Don’t know what to do about Secondary School. Sen advice.

[asdbaybeeee]

Ds is in year 6 and is autistic. Every school year has differed massively, some years he’s had an amazing teacher and has thrived other years he has struggled. He has had a full time 1:1 throughout school. This year has been a struggle, he’s been out the classroom a lot being taught separately by his 1:1, he’s had a lot of bullying and it feels a bit lik e school are taking the easy route rather than trying to support him developing independence. He does achieve well academically.
We had to choose secondary schools last October, we followed sencos advice and went for mainstream, we did look at a couple of Sen schools but the ones in our town only do a few GCSE’s or life skills. Two mainstream schools said no in consultation and one didn’t respond so that school was chosen by default.
I had a meeting yesterday with the chosen secondary school senco and she was extremely negative, said she couldn’t understand why we hadn’t applied to Sen schools and he’s obviously not going to cope in mainstream and they can not put the support in place he will need.
I don’t know what to do, we could look at Sen schools but the council have chosen this school so I’m not convinced they will change it now plus we are running out of time for a September start and the local Sen schools are full.

His current primary believe he will manage mainstream if well supported but this school clearly don’t want him.
He has a EHCP and higher level funding, his EHCP states 25 hours of support which is a combination of 1:1 and small group. He has always had a consistent 1:1 since nursery.
Any advice?

Just to say there are no integrated classes in our town. There’s 1 semh school and 2 mlds that he could meet the criteria for and a couple of independent schools but they only offer life skills and the semh school offers 3 GCSE’s. The only other option is mainstream.

This sounds so difficult. It isn't clear - did you visit the mainstream schools in advance? I wasn't aware that schools can refuse children unless they were already full, based on a very strict entry criteria. I know that's not much help.

Ugh what a horrible situation to be in. Why didn’t the school respond and say no at the time? Really unfair of them not to and then say at this point they don’t think it’s going to work. Although in hindsight it would have been best to speak to the SENCOs before choosing.
I think procedurally he would have to start there then if they can’t meet need they need to formally say that to the council which would back up the need for specialist. But really he should have the chance to give it a go. I think you might need to say to the school firmly they need to put in place the support and go ahead or tell the LA formally no now and you look elsewhere but I don’t think you can do much until the school formally tell the local authority they can’t meet need. Perhaps they’re being overly pessimistic

Also you might be b st posting on the SEN board for more advice

We visited the three secondary schools we chose the year before, had a tour of school , spoke to the senco and we attended the opening evenings with our son.
Mainstreams can say no in consultation if they feel they can not meet need then either the LA will choose a school and ‘force’ them to take the child or Sen schools will be consulted. In those situation the school that was chosen did not respond to the consultation with yes or no so was chosen by default.

Thanks for replying, I think you are right it’s just so disheartening. If it does fail i assume they will call an emergency EHCP review and then we will need to pursue Sen options. It’s awful to think of sending him to a school that doesn’t want him I’m worried I’m setting him up to fail.

if he was less academically able we would probably have been mor inclined to go down Sen route

Hi OP, this is a really difficult situation to be in and the SENCO is awful to be so negative like that.
It is worth doing your research between now and
September. Find out about how the school can support your son. Ensure there’s a dialogue between his primary school who say he’ll be fine in mainstream and the potential new school who say he won’t manage. Get lots of evidence of this dialogue. See if there any SEND schools outside the LA that are more appropriate for him. Including independent ones. Speak to your caseworker and present them with all of this information.
It might be the case that your son does really well at his new school but if it doesn’t work then it’ll be good to have back up plans in the meantime. The LA will have to support him in an independent SEND school if you prove to them that there are no other options. Obviously this takes time and in an ideal world will happen smoothly.
Good luck with it all.

I’m sorry OP I can’t give a firm answer on whether this is an option - just something I’m wondering reading your post…

I wonder if there’s a case to make for them creating a bespoke package in his EHCP that combines time at an SEN school, and then additional tutoring/EOTAS for higher level academic provision, to best meet his educational needs?

If he is academically capable it does seems a great shame for him to have an academic route denied to him - but he’s also unlikely to do well academically in a mainstream that don’t want him and aren’t invested in making adaptions to help him thrive.

I have a child who sounds similar level of needs to your son and is also Y6, primary SENDCO is like a chocolate teapot.
i met with our catchment secondary when they were in Y5 , shared her EHCP and they immediately said they couldn’t meet need. No secondaries offer 1-2-1 support and this is what she needs .
I then began my own search of every specialist provision in our county and visited and contacted as many as I could.
Through the phased transfer process we then consulted with a wide range and she had been placed in our parental pretence .
It’s not too late for you to try and resolve this , immediately contact your LA caseworker explaining the situation , ask the school to notify LA they can’t meet need.
What date was his final EHCP issued naming the school ? It should have been within the last three months as it’s a phased transfer so call the number on the letter today to begin mediation around placement .
My experiences have taught me you have to be more than proactive in this situation , no one else will advocate for your child .

Thank you I will ask this if we go down Sen route

It sounds like you are very limited for suitable local options. In case you haven't thought of it as an option, have you considered whether an online school might suit your child? That very much depends on your child needs of course but possibly something to consider.

We had a EHCP review in October where we gave the three mainstreams we wanted to consult with. The school never consulted but was added to the EHCP in February.
We have really only looked in our city as I have health issues and can’t do a long commute and dh works full time. We think DS would struggle with transport.

We did meet with the school and discuss his needs but we didn’t have a copy of his EHCP at the time due to there being an issue with the online portal, we only got a copy after the secondary school had been named

You’re limiting the school options but staying local. School transport is an option, even if he would struggle.

LA always go with parents first choice, so by choosing mainstream, that’s what they’ve gone with.

I can’t understand why anyone thinks mainstream would work if your son is currently out of class in primary school.

Mainstreams very, very rarely have 1:1 TAs.

If the chosen mainstream didn’t even respond then it’s obvious they are not going to meet his needs in September.

You need to find an advocate and search further afield for a SEN school.

Lots of mainstream secondary schools have 1:1 TAs. All the ones I have worked in have had them and I have worked in quite a few.

The school only gets funding for the number of hours stated in the EHCP which can make it tricky to find someone for the job especially as the 1:1 support is usually needed part time across the week for particular lessons. It can work if you have an existing TA who has a suitable number of hours available but that is not always possible.

The complexities of meeting the underfunded EHCP requirements are often the thing that puts off schools. Some mainstream schools are really well set up for SEND and have larger specialist departments and more flexibility but they few and far between.

The problem is we had to make the decision early last October and he had only been in the class 4/5 weeks and was still in the classroom at that point. The previous year he had been out the class a lot and we didn’t know. Prior to that he was always in class.

It sounds like you need to look further afield. My son goes to a school for autistic children that offers gcse's and vocational qualifications. Although lots of the kids had 121's in mainstream, they don't need them now, as everything is planned around meeting their needs. He is fine with the transport, as a friend doesn't from his class is in the same taxi. I would suggest it is worth a try before ruling further away schools out.

It sounds like a typically tricky situation where the AR has happened and decisions were made so early in the year as usual meaning that by the time the revised EHCP is issued and school places are allocated, it’s based on old information of when your son was in the classroom.

Can you book a meeting with the secondary senco (and primary one if possible) to discuss the next steps?

My daughter is in year 6 going into a ASD u it in mainstream in year 7. Her school won't take any 1:1 kids. That's not legal but it happens anyway.

My two sons are both in indi sens schools sitting GCSEs. My eldest is doing A levels and had a offer of Bristol uni. But they are few and far away so go via taxi. Look again further out. However these type of schools might also be full now. If they are a non maintained independent they can refuse on grounds of being full and you can't appeal. But all other schools you can appeal.

However the appeal window is two months from the Final ehcp naming a school. You might just be in that window or slightly out which is still OK to raise a appeal ( s month late might be tricky). If you do appeal you need to expedite the date as they a year to be heard.

I'd get advice from.the charity Ipsea or sossen asap..look at sen schools future out and independent ones too. Also units in mainstream

If you want to pursue special/specialist school now but your right of appeal has lapsed (which it would have if the LA finalised the phase transfer appeal on time), you could see if SENDIST will allow leave to appeal out of time. No guaranteed SENDIST will allow it but worth asking.

Is all the provision DS needs detailed, specified and quantified in F? It should be. If it is, it must be provided. It isn’t optional and the LA is ultimately responsible for ensuring it is provided.

BTW, legally you didn’t have to state 3 schools at the review meeting. You only had to state your preferred placement when you received the amended notice/draft/notice of amendment.

We have a meeting booked in next week so m just not sure what to do for best.

Consider speaking with small independents. We’ve had this fees funded with 20 hours 1:1 on an EHCP where all mainstream state said no. Full academic curriculum was essential for our child.

Haven’t read full thread yet so sorry if this has already been said

It won’t be that they don’t want him it will be that their budget doesn’t allow the staffing to meet his needs. And EEF advice is to move away from 1:1 TAs.
it’s the result of a system that doesn’t work and a SEND review that wasn’t worth the paper it’s written on.

For context….. added up the EHCP hours in my mainstream secondary school mean there should be 26 full time TAs…. There are 2 full time and 2 part time.

it sounds like primary might not be clued up on the way secondary works and the senco was trying to be honest that they cannot meet his needs if he’s needed a 1:1 TA for 7 years.

Thank you it’s so wrong. His EHCP hours total nearly all day (mostly 1:1 and some small group) it’s wrong that the funding doesn’t match that.

Focus on the provision detailed, specified and quantified in F rather than the funding. The provision detailed, specified and quantified in F must be provided, the LA is ultimately responsible for ensuring it is provided, and it can be enforced.

This applies whether the secondary normally provides 1:1 or not or whether they want to or not. LAs sometimes try to rely on the argument that 1:1 creates dependence. This misrepresents to research. A good 1:1 who is trained properly and deployed correctly does not lead to dependence. Michael Charles, a well regarded SEN solicitor, once wrote a piece on this if you are interested.