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 😭😭

Sorry to hear this. Similar happened to my son who was at a very academic school. We’ve now got him into a much more holistic place with no entrance exams and he’s flying. Appreciate we are lucky to have that option.

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.

sorry that was meant to tag a quote.

Don't rule out the online/individual tuition option. It can be fantastic. I know a few kids thriving/who thrived in a more bespoke EOTAS (education other than at school) option (including one who did her Alevels at a very well known online school and is now thriving in a top 10 university). But it is by its very nature challenging to ask for if you don't know whats possible.

But frankly there is no way knowing what I do now If i went back in time i would even vaguely consider putting DS in mainstream or SEN.

Look into building it into a full package of education. DS for example has Eotas for very different reasons than your child but he has funded by the LEA tuition, a gym membership and therapy that takes place all inside the home one to one. He socialises (only on his on terms) through a weekly club he goes to.

The biggest challenge to Eotas is that the LEA doesn't really like to pay for it if they can bung your kid in a completely (unsuitable) school. Your already most way there if the schools don't feel they can manage.

By wary about mainstream with one to one support, nuture groups or "nuture" classes. I say this all too often schools dump any kid with EHCPs in the one class whether those needs are complimentary or conflicting. This is especially true if you kid is the one whose EHCP provision is significant enough to support the needs of all the kids in that group. Mainstream is not necessarily a panacea to social isolation.

At home at least you know the hard fought for support is actually going to your child

That could be a great idea re an independent all through school.

Could also be that by y9 DD is in a position to move back into state mainstream with more skills and confidence.

The other thing about independents is they sometimes have on site nurses. My old school did and we were therefore the school of choice for the well heeled with DC with poorly controlled diabetes and other serious conditions.

She does currently already have a an “ EOTAS” along side her attending mainstream primary with 1-1.
so I assume what they mean is making her current EOTAS full time.

Also Eotas is not home ed. The lea remains responsible for your child's education.

Just a quick thank you for all the comments and advice ( apart from the 2 who should not be named 🤣 ) I have taken some notes down.

That is incredible. It is literally (not figuratively) the role of the LA to find an appropriate provision. It is their statutory duty. Wow.

In case anyone wanders along to make any more stupid individual responsibility comments, here's the actual SEN Code. Have a read.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25

i mean she isn’t shielding against Covid but she is still the same health wise
for example she was just in isolation for 3 weeks.
her attendance at school this year probably around 50-60 percent.

Would she be able to repeat year 6 at a private school and then enter mainstream school in year 7. She might be at the age appropriate level for maths and literacy, but it sounds like her baseline, without health problems, would be to be above average, it would be nice if she was given the chance to shine.

What do they say is holding her back from entering yr7? If it's a list where she's just a bit behind - can you spend a year either at private, or in a hybrid setting, catching her up?

Is there a mainstream school that you think could work for her? If so they can be directed to take her. Most students with an EHCP in MS secondary don't have a specific one to one but it does happen (or a small team of trained TAs) and can be put in her EHCP if that's what would meet her needs.

I know children who sound similar to your dd who are in ms secondary. It all hangs on getting the EHCP right at the review.

There are so many kids with SEN that the SEN schools can pick and choose unfortunately. I'm in the same boat with dd who is extremely clever.

My ds goes to a private SEN secondary over a hour away. I looked at 25 SEN schools in five counties and had this offer or two boarding offers.

Our nearest secondary has a ASD unit but they won't take kids with TA hours. They want kids who have had zero support in the ASD unit ( ie who who present at NT).

Reality is I'd be better off ceasing her ehcp and her going there in the mainstream part. School would then not get any funding for her but in reality she would be better off. There's tens of kids who need ehcps more than her starting every year who will just get in no problem because they can't refuse them with no EHCP. It's done purely on distant, siblings etc. School can say can't meet needs to all ehcps.

I was proactive in getting her ehcp via appeal and I regret that personally right now. It gas never been followed as they never are in mainstream from my personal experience.

I don’t know is this would be an option - it did defo worth checking out though - thank you.

Hmm mm yes i should imagine they are talking about extending the specific education provision. I'm guessing at the moment it covers therapy provision?

Do not just rely on what the LEA are prepared to offer. Go out, look at the online schooling for yourself. Seems to work best for kids with either ASD/anxiety or physical needs but working at a mainstream level. Thing to bear in mind is that college is often a bit more accessible than secondary and therefore keep your mind open to a move back at that transition.

Do you know what reason specifically the mainstream schools with units gave for not being able to meet her needs? And the schools?
Units/resource rooms /whatever can be the best or the worst solution depending on how much flexibility there is to design individual timetables and how much education students get. Is there some concern about the medical needs that could be addressed perhaps? Sounds a really difficult situation but some kind of peer group somehow sounds best for her broad development alongside academic education. Maybe try to follow up on the most local as arguably they should have most responsibility to take her so possibly an easier door to push. Wishing you and her all the best.

I do think this ‘primary need not speech and language’ as a reason to not cater for her is so outdated as a) it is pretty much all children’s developmental need to communicate better b) children don’t fall into neat categories c) what most children need is the same - kind and responsive education d) units could easily be multi-impairment and serving a more local area for all the children who needed a smaller class size -the pedagogy for most impairments is not specialist e) yes to PP, when my friend’s DH worked in the council special education office, he said vast amount of the budget went on transport. This is not meant as a criticism of teachers and TAs, it’s just if you haven’t worked across the sector you don’t realise how much common ground there is and other things can be learnt as need arises (Brahm Norwich has written about this).

There are 12 million children in the UK and there is no government on the planet that can afford to provide tailor-made education for each individual need. ‘The system’ can only really suit the needs of the majority and if you’re unlucky enough to be in the minority, then you have to fight all the time to get what you need (if it even exists) or pay for it (if it even exists). Spend your time and energy on that and not lamenting the system or the government or budget cuts or anything else that will never change.

at The moment it provides her with 2 hours of tutor when unable to leave the house.

it’s only been the last year though.

I don't think expecting the government to follow its own laws is a particularly high bar tbh.

Ok so I have some things to research

1. independent school with 1-1 for health - maybe repeating year 6 there
2. mainstream school with a funding 1-1
3. independent Sen schools
4. research more EOTAS packages

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

If there is a particular school that you like and think will work for your DD but they are saying they can't meet her needs (but you think they can) the LA can direct them to take her if they refuse.

If there is a school that will take her with a 1 to 1 push the LA for that.

Are you in touch with your local parent carer forum? Your local SENDIAS should also be able to provide advice and support.

If you are still getting nowhere with your SEND support officer at the LA escalate to the head of SEND and the Director for Education if you need to.

To be fair I am questions my first choice since the feedback of why they said No and also seeing some posts on here.
100 percent going to have a nap and diary researching schools again 🤣

Maybe she could go to a mainstream with 1-1 and then learn with e.g. Academy21 when shielding. It's an official AP (alternative provision) now, which would facilitate things.

Bollocks to that. That is not Eotas that is education when too ill for school. Eotas should from an academic perspective mirror tge academic achievement she could expect in school.

Do you have education psychology report?

Seriously rethink the mainstream. Mainstream does not have the time or energy to catch your child up when they are sick. If you take all the other stresses of a school day away, there's a good chance your child will achieve more because she can pace better and she's not missing stuff when she's unable to engage. If you do look at mainstream, ask whether they are still putting classes up online. The last mainstream I worked in still posted all their classes, at least the kids who couldn't attend still had access to the work. My current school refuses on the basis that if you are well enough to work you should be in school (don't get me started on how short sighted this is)

Mainstream really is not the only option.