Worried about ds going to secondary

[Imagoodperson999]

Ds will be going into year 6 in September. Im really worried about him starting secondary school. He has autism is on an ehcp. He's had his ehcp updated recently. He's working at year 1 level.

He's very sensitive and can get withdrawn emotionally/mentally. He will completely close down and won't/can't communicate.

SENCO have said he will be ok at mainstream secondary. With support and neutering.

I find it hard to believe a secondary school can be understanding of him . Have the time and patience to listen to him and be neutering.

I have spoken to one secondary school which my dd still gos to and my adult son went to. They said Ds would be put on the lowest level which makes sense. Home work must be done. The thing with this is they do sparkx? Sorry I may have got the name wrong and if they don't get 100% right they get detention.. so ds will get punished for not knowing answers . He also can't obtain information very well . So he could have been helped with the answer in class but he won't remember that by the time he gets home. And that would be in school at well so he would come across as if he's nkt paying attention. He can't start hus work on his own so he will just sit there and not communicate.

He's ok socially with friends.

But also I know SEN school would not be suitable for him.

I just want him to be happy . Not scared of going to school. Not punished for having special needs.

Home education would not be suitable and private is out of the question

Unfortunately, children are often travelling over an hour to an appropriate school, owing to the complete lack of specialist settings. There are many different types of specialist schools, you would need to research them.

With regard to transport, if there’s a nearer school that could meet need, then you’d have probably chosen that one! Although it’s more complicated than that as it’s the all-in package cost that decides a school, if two can meet needs. So a further school may work out cheaper if fees are less or therapies are included etc.

There is case law that states a child’s journey must be non-stressful and they need to arrive ready to learn. If that means a solo taxi (funded by the LA) then so be it. If shared transport is not appropriate, and the LA can’t offer a school within 3 miles of your house, then they have to face the consequences and pay for solo transport.

With regard to a re-write, this unfortunately falls to the parents. It really shouldn’t, but it’s ultimately you that wants a decent EHCP, not the LA. There are charities that can help and if you qualify for legal aid, they can help too.

If you’re able to get a good EP report though, you would be able to copy and paste a lot into the EHCP.

You have plenty of time to re-write. You will have a phase transfer AR in the autumn term, and that fill be finalised in February (15th at the latest) when you will get an appeal window and another opportunity to re-write.

Someone really needs to understand why he is working at year 1 level in order to better support him.

Yeah it's since 2022

A lot of what the LA will tell you will be local policy and scaremongering to put parents off fighting and appealing. Your comment re transport sounds very much like that. The truth is, all parents want the nearest school. Few parents choose to have a ridiculously long commute to their child’s school.

We are the same re other children. I hope it’s not the same school so that there’s more than one! Mine has only been there since February and he’s a completely different child. 🥰 The difference the right school can make!

I just looked them up. Looks like a good place for help. Im going to contact them on Tuesday.

Am asking from a place of ignorance as I am outside UK and do not have experience of UK education settings.

Do you not have a different stream within mainstream schools for such students. Ours calls it Life Skills stream and basically means the student(s) are exempt from the curriculum. They will never sit nationwide testing or leaving exams or be eligible for leaving quals or uni entrance scoring BUT, who cares, they get the education that will best benefit them on an individual basis. Things like being able to navigate public transport (if able), go to the shop with a certain amount of money and know roughly what they can buy. How much money they should be giving for a load of bread at the bread shop (they don’t use electronic systems with them) if they are able, how to spot their name on a list if they are able etc. Even for the kids with severe intellectual impairment (vs educational) it’s modified. They look at picture books and tell you about the picture (as opposed to reading), are still getting to grips with colours in high school etc. Things like modified geography lessons for them where, instead, they are given a world map with several countries marked and told to colour all countries starting with the letter A blue for example.

@HoppingPavlova not quite how you describe.

Some mainstream schools have units/provisions within mainstream schools. What they are called varies area to area - e.g. additionally resourced provisions, enhanced resource provisions, specialist resource provisions, cabins, hubs. How much time pupils spend in mainstream lessons vs in the unit/provision varies unit to unit. Most of these pupils have the mainstream school named on the EHCP because the majority of the units are not separate institutions.

Some mainstream schools have satellite units from special schools on site. These pupils have the special school named on their EHCPs. Some of these are run completely separate to the mainstream school and just happen to be co-located. Others offer some integration within the mainstream.

Some mainstream schools run nurture groups (although some don’t call it this) or transition groups where pupils are taught separately for some or all of the time. And some schools run different pathway for exam years, which focus on qualifications other than GCSEs or a fewer GCSEs alongside other qualifications.

And some with EHCPs (either in mainstream generally or in one of the situations I have outlined have in this post) have a bespoke timetable.

@perpetualplatespinning Thanks for taking the time to explain that. Always good to know of other systems in this regard.

Please visit range of schools including sen schools. Working at year one level is way behind the year 7 average an d he might be better in a class of similar peers

He needs specialist provision, but you'll have to fight for it. With the best effort in the world a secondary school mainstream teacher won't be able to meet the needs of someone working at year 1 level. Special school teachers have amazing skills and will be able to help him progress. I work in a mainstream secondary, we had a nurture class that similar students were in, but with budget cuts it's now gone. They were back in normal classes and not coping. It's impossible for me to teach GCSE science to a kid that can just about write their name, and I've tried! He will just become frustrated and develop a dislike of school.

Someone suggested private/independent school but I dismissed it . But I accidentally come across this school.

Riverston School https://g.co/kgs/U96arRm

If you don't want to click on the link type riverston school SE12.

It looks like a really small school. There's a bit that talks about bursery/free places it says something about 400 ish pounds. I don't really understand it though.

What i read sound like they have good support there.

But I do worry about pressure it talks alot about GCSE and A level. As much as I would love it for ds to be able to have GCSE. I also dont want him to have loads of pressure on him. It might be that im reading it wrong.

Im also not sure about the travel it is within 3 miles. But its not that easy to get to by public transport. And I don't think ds would manage it. Its at least 2 buses.

Edit : ignore the travel comment it's 1 bus litterly door to door

I saw ths for the same school.

Pupils from 11- 21 years with particular provision for students with mild learning difficulties, autism spectrum disorder of average ability level. There is nursery and early years provision from age 0-5. No junior School.

If ds is working at year 1 level im thinking his difficulties are heigher than mild ? And they say average ability. So now im thinking the school would not be suitable for him 🤔

What does this mean?

Entry to Year 7
Children working at predominantly P8 to beginning of year 3 expectations

It means children the school admit for Y7 are working between P8 and Y3 level.

The P in P8 refers to P Scales. The 8 refers to the level. They run from P1 to P8. P Scales were previously used for assessing what level pupils are working at when they are working below the level of the national curriculum. You can see the descriptors here. Some schools still use this.

If DS is working at Y1 level, he is working between P8 and Y3 expectations.

The statutory walking distance doesn’t apply when DC can’t reasonably be expected to walk to school because of their SEN.

Riverston can be named in EHCPs and therefore funded. However, as it is a wholly independent school, you would need them to offer a place, and I don’t think they would.

Id say higher than mild too. I think you need to get onto some SEN parent and EHCP groups. These things take a lot of time to sort

Yes I am . Im just exploring. And I have a help place that someone recommended up thread. But I think its good to have some ideas i can put across.

Thank you . I looked at that . I dont understand it at all.

If DS is working at Y1 level, he is working between P8 and Y3 expectations

What do you mean by they would need to offer him a place.? Any school i apply to would need to offer a place what ever school it may be? But I have a feeling I have misunderstood

When I asked p8 thingy I saw that for a different school for brent knoll school its another sen school.

Given the wording in the ehcp, if there is a specialist school nearby, why do you think this wouldn't work for him?

I have been a teacher, ta and tutor, including a school with specialist provision attached and been a workplace mentor for a supported intern from our local special needs college. I would be really concerned how he would cope in a mainstream secondary

What do you mean by they would need to offer him a place.? Any school i apply to would need to offer a place what ever school it may be?

With an EHCP, you only need the school to offer a place if they are wholly independent. Wholly independent schools can not be named against their will. Whereas, non-wholly independent schools can be named even if they object because there are limited reasons the LA can lawfully refuse to name your preference, so you don’t need an offer of a place from the school in order for it to be named.

Don’t worry about P-Scales. You don’t need to understand them. If DS is working at Y1 level, he is working at a higher level than P8 but lower than Y3.

Its just what I have been told by senco at the school. And they told me he wont reach thr criteria for sen school. Also a local main stream school told me they can reach his needs. So if a main stream has said this dies that mean a sen school cam be refused.

But yes im worried how he would cope in a mainstream. Even at the lowest set I feel like they probably dont have the tome for him.

Anyway I have been looking at a sen school calling riverston . But that's private. Also talks about mild needs so im not sure if that's suitable for ds.

The other sen school im looking at is Brent knoll.

Technically, Riverston is not registered as a special school. Although it isn’t a typical mainstream and a lot of their pupils have EHCPs.

I asked about the p8 thingy because it said it in the admissions i was trying to work out of he could qualify for that school.

So im a nut shell in very basic terms . Private sen =we are not going to offer the child a place and you can't do anything about it.

State sen: even though we dont want to offer a place we have to because the state says so?

Sorry that's said im such a silly way . I just want to be clear so i understand.

Is it not i thought was.

If he is working at a year one level at the end of year five, why is a special school not suitable for him? Sadly, the gap between your son and the other children is only going to increase the older they get. I would be very surprised if any mainstream school could truthfully accommodate his needs. Don't forget that your LEA will have a budget to think about and it is much cheaper to send a child to mainstream school, even with support, than a special school. My advice would be to look at both mainstream and special schools and see which one would suit your son best. You need to start looking now - don't leave it until year six.

So im a nut shell in very basic terms . Private sen =we are not going to offer the child a place and you can't do anything about it.
State sen: even though we dont want to offer a place we have to because the state says so?

Not quite.

Some independent special/specialist schools are wholly independent and some are section 41 independents. For the former to be named in an EHCP you need an offer of a place. For the latter, you don’t because they can be named even if they object.

State SS may not offer a place but can, and if it is the parent’s preferred school must be named unless the LA can prove one of the exceptions, still be named even if they don’t.

Is it not i thought was.

No, it isn’t. See this government page. It is an ‘other independent school’.