AIBU to appeal for a specialist placement instead of mainstream?

[TheOpalFox]

Sen kids … I’m stressed out my head
my son is 16 and leaves school soon
they have given him mainstream and I want him to go to specialist setting so it’s going to appeal.
I have an educational psychologist report too and he’s struggled at school .
I can’t believe because he’s got an ehcp. They want him to go to mainstream and I want the opposite .
it’s going to bloody court !!! Madness :(
I feel so stressed /(

I wish you the best of luck getting a specialist place, they’re as rare as hens teeth round here! We have a little boy at school who’s been waiting since nursey for a specialist place and he’s about to leave year 2 still with no provision in place 😭 sadly even if the EHCP says specialist, if there’s non available…..

If your preference is SS, you aren’t unreasonable.

@Loulou4022 if the parents of the child you mention want an SS placement, they should appeal when they next have the right of appeal. If a special/specialist school is named in section I of the EHCP, they must admit. They do not then need to wait for a place. For schools that are not wholly independent, there are limited reasons the LA can refuse to name parental preference and on its own being ‘full’ is not enough of a reason. The LA would have to prove they are so full admitting the CYP is incompatible with the provision of efficient education for others or use of resources. The bar for this is higher than LAs and many schools admit. It has to be something tangible and specific and is more than an “adverse effect”, “impact on” or “prejudicial to”. Even when LAs claim this to be the case, it often isn’t, which is part of the reason why so many appeal to SENDIST are successful.

Honestly after 4 years of having my daughter in a specialist school I wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole!

Yes it’s smaller class sizes but there is such a lack of education and support it’s unreal. No push for getting them into further education or even supporting them for achieving any national qualifications. All the seem to care about is getting the bloody Duke of Edinburgh award or a barista qualification! It’s the worst decision we ever made

This depends on the school though. My child that attends a special school is being appropriately academically supported and challenged. He is behind, but was out of school for quite a while before starting, so is playing catch up.

At 16 it really depends so much on the individual. Many mainstream providers have specific programmes for those with some aspects of Sen, others by 16 can be in mainstream lessons with support (my dd had this). Sen schools past 16 tend to be for those unable to access education, my dsd stayed at her until 19 but she has very limited capacity (think toddler) so it was biding time to find an adult setting.

Did the educational psychologist recommend specialist? What is the LA suggesting? Mainstream college? Often colleges have good SEND departments with much smaller classes and adapted curriculums to meet those with additional needs.

Specialist Colleges round where i live are only for severely and profoundly disabled teens and only teach independence skills and a few btechs. They even place a significant amount of kids with high needs into the mainstream schools.

What specialist schools are available near you?

Surely if the school doesn’t have spaces then they can’t take the child? If 20 EHCP’s name the school are they expected to go 20 places over?

You need to appeal.

They have appealed but there are no spaces!

Surely if the school doesn’t have spaces then they can’t take the child?

@Loulou4022 that isn’t the case. For non-wholly independent schools, being ‘full’ is not defined in law and on its own is not enough of a reason to refuse to name parental preference. The LA would have to prove the school is so full admitting the CYP is incompatible with the provision of efficient education for others or use of resources. Just being ‘full’ wouldn’t automatically meet this threshold. The bar for incompatibility is higher than LAs and many schools admit. It has to be something tangible and specific and is more than an “adverse effect”, “impact on” or “prejudicial to” rather than the vague and woolly reasoning LAs typically try to rely on. Even when LAs claim incompatibility, it often isn’t actually the case. This is part of the reason why so many appeals to SENDIST are successful.

If 20 EHCP’s name the school are they expected to go 20 places over?

Yes. Once the (non-wholly independent) school is named in section I, they must admit. See section 43 of the Children and Families Act 2014. In most cases, they can be forced to if they try to refuse. Depending on the type of school, the school can ask the Secretary of State for a determination about whether they should have been named or not. In theory, the school could look at JR. However, both of these are very rare because schools know the threshold is very high, far higher than they like to admit, and the school must still admit in the meantime.

You say the family has appealed; do you mean they have appealed to SENDIST? When was their Tribunal hearing? Was it a BFI appeal? What did the Order say? If the FTT refused to name their parental preference of a special school purely because of ‘no spaces’, did they look to take it to the UT?

What does your son actually need from a specialist setting? Why would the mainstream college not work? A lot of the time, things which children may have struggled with in school like large class sizes, lots of lessons, lots of teachers etc just don't apply in post 16 education.

Your son having "struggled in school" will have little bearing in post 16. For a start he was probably in a class of 30 with one teacher. Where I teach in FE class are usually 20ish with a teacher and TA. Most schools only really offer one type of class, which by year 10, will be GCSE classes for all subjects apart from PE and PSHE. Mainstream colleges generally offer courses from entry 1 right up to A-level in a huge range of subjects. The college I work in even offer life skills type courses for young people with serious learning difficulties.

You need to look at the actual mainstream provision that he might get into, and, if you really don't think it's appropriate, clearly state why not and what alternatives you would like and why.

I think you need to work out what it is about the 'mainstream' offering that you don't think will meet his needs, and what the offer actually is. Most of the mainstream colleges in my area have SEN departments within them, which offer more specialised teaching, but they still come under the umbrella of 'mainstream'.

The other thing to consider is his academic ability. Unless he has a learning disability, then at age 16 there isn't going to be masses of specialist provisions that will give him a peer group. I have an academically able 18 year old and I'm finding it very hard to find her any provision.