Page 12 | To wonder where these kids are meant to go?!

Wonderberry · 2025-03-31T18:06:55+00:00

Unfortunately, my child's school is closing due to the VAT imposition on private school fees. She has special needs, and her fees are paid for by her EHCP, as it is a cheaper alternative to a special school. I am not rich. She cannot attend a state mainstream due to her special needs, and the council agrees with this. I now have no school placement for her. The special schools are hugely oversubscribed (over 10 applications per place). Even if she could go to a state mainstream, there is no space in any of them, due to lots of schools closing locally. I have called dozens of them in desperation, as I need for her to go somewhere. I have been frantically contacting the council to get her a new school place. They won't even respond. I'm faced with her being without any school place shortly. I cannot home school as I need to work. My DD is far from alone in this. Unfortunately, the government has paid no thought into the wellbeing of SEND children, when imposing the VAT.

StrivingForSleep · 04/04/2025 12:13

Have you checked if you are eligible for legal aid? This can fund the pre-action letter. If you get to JR proceedings themselves, that will be in DD’s name and she can be eligible for legal aid in her own right, but the pre-action letter is in your name so legal aid can only cover it if you are eligible. SOSSEN can help with pre-action letter. However, they have a long waiting list at the moment.

FalseSpring · 04/04/2025 12:17

In my opinion there is a bigger issue with trying to shoehorn all these SEN children into MS schools. Quite apart from the impact on the SEN children themselves, the disruption and staff time required to manage some of the more challenging SEN children is taking away from the education of the non-SEN chidlren.

My experience of MS is that it only takes one SEN child to ruin the experience of many others who are often experiencing low-level trauma in the classroom on a daily basis. Our good teachers are leaving in droves because of the behavioural issues that they lack the help and facilities to deal with.

I am not surprised that we are having to deal with a huge increase in SEN children when ND children are thrown into chaotic schools every day - I know I wouldn't have been able to cope with a huge modern school at all. The lack of ability to discipline and the lack of human and other resources in MS schools are making the school environment too hostile for many children, even those with relatively minor SEN.

SelkieSeal · 04/04/2025 14:27

FalseSpring · 04/04/2025 12:17

In my opinion there is a bigger issue with trying to shoehorn all these SEN children into MS schools. Quite apart from the impact on the SEN children themselves, the disruption and staff time required to manage some of the more challenging SEN children is taking away from the education of the non-SEN chidlren.

My experience of MS is that it only takes one SEN child to ruin the experience of many others who are often experiencing low-level trauma in the classroom on a daily basis. Our good teachers are leaving in droves because of the behavioural issues that they lack the help and facilities to deal with.

I am not surprised that we are having to deal with a huge increase in SEN children when ND children are thrown into chaotic schools every day - I know I wouldn't have been able to cope with a huge modern school at all. The lack of ability to discipline and the lack of human and other resources in MS schools are making the school environment too hostile for many children, even those with relatively minor SEN.

Yep.

The posters wanking on about how my DS shouldn't be getting a private education at the taxpayers expense yada yada would be feeling quite different if he had been in their child's class a few years ago

At the time, I was devastated to find out that the other class parents had a WhatsApp group set up to "share their concerns" about DS's behaviour. He caused the classroom to be evacuated on a daily basis at one point. He screamed, and spat, and swore, and ripped wall displays down, and absconded, and locked himself in rooms, and threw chairs, and bit/kicked anyone who got too close when he was in meltdown. And no, it wasn't down to shitty parenting. I've got proof in the form of older DC who didnt throw chairs plus numerous professional assessments/reports (several of which I paid for myself in order to try and ascertain the full extent of DS's needs) that my parenting is fine. Not just fine but excellent, responsive, dedicated, and well informed, according to some of those professional reports.

Pretty sure some of the posters on this thread would have been front of the queue to suggest that he be moved out of mainstream and into a more suitable specialist placement!

Except that because this is a large rural county there are no suitable state specialist provisions for 40 odd miles, the only suitable placement was...the independent school he is at. Should he have stayed in mainstream fucking up not just his own education but that of all the other children? Or should he have been moved to a suitable school that could meet his needs? It's a real conundrum

Arran2024 · 04/04/2025 15:44

SelkieSeal · 04/04/2025 14:27

Yep.

The posters wanking on about how my DS shouldn't be getting a private education at the taxpayers expense yada yada would be feeling quite different if he had been in their child's class a few years ago

At the time, I was devastated to find out that the other class parents had a WhatsApp group set up to "share their concerns" about DS's behaviour. He caused the classroom to be evacuated on a daily basis at one point. He screamed, and spat, and swore, and ripped wall displays down, and absconded, and locked himself in rooms, and threw chairs, and bit/kicked anyone who got too close when he was in meltdown. And no, it wasn't down to shitty parenting. I've got proof in the form of older DC who didnt throw chairs plus numerous professional assessments/reports (several of which I paid for myself in order to try and ascertain the full extent of DS's needs) that my parenting is fine. Not just fine but excellent, responsive, dedicated, and well informed, according to some of those professional reports.

Pretty sure some of the posters on this thread would have been front of the queue to suggest that he be moved out of mainstream and into a more suitable specialist placement!

Except that because this is a large rural county there are no suitable state specialist provisions for 40 odd miles, the only suitable placement was...the independent school he is at. Should he have stayed in mainstream fucking up not just his own education but that of all the other children? Or should he have been moved to a suitable school that could meet his needs? It's a real conundrum

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Same here. I adopted two traumatised, neglected children from the care system and surprise, surprise, mainstream school wasn't a good fit. They weren't even that disruptive but certain other parents were deeply unhappy and made my life hell - even the teachers were astonished at the behaviourof some of them and had to intervene. We had no option but mainstream for primary but secondary was two different sen schools, one LA for one child and one independent for the other.