To wonder where these kids are meant to go?!

[Wonderberry]

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.

Numbers of closures are up. 20% tax in one year would damage any sector.

Even yours if if had the same.

Please please can you send me the school

my DD has massive school trauma and I would love somewhere to help her

She will probably fall through the gaps like so many children with additional needs. As parents we have no choice but to home educate as there simply are no schools for these children.

I don’t think this is true.
In my child’s school, literally one third of the children in child’s year are being pulled out at the end of this term.
It’s not a coincidence this is happening the year VAT gets added.
The school may be able to reduce number of classes and let go of some staff, but it’s unclear if this will be enough to keep them in business longer term.

@Sotired222 if you don’t want to EHE, you could pursue EOTAS/EOTIS via the EHCP and, if DC is CSA, in the meantime pursue s19 provision.

Where are you in the country?

It seems crazy to shut down whole state primaries if all the private options are closing.

Upping costs to parents by 20 per cent is enough to tip any school over the edge.

It really is

Do you genuinely think they were absolutely fine financially until VAT came in ?

What sector do you work in that a 20% tax and extra costs wouldn’t damage it and cause closures and job losses?

A lot of schools are just about managing and the massive increase in utilities and other expenses have hit schools really badly. Even well managed schools are struggling and it won't take much for them to fold. Maybe that was always the aim but I do feel sorry for the kids who are suddenly uprooted. Changing schools is usually stressful and if you struggle to find a sensible place even more so

It’s hard to feel sorry for a privileged minority - these famously small classes are clearly too small.

You dont say where yiu are in the UK.

If you're in the SE or Cambridge, Dukes Education has just started a fabulous programme which may help. Give them a call and see if they have a suitable school.

Good luck.

The problem is not VAT (this school was certainly in trouble before and there’s probably a reason you could get dd a place there but not other potentially suitable places).

The problem is insufficient provision for children by the government. This isn’t a new problem. It’s a longstanding one. And we need to fund better and more provision for children who need support in mainstream schools and who need support outside of them. That funding comes from taxes, not from thin air.

Politics of envy is just that - it is about envy, not about where those children will have to go.

I'm in London. Clearly there is a lack of holistic planning here.

We are hardly the 'privileged minority'. I work hard but cannot afford private school. My children go to state school but my daughter couldn't learn there due to her disability. Her EHCP pays for her school fees, as like all children, she is entitled to a suitable education.

Honestly, having a disabled child is so hard, it is about as far from being 'privileged' as is possible. I may soon be forced to give up work and go on benefits if no school placement is found for her, all through lack of choice.

VAT has only just been bought in, your school will have been dead in the water before the change.

Exactly. These threads are starting to get really boring now.

Including the op who can’t get a school place for her dc with SEN?

Sadly there is a sizeable minority who seem to have ill will to someone in my situation. I would far rather that my child was in state mainstream, with her siblings. Unfortunately, it is not possible. The state mainstream could not cope with her.

We spent many years there trying,but they eventually asked her to leave. Her dysregulation also meant that it wasn't fair on her peers in the mainstream environment. It wasn't fair on her teachers and TAs either.

No one is best served by keeping children in state mainstream who cannot be educated there. She also learnt absolutely nothing, as she was never able to manage the classroom.

Having a disabled child is hinders life in all aspects. Everything has to be planned around her, and the logistics of her going to a different school to her siblings has been complicated and costly (we do not get transport). As has the therapy and weekly appointments she has required.

Right now, I am really stressed out trying to get her a school place, while trying to parent her and my other children, and work in a really stressful job, as a single parent. I cannot work from home,and would be forced out of work if I cannot secure her a school place.

But the schools could have continued running without the government deliberately targeting them with one hit after another, after another. The schools have dealt with the pandemic and CoL and remained open.There was absolutely no need to do this at a low point, Imagine the same happening to another (suitably left-wing) industry of your choice - steel, cars, haulage - and imagine the outcry about the impact on communities and workers.

Don't worry though. The train drivers are doing very nicely out of Labour. That was a good use of our money.

This was a spiteful policy and many are suffering. I am so sorry for you and your DD - none of this was thought of by this pack of ideologues.

There was an attack on those industries in the 80s. There was an outcry. It did nothing - which is why we are now paying inflated energy costs, for one. Ideology is poisonous in a government, whether of right or left, or centre (this lot are centre right IMO).

I’m not sure if this has already been said but I found for a tutor funded by the la a parent needed to be present at home. Have you considered schools further away that the la will cover a taxi too?