Boarding school for child with draft EHCP

[CAMHady]

Looking for a boarding school who are inclusive and with a can do attitude. Son in year nine has EHCP in draft as no named school, was excluded after hitting a kid who called him the N word, we are appealing this. He’s been exploited by county lines so we want him away for everyone’s safety: he’s very very bright and wants to go to university. Was predicted 7-9s at GCSE. We can look at state boarding schools with LA paying or we can possibly access CEA funding from the military as we are a military family

They refused to finalise it and finally did in January with SEMH school but cannot find one to meet his needs as they really are not SEMH level.
they refused to put any of my preferred schools down as the named school but if I got him in a private boarding then maybe they would have to

I’d be more than happy with a boys school but doubt my chances of him agreeing to go to one so it seems pointless fighting for that. Other than that I don’t have preferences?
I am going to apply to private schools and see what happens and make that fight if needed. I worry for disappointment as he’s had so many bad things happen I don’t want him to break. I have some support from a legal firm to appeal his EHCP (the type of school) so hopefully they can help there too: thank you for the kick I needed. I just feel so sad and demotivated

I would avoid Christs Hospital - they are not great with additional needs or their pastoral support. I wouldn't hesitate to apply to other private schools though, if you can find one that is caring enough to meet his needs. Think about asking for a trial of at least a few days - it can flag up a lot of things that might not be obvious on just a visit.

Have pm'd you

Whilst you find a suitable school have you considered EOTAS?

You could have forced the LA to finalise within the timescales by threatening judicial review and following through if needed.

Yes sorry to kick you when you are down. I hope you can see I'm trying to help.

Re other constraints - I was seeing absolutely not SEMH, not too close to home, must be mixed sex, has to be boarding, and then you said you were only looking at state boarding though I see you've taken that back. There are different types of SEMH including for anxious kids who can't cope with poor behaviour. There are mainstreams with resourced provision attached which, for some, are the best of both worlds. You could work with him to separate why he will refuse a boys' only school and see whether there are some false assumptions underlying that can be addressed. I never thought mine would manage to wear a tie to school but now he feels safe in his new school, the tie is tolerated fine. He genuinely thought the tie was an insurmountable problem. I worried that it was too. But in a school that's getting the bigger picture right, where he feels safe, and with insightful support he can let go of that false assumption and manage the tie fine.

You haven't yet persuaded the LA to accept your school choices but that doesn't mean you have to keep looking for different schools. LA are likely to concede only when you have an appeal lodged for a credible school in Section I. Don't rule out the private schools you've suggested already just because they've said no so far. They've said no because they nearly always do at this stage. Find the most credible option and appeal it. Of course be aware that the LA cannot compel a private school to take him, so he would need to be holding an offer.

This is all a lot more complicated if he's already in Y10 or beyond. If this is the case your energy might be better spent on a good EOTAS or appealing his old school. It's desperately hard, I'm dreading going through this all again for 6th form.

Thank you for you careful response

not too close- as he can easily be exploited again :-/ I don’t care about singe sex school. I was looking at state boarding to get a loan to fund it! I can’t afford a private boarding. We want boarding to keep his safe from exploitation. Arghh!! SEMH say no as he doesn’t present with many issues and potentially re traumatised by significant issues. Also can’t meet his academic needs. We are appealing his previous school and going to judicial review!!

I didn’t mean that kind of kick, I meant the kind of kick that makes you action again! I get exhausted, demotivated and demoralised at times x

I wonder if you should be looking far away Gordonstoun comes to mind. As Scotland EHCP probably won’t work but try bursary www.gordonstoun.org.uk/admissions/scholarships-bursaries
also try SOSSEN for advice.
going back a while someone used to post who had financial help from a charity due to needing to get there child out of an area. Will look and see if I can find user name

There are SS, including SEMH SS, that can cater to academically able DC. Not all have DC displaying VCB either.

An independent boarding school could be funded via the EHCP. Some charities that funded school places won’t fund them if there is a statutory duty to fund it.

Just spoke to them and made initial enquiry; they were lovely: thank you x

The person I was thinking about I believe got funding from the Buttle Trust

Buttle Trust often don’t fund where there is a statutory duty for the LA to fund, and they don’t fund SS at all. Grants are also decided further in advance, so applications for 2023 are already decided.

I’ve looked and due him not needing much support and being very bright they cannot meet his needs!

They are keen to meet us! Do you think LA in England wouldn’t fund independent school in Scotland? It looks a little promising

What was the update for this? Anyone in a similar position, consider Hockerill Anglo European College. Russell Brand, of all people, was moved there in very similar circumstances. It’s a state boarding school.

Thank you for asking… what a year (14 months out of education JR against the school for discrimination and the head left suddenly…) awful; have EHCP and now in a mainstream (8 days so far and glowing but afraid to be positive). I wish boarding school had worked as we were crippled but he’s here and doing 85% better (not sure how to quantify). Traumatised lad and no help around us as he’s keeping under the radar. No further suicide attempt and more stable.
that’s amazing about Russel brand, I wish we had the same outcome and thank you for posting

I remember this thread. Lovely to hear that he has a new school place and it's going well so far.

Would love to hear more about the JR if you are willing to share. Was his previous school forced to apologise or offer him his place back?

JR was the next step but we haven’t been to court yet. The hope would be a public apology but we wouldn’t want him back there after how he was treated. We’d also hope for compensation for his loss of education not only on his future but also how this meant he was exploited more and they failed to safeguard him. I think around 15 teachers left the previous school over the space of a term, the school has a shocking reputation as a result of various situations

Here's a list of state boarding schools in England. I can see that several of them are boys' boarding schools and some are grammar - but I know of two of them through friends and both have a reputation for being reasonably good with SEN as long as the DC is moderately compliant.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_state_boarding_schools_in_England

Thank you, I applied to so many last year from that list. Ultimately the LA only allowed five school consultations for the EHCPlan
we aren’t looking into boarding now he has a started a mainstream school. We hope he can make it work here; this year is certainly better than last but once a child has been exploited it’s very hard to get away from the exploiters with fake historical debts regularly emerging.

Could you move area?

No, daughter was doing GCSEs, partner on military posting and sadly moving a child exploited rarely solves the problem. I’m on a support group with other parents and also a professional group and sadly families spend everything moving and the problem just continues in a new place but then you have no job, no support network (haha I don’t have much of that; funny how crap friends are at times like this) and your child gravitates to what they know…

It's so beyond the experience of most people. Even without the very scary county lines stuff, we found it lonely and stressful past anything I could have imagined.

An EHCP and new school were transformative for my child, and I hope your son has the same experience.

Thank you for your compassion and also the hope that things may be different now. So far the school have been outstanding in double-checking everything to safeguard him (we have dealers waiting in places for him to mug, assault and extortion money from him).
I hope things still well for you too and I’m really glad it has worked for him.
i wonder how some parents cope; I’m lucky as I’m a clinical nurse specialist in CAMHS (forever) so have a lot of contacts and info, it’s an absolutely mine field for me. I’m not sure how parents are expected to do this stuff alone