AIBU that the system is leaving a whole group of children behind.

[Sendhelp20]

I know this will be down to location to but wow my mind is blown. We are in the middle of being allocated a secondary school for DD11 and there doesn’t seem to be a school that exists for her 🤣( I should not laugh but If I don’t I will cry )

she is academic although not advance and has gaps in her learning which does mean she is mildly behind this is due to missing 3 and half years of primary school.

all the schools consulted in a radius of 1 hour of our home which including

Sen schools - with different specialities
mainstream schools with units
and mainstreams have all come back
they can’t meet her needs

some she is “too academic “
others she is too complex

so now they are suggesting a mixture of home tutoring / online education but she wants to go to school 😭

where are the children who are inbetween going 😭😭

My dd was in a similar situation but I refused the referral unit for mental health conditions placement as it wasn't academic enough. I worked with the Lea and the mainstream secondary to get a bespoke arrangement in place in the mainstream school

Yes
community nurses and out reach PCN nurses tend to come to any meetings / ehcp reviews.
one of the reasons why it needs to be near home is so the community nurses can access her and she access the hospital when needed to.

I do know the LA are trying and we are lucky that the team do know her from primary fairly well.
I will email tomorrow and ask for any updates and then maybe a meeting on how to move forward.

Aw OP, I felt the same! My DC sounds terribly complex on paper.

In real life everyone is charmed! (She's no angel but saves her naughty behaviour for DH and me...)

She could have a direct 1 -1 at secondary too.

I’m sorry this sucks

see this is where I’m at with the mainstreams of I knew we would have the same package with the LA as we do now I would not hesitate to send her to a mainstream but I’m unsure if a secondary will want that as I know they are funny about 1-1.

So this would be my preference we have been lucky with the package we have for primary with the LA like super lucky - if we could keep the current package / agreement in secondary then I would have no issues with mainstream but I’m not sure if they would implement it in a secondary school.

We were offered a place at our local non Sen private school for our son when all the other schools could meet needs by the council. They were going to pay the fees for us. So don't discount private schools if they could work.

Are there any cerebral palsy specialist schools near you? That could work? Alternatively I would push for a mainstream and more support for her. It will be the councils preference as even if they give her a one to one it will be 1/3rd of the price of a Sen school place.

Our local mainstream catholic secondary is also very inclusive and has several students with down syndrome and other significant needs. Might be worth seeing if there is a mainstream like that near you.

Hmm OK. Think I'd turn detective on this. Draw a circle round the hospital and investigate every possible school in a sensible travel radius.

Are you still in touch with the hospital school staff? Which schoold have DC gone in to? Which do they hear good reports of?

Our hospital school would do anything for anyone and former students often kept in touch.

1 to 1 for medical needs at secondary is totally different to one for behavioural needs. I would push for that to be implemented. Go and chat to the sendco at the school you like best and see what they can put in place.

Completely agree. This is my nephew in a nutshell plus some other kids I know via planet adoption. Online school for my nephew. I even wonder if there things mainstream schools to do to adapt- I.e. kids not moving from class to class and staying in one classroom might be a big help for sensory issues.

By "all schools" I'm just thinking our 2nd choice was a small local Catholic independent. We're not Catholic but they had a good rep with SEN and didn't actually mind if you weren't religious.

@Sendhelp20

My dd had a combination of mainstream, time with 1:1 and a bolt hole in the school office where she could work independently, she didn't need constant supervision (autism is very variable!)

Completely off thread but I also live in rural Scotland and my DS is severely dyslexic, same lack of provision locally but with a hub. DS is actually doing really well, he does work hard and school have been helpful in helping him work out strategies to get best out of him. Allows him to use a laptop or iPad in subjects that require more writing for example. All homework and any power points from class is put up online rather than copying off the board. He will be allowed to use laptop in some exams and also get an additional 25% time in exams. They won’t ask him to read aloud in class unless he is preprepared.

In lots of ways high school is much more supportive of the fact that he is clever/ academic but processes information differently and needs support to do that. Always been in top sets for maths but was moved to top sets in English this year (he’s in third year).

@Newname85 Yours has got to be one of the most goady comments I've ever come across. It's even worse because it is so ill informed. Gah!

OP, wishing you and your DD the very best of luck. It is so hard when it becomes apparent that there are no solidly good options for our children. I'm 4 years down the line from where you are now, and things are finally coming together after almost a decade of battling on all fronts. It's a tough road.

Hi yes so the hospital school she still attends reguarly as inpatient and they did used to take outpatients to so that actually was going to be an option BUT they are apprehensive about it because the cohort changes every day as it’s 98 percent inpatients who are short termers any she wouldn’t be able to make friends / establish relationships.

I will make contact with the head teacher and ask her is she has any recommendations though

It’s ok I couldn’t even find my self being offended by it 🤣🤣🤣🤣
one thing I am sure of is I have never failed her :)

The education system is archaic. YANBU.

When compared with other countries, UK child and young people's well-being is SHIT. Can't just blame parents for that! There are major socio-economic problems that need addressing and an urgent overhaul.

What a stupidly ill-informed comment. ALL children are the LA’s “problem”. That’s why we have LAs!

We live in a changing world. Our DC live in a completely different era to us and are impacted by what's afoot. DfE: Sort it out, FFS!

If you have to home educate in these kind of circumstances do the council give you financial support? As a single parent I wouldn’t have been able to do this without being given help financially as it would have meant I wouldn’t be able to work. Does the council give you the funding directly that they would have given schools? I have often wondered this when children aren’t offered a school placement.

well sort of 🤣
so they would provide a EOTAS which could be tutors a few days a week or online education. You can also request a personal budget on the ehcp for costs relating to their education so to meet their other needs in provisions ( therapy / sensory stuff etc )
but no they won’t cover it loss of wages

Agree @GretchenWienersHair Perhaps we should tear up all the legislature which states that the LA have duty of care/ responsibility? Perhaps we should all ignore the laws of the land and live in anarchy instead!?

Families need help. No man is an island. We all need help sometimes and it takes a village to raise a child! Unfortunately the UK is in this predicament partly because some in society are incredibly selfish and heartless and cannot see beyond their own noses.

I often wonder about the level of critical thinking and EQ of some people on here.

Good lord, I'd love to have that conversation with Rachel Reeves!

Wage restitution for SEN mums.

The government keep banging on about lack of workers while making it nearly impossible for thousands of SEN mums to work.

Grrr.

It sounds like her academic challenges relate to being absent and not an educational need?

If so I'd add to this to say if you can find a local mainstream independent school which goes right the way through (eg 5-18) they might be more willing to take her because there would be the option for her to repeat year 6 with them.

So, whilst she'll then need 1-2-1 through secondary to support with medical/communication/autism needs she wouldn't need academic support...

I find parents of disabled children can’t win with people like this 🤣 they want the children’s care and education to be our responsibility but then would also judge us for relying on benefits to keep a roof over our heads haha

so basically they would like us to provide nursing care , therapies and education whilst keeping a full time job so that wr are not relying on the state and using their poor tax money they claim to be supplying.