More of a rant but - no schools for DD 🥹

[Dontlookatme2]

DD is 12 and he’s breaking me.
I will try not to drip feed.
she has complex medical needs ( severely impacting early years and primary school ) she is academically able but does have some gaps but missed 75 percent of primary education. She is now scoring around close to securing or just at securing, so incredible considering. When choosing secondary schools we ended up struggling to find a school that would take her.
she is also autistic and has mild CP.
we don’t live in a remote area and we have many choices.
mainstream schools all said no.
la maintained schools all said no including the one for children with illness and disabilities, as she didn’t match their cohort academically, so they felt that she would be purposely left behind and not reach her full potential.
all private mainstreams said no.
we thought we found the perfect place for her where it was an “ inbetween “ school and mainly SpLd. Admissions and visiting suggested they did not take those with behavioural needs and it was very much like a mainstream curriculum with adaptions / small classes and additional therapy. It’s private and local.
a year in and she is struggling. She doesn’t fit in the cohort. The behavior impacts every lesson. She has been threatened by a student who’s behavior is impacting everyone. Discriminated against by a teacher and she doesn’t “ fit “ in.
she doesn’t get much help from her teachers because she has landed in the middle of the cohort and is quiet, well behaved and doesn’t ever kick off.
because the school is small it’s almost impacting her more because there is only a small portion of girls and so she can’t find her “ people “
im aware there would children with behavior needs in mainstream but that also there is a bigger cohort so maybe easier for her to find peers that are like minded for her.
there is no real discipline management in the school and it’s chaos for most of her lessons and she just wants to learn.
she doesn’t want an EOTAS package as she wants to go to a school. Every other school in the area and surrounding areas we have tried have said no they can not meet her needs.

is there really no schools for some children 😭😭

I’m so sorry you’re finding yourself stuck between the gaps of the system, but I’m also a bit surprised. I teach in a grammar school and, based solely on what you’ve said, we’d almost certainly be able to accommodate her (and by that I mean that we’d probably even take her if she didn’t quite pass the 11+ based on the fact that she was doing well despite missing a lot of school and she’d benefit from our environment - we’re a small school and our classrooms and corridors are generally calm, etc.). I’m struggling to see how mainstream schools have been able to refuse to take her - again, assuming you’ve not left anything huge out. I think you’ll need to keep pressing for mainstream if you think that’s better than EOTAS for her.

See I think ideally a small independent mainstream would have been better. Which if I could get her a place in one we would have no issues getting the fees funded as it would be less than what they are paying now - I just can’t get one to say yes.

she does need help academically for example
her SATS were
98, 99 and 107
there is some gaps in her knowledge but she works very hard to keep up and to catch up.

Yes parental preference was a la maintained school that was more along the lines of medical / disability than Sen.
their reason was unsuitable for the cohort academically.

Did you appeal? Just because the school said that doesn’t mean it was true, especially if the LA originally agreed but didn’t go on to name them.

the la were in agreement. They spoke to school after the initial no and they agreee to a trial day. Then still consulted with they couldn’t meet her needs academically

The LA may have originally been in agreement but they obviously didn’t go on to name them, so did you appeal to SENDIST?

Do you agree with them though? Or did you feel they could meet her needs? Was the academic profile in line with her abilities? I know we have a school which is classified as medical/physical needs, but the academic profile is MLD/SLD. Unfortunately PD schools are having their profiles shifted to meet the current need, leaving a provision gap fir higher ability children with PD.

As a PP said, the bar for a school to decline a child is incredibly high. Often it's the opposite, schools are forced to take children for whom the school is in no way suitable.

Yes so this particular school previously which is why it was always on my radar was known to have a gcse pathway. The issue we had is they said cohort has changed and especially the current cohorts were all functional skills. They were the only school to contact me directly before her trial and have a conversation with me about their concerns. She went for a trial ( in year 6 ) and was put in the year 7 group at the time so a year ahead of her and they said she didn’t academically meet that cohort.
which is why I didn’t end up taking it to tribunal etc I understand they were saying it for her benefit but just finding it hard to find a school that she can go to.

What happens if the tube comes out. what does anyone using the emergency pack need to do? How specialist is it and how urgent? Would all staff that interact need the training or just a couple or can they call doctor /999 and it’s just easier that the pack is there?

” tube 1 “ would just be to call me
”’tube 2 “
break - emergency kit that they are trained in and then call me
come out - emergency protocol and ambulance.
however has never happened in 7 years and she is trained on what to do now and emergency kit.
neither are used in school.

You could go down disability discrimination route?
Your DD have a right to full time education. You need to contact your local SEND support, go to top of LEA and contact your MP. SOS-SEN and ipsea are good but don’t take what you are told at schools. Do EOTAS as a temporary measure but you will need to fight v hard for everything

I have read the thread and quite honestly - it’s as clear as mud.

Is it possible @Dontlookatme2 that you have either got the wrong end of the stick re what is actually going on with these multiple schools response to you (indeed you actually say to one poster that “your guess is as good as mine” re the schools’ reasoning) and / or you have been as unclear in real life as to your daughter’s needs to the schools in real life , as you have been on this thread ?

is there someone in your life you can perhaps speak and advocate for you and your your daughter on this issue?

Is your daughter currently attending a secondary school? You say she is. So that means one school has accepted her?

Don’t really understand what I actually saying wrong people wanted more as there must be more with her that’s particular poster wanted to disclose something that just didn’t exist which is why I said that.
I literally have nothing else to add other than she has autism, complex medical needs and mild CP.

that the mainstreams consulted no they couldn’t meet her needs

and

so did the la maintained Sen schools.

I can literally post section I from last February when we were due back a named school but ended up with just a setting listed.

And then the placement breaks down anyway. I’ve seen this in a work capacity. School is forced to take a pupil with anEHCP - school can’t meet needs so it’s bye-bye. Another school has to be found.

one question.

You say that as it stands your child IS at a school.

So she HAS been accepted in to one.

Correct?

Linpsfiejd grange?

I wouldn’t worry about the other posters saying it doesn’t make sense and something is obviously missing. It makes sense to those who understand how the SEN system operates and about LA and school behaviour around naming a placement/type of placement.

You mention a lot about what schools have said, but what do you think? Forgetting what schools have previously said when consulted, do you have a preferred school now? If you do, as long as it is not wholly independent, you can pursue a place even if the school objects.

I am in exactly the same situation! Yes, sadly, there are no schools for some children.

Despite what people ask, you don't have to explain your child's medical needs here. People will either get it, or they won't. It's rare for people without personal experience to understand and they'll often think they're coming at the issue with logic, 'well if the child doesn't need x or y on a daily basis, then the school will just have to accept them.' Schools don't actually have to accept anyone. They can claim they can't meet needs, without having to explain themselves and they can and frequently do, simply break the law.

Moving to another country is one solution (although not available to everyone). Other than that, homeschooling...but obviously, that relies on the money to fund it and at least one parent being unemployed or underemployed in order to facilitate it.

I am sorry, OP. There is no solution, and it is hard.

What reasons have both mainstream and special schools given you for why they refuse to educate your child? @C152

although the Op has confusingly confirmed now that her child is at actually registered at a school!

There is nothing confusing if you read OP’s posts. In her OP, she said DD was on the roll of an independent school and a year in is struggling there. And in a subsequent post she says they are in the process of amending section I.

Schools that are not wholly independent can be forced to admit if they are named in I, including via JR if necessary. So if the OP does have a parental preference of a non-wholly independent school, she could pursue that since an offer of a place isn’t required. Although some need EOTAS/EOTIS because it isn’t appropriate for provision to be made in a school. Many have to appeal for a comprehensive EOTAS/EOTIS package anyway, so even she doesn’t have a preferred placement, she may end up at appeal.