What recourse do I have for school refusing to give “vulnerable child” place to DC with ASD (but no EHCP)

[Fr0thandBubble]

DS1 has autism and is struggling to access online learning. He struggles with concentration and executive functioning and finds it very hard/impossible to work independently at home. Both DH and I have full time jobs and have very limited time to sit with him and help him.

We have therefore asked his school for a place as a “vulnerable child”, on the basis that he is having difficulty engaging with remote education (one of the stated grounds). They have said no as they already have 18 key worker children and children with EHCPs in his year who have places in school (my DS does not have an EHCP but does have an official diagnosis of autism and is registered with the local authority’s children centre and CAMHS). 18 is a lot less than his usual class size of 30.

I’ve just had a huge row with his SENCO and made it clear that I consider that they are failing their legal obligation to educate him but what the hell can I actually do to make them give him a place? I know this isn’t an AIBU but posting for traffic - if anyone has any advice it would be very much appreciated.

I think they've messed up offering proper teaching this lockdown. I expect you are one of many many parents in that school desperate to get their kids in and educated. Nobody will want their child left behind. What a mess. They'd be far better off keeping a level playing field and offering emergency childcare only.

My daughter also has an ASD diagnosis (year 3) but no EHCP. I don't consider her vulnerable enough to get a place at school. Yes, it might be the best thing for her, it is the best thing for every child - but we can't have that right now. Over 1000 people died today! We all need to make sacrifices. For me educating an ASD child whilst working at home full time as a single parent is extremely demanding and far from ideal, but it's what must be done.

@Fr0thandBubble

The children who are in are being taught by teachers face to face. I think in the first lockdown it was more of a childcare arrangement but this time around they are getting proper teaching. I really want DS to access this.

Doubt it. If they've got 18 kids in class and another lot learning at home they'll be teaching all the lessons twice. No way that's happening.

I thought the whole point was that it was guidance and not statutory. Unfortunately individual school have to be able to flex the guidance to fit in with their pupil demographic and the number of staff who may be isolating or vulnerable. You're being very unfair, the pressure on schools to set up lateral testing, deliver live streamed classes, supervise key worker/vulnerable students is huge. He absolutely won't be receiving teaching that pupils at home are not though, he really won't.

My friend's DS has severe autism and learning difficulties and is non-verbal. His special school was closed for the entire first lockdown and his parents got no help at all despite him needing 24 hour care.

I don't know what the situation is with special schools this lockdown but many seriously disabled children have not been provided with any education or care.

I'm sorry but I think your case is different. Your DS may not get on well with online learning but many NT children don't either. I am sympathetic but think that in this difficult situation needs must be prioritised. There's no point in having a lockdown if a large percentage of children are still attending schools.

I agree with virtually everyone else.
What you might 'want' and what is available just aren't the same thing.

I was talking to a teacher about an hour ago. He has been trying to get all of his own class connected on Microsoft Teams today, whilst also teaching a mixed class of the children that are in the building, joint from 2 year groups, including all the with children with EHCPs, whilst also trying to actually teach his own class with things he's had to prepare differently from the work he had already prepared for this week, having been told they were in class.

It is a nightmare. You shouting at the SENCo is really unfair. Everyone is doing their best in the circumstances that have been dumped on them. You are no more 'entitled' than the next family. All sorts of dc have SEND, but that doesn't mean they 'qualify' for a place at school.

@Fr0thandBubble

The children who are in are being taught by teachers face to face. I think in the first lockdown it was more of a childcare arrangement but this time around they are getting proper teaching. I really want DS to access this.

@Fr0thandBubble

Likely not true. The school cannot give preference to children who are permitted to attend as that would be unfair to all the children working from home.

At our school critical workers children will be sat doing their online work exactly the same as other children from home. Only difference is they’ll be sat in a classroom at a PC and a staff member (likely just cover staff) will sit in the room far away as an adult chaperone. That’s it.

Plus your child will likely be in that room with children of doctors and nurses etc who have no choice but to take a place and so may have a higher Covid risk.

To be clear, the guidance says that a vulnerable child includes:

“those who have been identified as otherwise vulnerable by educational providers [...] and who could therefore benefit from continued full-time attendance, this might include [...] those who may have difficulty engaging with remote education at home [and] others at the provider’s discretion including pupils and students who need to attend to receive support or manage risks to their mental health.”

It is these grounds I am relying on.

My firm isn’t furloughing and it is a pretty cut-throat sector. If I don’t do the work, I am fairly confident I will end up being managed out. As the main breadwinner for a child with special needs whose future earning capacity is very much unknown, I am not going to jeopardise my job, because there is a good chance I am going to have to support DS financially throughout his adult life.

I really doubt the ones that are in are being taught , my ds is a teacher and the children that are in school are simply accessing the same online lessons / work that the ones at home have access to , and that is the same in all the schools that he has friends teaching in . It would be massively discriminatory for the ones in school to be actually being taught any differently to the ones at home and would open a real can of worms for the school surely .

School are in the right here imo. He doesn't meet the criteria and while he might learn better in school they could probably say that about nearly every child on their roll. A line has to be drawn somewhere.

Not denying that it's a shit situation - it is - but "I want" doesn't automatically equal "I get".

Op... at the provider’s discretion

@Fr0thandBubble also please don’t shoot at the SENCo as it’s most likely not her decision. They cannot overide the decisions of the SLT on who gets a place. Plus you’ll have pissed them off for any future help. They are human too.

*shout not shoot obviously

If you can't take the time out, your DH will need to do it. Your son won't get 1-1 even if he is at school.

Op your problem is you need an EHCP once you have that you’re in a stronger position

Exactly what @specialcase said.

I’m in a similar position OP and totally feel your pain. I think the frustrating bit is that there seems to be a lot more children in school that I would have anticipated.

I Imagined maybe 6/7 maximin per class of 30, because I assumed that with all the kick off and parents demanding schools close (on here it seemed the majority wanted them to close) they would do what they can to keep them off....

Apparently not. Everyone seems to want a space. I don’t believe most that 5 kids per 30 have both parents, both key workers- working full time, neither can work from home, with no other option at all for childcare.

If they’ve got half the class in anyway seems pointless to close school to all other kids because of the negative affects.

@Fr0thandBubble

To be clear, the guidance says that a vulnerable child includes:

“those who have been identified as otherwise vulnerable by educational providers [...] and who could therefore benefit from continued full-time attendance, this might include [...] those who may have difficulty engaging with remote education at home [and] others at the provider’s discretion including pupils and students who need to attend to receive support or manage risks to their mental health.”

It is these grounds I am relying on.

My firm isn’t furloughing and it is a pretty cut-throat sector. If I don’t do the work, I am fairly confident I will end up being managed out. As the main breadwinner for a child with special needs whose future earning capacity is very much unknown, I am not going to jeopardise my job, because there is a good chance I am going to have to support DS financially throughout his adult life.

Op that section of vulnerable could apply to every child in my school. Asmuch as we want to, we can't give every child a place on site. You don't seem to be listening to the majority of posters, the school have said no, so unfortunately your DS won't be able to attend school.

more than 5

@SionnachRua

School are in the right here imo. He doesn't meet the criteria and while he might learn better in school they could probably say that about nearly every child on their roll. A line has to be drawn somewhere.

Not denying that it's a shit situation - it is - but "I want" doesn't automatically equal "I get".

Absolutely this.

Plus as the OP stated herself in the guidance it states it is at “the providers discretion”.

@Fr0thandBubble

The children who are in are being taught by teachers face to face. I think in the first lockdown it was more of a childcare arrangement but this time around they are getting proper teaching. I really want DS to access this.

I would be really surprised if that were the case. I've been in school this week, looking after the keyworker/vulnerable children. They've each been given a laptop to do the set work on.

Once the work is done, they then get to do art, crafts, a bit of extra time in the playground, or even watching a short video. There is no formal teaching involved at all.

It sounds like your main concern is actually your own job and being able to do it without interruption. Unfortunately there are loads of us in the same boat.

Some of our classes have 60% of the children in, that's keyworker children, some with EHCPs and those vulnerable children with a allocated social worker. If we took in those who found home learning difficult to access , we would have pretty much every child in- hardly the point of lockdown!

Absolutely this.Plus as the OP stated herself in the guidance it states it is at “the providers discretion”.

I think we're talking to the wall tbqh. But I absolutely agree with you about OP marking her card with the school. Where I work, any shouting at the staff = instant hang up and no further direct contact with that teacher is allowed.

My SIL is a TA at a school with a high number of key worker / vulnerable children. They are in bubbles of about 20. They've just had to tell one bubble to isolate as a member of staff who was in yesterday developed a cough in the afternoon and received a positive result a couple of hours ago. They also have 2 children waiting on test results after developing a symptoms overnight, so could end up with 3 bubbles in isolation.
That will mean doctors / nurses who cannot go to work as they have no childcare. It could also leave some very vulnerable children in very difficult home environments.
The problem with over filling bubbles is it will lead to more periods of isolation when rates are as high as they are at the moment.
I can understand any parent wanting their child in school, but we all have to look at the bigger picture.