have a strong case for your appeal. good luck.

(Do consider what you plan to do if you fail, and you have not accepted the alternative place - as council will have no need to help you then)

No he doesn’t have a school place for September as I can’t just accept what the LA chose as they didn’t even read his evidence and look at what’s suitable. They just placed him in the closet school with places.

No I said if I wanted him to go to the school I would have chosen the outstanding school. However I’ve not even applied as it’s not the right setting for him. The one we chose we’ve spoken to who said they can meet his needs.

This is confusing, did you apply to any of these schools other than the faith one (the appeal school?) LA don't "choose" a school, there is a specific allocation process which looks at your preferences first to see of you qualify within the PAN. Had he an ehcp you would have been able to agree this in advance. Do any of these schools have a social/medical category, was he considered for this and given appropriate priority in the admissions process?

If they have a space they have to offer your Dsa place, ehcp or not. They could support your application for one.

I second posters who are suggesting you need to challenge the LA's decision not to assess for an EHCP. (If you are still in time.) Ipsea has some great information about applying for an EHCP and appealing.

https://www.ipsea.org.uk/Pages/Category/get-support

The LA's claim that your DS isn't 'behind enough' to warrant an EHCP assessment is unlawful.

I know DC at grammar schools with EHCP. Academic ability/attainment is only one aspect of an EHCP.

My concern for your DS is regardless of what school he ends up in, it sounds like his needs are significant. Without an EHCP, you are reliant on the 'goodwill' of the school. As budgets get cut more and more, this puts your DS in a very vulnerable position.

I would ask if your DS's consultant would support the EHCP application process. My DS's consultant was happy to write a supporting letter outlining his difficulties. (My DS is operating two years ahead in some academic subjects. His school said he would never get an EHCP but I applied myself and he did.)

I think you are being unrealistic in what you think a school can provide. Even with an EHCP it's unlikely to give access to additional teaching face to face teaching to make up for low attendance.

For appeals, you generally have to say why that school is suitable for your child, not why others are unsuitable. Let’s face it, if there’s only one outstanding school in the area, and the rest ‘needs improving’, every child in the area would have a case to go to the outstanding school.

@DaisyB22 have you, personally, made contact with the allocated school to discus your DS's needs, or are you just going from the Ofsted inspection report? When was that Ofsted inspection?

At appeal, schools which are not purely academically selective have to put forward a case as to why they cannot accept any other pupil over the number already planned for.
Already being just at PAN for the intake is the starting point for that argument, but is not, in itself, sufficient to prove prejudice (though is sufficient not to admit more in the first place).

On the face of it, your DS's case in itself would appear to be good, but... there is the possibility that the independent appeal panel will find that it is not strong enough to overcome the school's case not to admit (one issue with new schools is funding only being released for the number of year groups / pupils there, so a school only on it's third intake won't have an extra 2 year groups' worth of furniture / equipment / staffing on hand to divert to extra pupils in the year groups populated to date). And the point about only wanting an Ofsted Outstanding school really isn't one that you should labour - either this school, for what it actually is able to offer, is 'the one', or it isn’t - the Ofsted label is just a distraction.

I’ve been told by a few schools I need to secure an ehcp first otherwise they can’t meet his needs.

Tbh you probably want one of these school. These school are being realistic about your DCs SEN

I just read the outstanding thing.

Please be careful. Outstanding does not necessarily mean outstanding for SEN.

I remember when our primary head got good. it was well known back then that to get outstanding sometimes meant being very efficient at getting the wrong SEN kids out and into alternative provision and keeping the "right" SEN kids. Our head had a very strong principle of inclusion, she was talking about not being sure she could our wanted to do what was needed to get it to outstanding. I don't think the situation has changed much.

So you haven’t accepted any school place for September? Tbh it sounds like there is an element of you only want your son to go to an Outstanding school. If you haven’t accepted a school place and started a dialogue with your offered school, you don’t have solid grounds for saying why your preferred school is the only one that can meet your son’s needs - you don’t know what provision is on offer because you haven’t accepted a place or asked them.

You don’t need school’s permission to apply for an EHCP, so no matter what you do, get the ball rolling on that process too. There are other more qualified experts on here than me, but I’d want to demonstrate that his current attendance at primary school is impacted by his illness to the degree his consultant states, that measures currently in place are successful in keeping his education up to scratch and therefore need to continue.

If you don't get a SEND lawyer you need to point out to the LEA

the the send code of contact defines a child with SEN as one who

"• has a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of
facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in
mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions " xiv

"…a physical or mental impairment which has a long-term
and substantial adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day
activities’. This definition provides a relatively low threshold and includes more
children than many realise: ‘long-term’ is defined as ‘a year or more’ and ‘substantial’
is defined as ‘more than minor or trivial’. This definition includes sensory impairments
such as those affecting sight or hearing, and long-term health conditions such as
asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, and cancer. " section xvii

It does not define it as a child whose education means they are already failing.

(Your consultants letter confirms your son is unable to access normal education facilities for a prolonged period of time)

And remaind the LEA they have a legal duty to identify need.

But a solicitor will do this better

The eleven plus.co.uk website has some good advice regarding appeals (although some, but not all, is grammar-school specific). Maybe worth looking on there.

I think tbh you are focusing on the wrong thing, You really really need to challenge the EHCP decision. I really can't see a way your challenges aren't going to multiple at secondary without an EHCP.

It is clear from your consultants letter your DS requires more support than the norm to make equivalent progression. I suspect your child will need even more support come secondary. This should mean EHCP. I can't see how your LEA will win this decision, they are relying on your not challenging it.

Has your consultant made referral to OT? Is there a specialist nursing team? You need precise documentation of needs from one or the other or both. If you can cobble together the money to do it, i would suggest you need a private OT report from an OT experienced in tribunal work if you can cobble together more money get a SEN solicitor or advocate. I had one that gave us a fixed price (£2500 + £1500 if it goes to tribunal, it didn't because the LEA capitulate prior to tribunal. they have been worth every penny)

I don't know the condition but is the periods he is unable to attend school, is it because he is unable to for immune reason or he will be completely flattened an to ill to work at all or somewhere in between?

I will say at this point I'm a huge advocate for alternative schooling provision. So for example DS suffers from fatigue issues. When he was in mainstream secondary he would had times when he was too ill to attend school but actually he could have sat an watched a lesson on his laptop for example. but i still picked a traditional secondary because alternative provision at that time really really not the done thing. He Suddenly thrived during lockdown where we we're able to work to our own schedule and he didnt miss any learning, and (after his medical conditions worsened) this has become a formalised EOTAS (education other than at school) fully funded by the LEA. I know a few kids who are thriving or have thrived under EOTAS. DS' package involves home tutor, gym membership, occupational therapy, I know other children that have had small group education funded or online schooling. All very very successfully.

In your sons case I'd look at a more online school like interhigh. All the lessons are recorded so he literally will never miss a lesson. Ensure adequate socialisation through hobbies and clubs.

Alternatively in a mainstream provision I'd suggest you probably need tutor to cover any gaps.

If you can get your Consultant or specialist nursing to write what you want into a letter (so instead of "ds will miss x amounts of schooling' 'ds will miss x amounts of schooling and will need extra tutoring/alternative provision to ensure). But ot should be able to cover what you need.