To tell Children's Services it is a malicious referal from school

[UndertheCedartree]

So DD's school have today told me they are referring us to Children's Services. Ever since I made a complaint they have been trying to off roll her. They are not putting in proper support for DD leaving her struggling and then not wanting to go in the next day. Apparently this is all my fault. I feel this is just another tactic for me to be so fed up with the school I pull her out.

Sorry, that's totally mad - they make you sit in reception all day?! What's that supposed to achieve? What do you do there all day? Do you take packed lunches?

I am just baffled that they would do that.

We've only done it the one day as it was so distressing to DD.

But I did feel like going in another day, setting up a blackboard in reception and rearranging the chairs to create a 'desk' for DD then teaching her myself! Then at lunchtime spreading out a picnic blanket!

Good grief, how annoying. I'm frustrated reading your updates so God knows how you feel! It's like they're saying all the right things but actioning none! Their current plan is sheer lunacy.

That's madness.

It would make more sense to withdraw her and homeschool her.

I'm not saying you're mad. I think you're 100% justified in showing the school just how silly they're being and failing in providing her an education in a safe environment, and I'm definitely not saying withdraw her as that gives the LA a free pass to wash their hands of the responsibility to educate her too, but it's absolute madness that the LA can even think that this is acceptable.

For one, they haven't even DBS checked you, so you should not be in school providing an education to any pupil, including your own daughter and definitely not in a common area where you have access to other children which is not your intention any way but they are not only failing in providing an education to your child but they're willing to accept the risk that you've no criminal convictions that they should safeguard pupils against. Heck, I even had to have a DBS check just to support my own child for one day. If they've not considered this it might be another angle to raise with them because it just shows how inept they are.

Also if you don't already, keep a diary. They can be used in court as evidence if you need to. Document everything.

I see the whole drama but why do you persevere with this school, dear poster? You have been unlucky with a head master/mistresse? who does not care enough for kids. Ok, she can get away with it with the strong, n typical kids who don't mind but your daughter is not fit for such environment. The people make it. Why don't you go to another school?

Honestly, I feel like I'm going mad at times! I probably will end up having to home educated her but it's not fair that so many autistic DC are let down in this way.

Because there is no other school. I looked round all the local ones and this was the only one that I thought could meet DD's needs. DD's autistic friends who went to the other schools are all home educated now. They didn't even get through Y7. And on top of that all the schools are oversubscribed. It's not easy to just get a place at another school. And DD has people she knows at this school and has made a friend. There's no way she could deal with a big noisy school, no reasonable adjustments and no friends.

Sorry I misinterpreted the message before.

Well done for all you're doing to advocate. I was misinformed in my post so please ignore me! 💜 Sorry x

Just for info for those who haven't had to deal with the UK's crappy SEN system, the process tends to go:

Child has needs
LA refuses to assess them
Parent waits for tribunal date (months)
Tribunal orders LA to assess
LA assesses very slowly
LA refuses to issue EHCP
Parent does tribunal, waits months
Tribunal orders LA to issue
LA eventually issues EHCP
At that stage a suitable school can be named in the plan (including a school the child wouldn't normally be in catchment for) (might have to do additional tribunal if disagree over suitable school, EHCP is crap etc).

Now all this should happen BEFORE secondary really but it means starting in year 3 or 4 to secure something suitable for year 7 so mostly doesn't and the child is left to fail in year 7 and 8, after which they may not be in a fit state to attend school anyway.

All of this is much more difficult if the school doesn't believe you or work with you.

I should have added that changing school while all this is going on isn't a great idea because it sets back the paperwork.

And of course if you have a girl with ASD the chances are they have coped ‘too well’ in primary to be able to do any of this before crisis point in secondary.

That's true. We were "lucky" as DD also has ADHD and (I think) rejection sensitive dysphoria so the problems at home were extreme and fortunately school believed us. Plus the lockdown meant I was able to observe her trying and failing to learn for months and then I was sure about the ADHD.

She is also lucky as I'm good at paperwork and have been around the public sector long enough to be able to detect weasel words and to find out how processes really work.

But. Education should not come down to luck.

We have one child whose diagnosis was apparent in year 1, and who caused the school so many pressing problems that no one could ignore his needs, and one who only really starting falling apart obviously at school in year 6, and not really affecting anyone but herself until her attendance went crazy in year 8.

Although we had to do quite a lot of fighting for the first at the time (also helped by being articulate, confident, public sector experienced and connected), by year 3 we had a package nailed down for him. As a result he has just started secondary in a great unit, ironically in the same school his sister is struggling in, and his primary years were brilliant. She is year 9, barely in school and has just about been keeping it together since year 5. And we have only recently been able to apply for her assessment as, ironically, her school is so on it with SEN stuff in general that they offer over and above the basic support without an EHCP, meaning the LA need evidence of even greater need to grant an EHCP for additional support. There is of course no provision for preempting a crisis based on evidently increasing need until those needs are actually presenting. Law of unintended consequences at work.

Most EHCPs sadly aren’t worth the paper they are written on (certainly for mainstream schools) they are purposely written in a wooly way so they can’t be enforced. What does “high level of support” actually mean?

I'm sorry to hear that @Warmwoolytights.

Everyone who has lived through this knows that it's the support the child gets before they're in crisis that makes the most difference. And the 2014 code does support that. The two rulings I've had from SENDIST support that ("we are concerned about X's level of anxiety..." etc). Unfortunately the reality on the ground often doesn't.

Yes, the Code provides for it. But the reality as you say is not there, particularly when you have a child with a suite of measures already in place. Really for her I suspect she needs a specialist setting to have a chance of going back full time and those places certainly aren’t going to kids who aren’t already in crisis.

My LA is apparently embarking on work to target EBSA, which is a chink of light, and my contribution to the consultation, as well as obviously suggesting they create a whole new lovely school for kids that need it (a local mainstream school has just announced it’s closing and it’s leaving a big hole as its low roll number meant a lot of SEN kids were attending as a lower stress mainstream option), is that they should have EBSA classes in local schools. I’ve read about them in other LAs and they do seem a relatively low cost and successful way to get kids back into school. Looser rules and a different way of teaching to help traumatised kids back into the school system.

I have got a horrible feeling that such units were there in 2014 and have been destroyed by austerity and academisation.

Anyway, fingers crossed for you and your daughter, and for the OP and her daughter.

That is a good tip actually. Research and consultation is going on.

The best support I got was from a lovely PhD researcher writing about DD's specific area of need for her thesis.

We’d definitely coping with the absence of things that have disappeared with austerity. But the wheel is turning very slowly back again now the lack of them is causing big problems (and costs). And EBSA as an increasingly recognised issue is driving some new thinking - hopefully productively.

Year 8 is a time when a lot of autistic children just can’t cope with MS any more.

Have you thought about taking her out to HE her? My 15 year old autistic dd was taken out to HE in year 8. She is currently in the second year of an NVQ Equestrian course at the yard where she rides. She turned out to be brilliant at riding. The HE team are more than happy for her to be doing this and it covers her maths and English requirements as well.

Could you look into this? School doesn’t work for every child and that’s ok. And atm schools are in a state thanks to the previous government.

That's ok

It's crazy isn't it? My DD did well at Primary and it wasn't apparent there were issues until after Lockdown. So we started on the diagnosis journey at that point. She got her diagnosis just before starting Secondary. They told me that 'she wouldn't get an EHCP' but it became apparent very quickly that they weren't meeting her needs.

I home educated my eldest autistic DC until he went to college at 14. He's doing T levels now.

I really wanted to focus on my career as a single mum now. And DD did well in Primary. But that's not possible now, anyway. I'm not going to let my DD be damaged anymore so either appropriate provision needs to provided or I will home educate her.

Have you filed the evidence about the proposed plan for your daughter with the tribunal? It's gold dust, really, as, by insisting that the whole thing is dependent on you being on call to sit with your daughter, it demonstrates that the school is admitting that it cannot meet her needs within the resources normally available in mainstream schools - which is the main criterion for issuing an EHCP.

Also, if their defence is still that they don't think the school has tried out everything that it should have, that just demonstrates that they don't know the law. The only criteria for agreeing to assess are that your child may have SEN, and may need an EHCP.

In fact, in light of that it might be worth writing and spelling all that out to the tribunal officer, and asking whether they still intend to defend the appeal. You could suggest that if they continue to do so and you have to incur costs, you will have to ask for a costs order against the LA because it is blatantly wholly unreasonable for them to continue to oppose assessment.