School 'expecting to exclude DS at start of term'

[SunshineHQ]

Just that really.

We (me and ExH) were told that at a meeting with the Head and Children's Services at the end of term.

DS has Aspergers, ADHD and Generalised Anxiety. Anxiety is steadily getting worse despite all interventions that have been tried. He has had 1to1 support for last 3 terms.

The school had specifically sought legal advice over their options. Is this because DS10 is an unusual case?

Should I be planning to fight it? What in principle should I expect an Exclusion to mean?

If it could help his progression to a specialist Aspergers School, it might be good news.

But I have an awful feeling that he is just being 'let go' by all the agencies working with him. CAMHS have pulled out. His hospital ADHD provision is about to close. Children's Services are arguing he no longer needs to be under Child Protection.

Does anyone out there have experience of Exclusion - particularly when it is linked to a mental health condition (the Anxiety is the biggest issue).

Thanks

And I think it sounds like the school are probably really stuck; they likely don't have the staff or resources to manage him.

If he's experienced trauma at the hands (literally or figuratively) of his dad, and he is still having to be in his care, he can't recover from that trauma and IMO no matter what else the school (or another) is doing, they're going to struggle.

I would want your principle officer from SEN at the meeting at school. I would want them to share what schools are being consulted and where they were in the process. As already stated they will be close to timescales if the draft was completed in May.
If you can I would negotiate a reduced timetable at current school while specialised schools are being approached. With his current anxieties a move to a pru and then potentially a specialised school could be too much for him. His emotional well being needs to be considered.
I do feel for his current school. They have completed the EHCP and it sounds like SEN need to identify and move him to the correct provision.

A pupil can only be permanently excluded in response to a serious breach, or persistent breaches, of the school's behaviour policy; and where allowing the pupil to remain in school would seriously harm the education or welfare of the pupil or others in the school. Even a fixed term exclusion must be for a disciplinary reason. Whilst I sympathise with the school I am concerned that they may be putting themselves in breach of the Equality Act. It sounds as if they want to exclude him because they can't cope with his special needs. That would be an illegal exclusion.

The best way forward would undoubtedly be to get the EHCP finalised so that he is admitted to your preferred school. In the meantime I would recommend resisting a permanent exclusion as that will go on his record which won't help him.

I do feel very sorry for the school over this. They have tried so hard to accommodate him.

However, they do clearly know what is the probable cause of the anxiety, although now the Generalised Anxiety has got so bad, DS can get anxious over anything. And yet they are a further 'Professional' who won't put anything in writing to confirm it. I was in Court in July trying to get the contact reduced, which everyone unofficially was supportive of, and there was not one single supporting statement from any Professional, not even Children's Services.

I would contact the specialist help mentioned earlier.
I have heard good things about St Dominic's but as it is so expensive the LA are likely to want to push for a "base" in mainstream or a state special school if they can.

As already stated they will be close to timescales if the draft was completed in May.

They are almost certainly well past the deadlines for completing the EHC Plan. By law they must make a decision whether they are going to assess within 6 weeks of receiving the request for assessment; if the decision is to go ahead, they must then gather the evidence and, if they are not going to issue an EHC Plan, they must tell the parents within 16 weeks of first receiving the request. If they are going to issue, they must send a draft around week 15 and give the parents at least 15 days to comment on it and name their preferred school, and must consult schools and give them 15 days to comment. They must finalise the EHC Plans by week 20.

Therefore if they issued a draft in May, that was presumably around week 15, and they should have completed the plan by the end of June at the very latest. Don't just pester the LA to complete the Plan, make the judicial review threat - in the highly unlikely event that you had to start proceedings, you would get legal aid in your son's name. There's some useful information on judicial review in the information sheet on SOS SEN's website. Point out that the school has made it very clear that it is unable to meet your child's needs and they have to stop the rot and place him somewhere that can.

OK sorry I was wrong about it being May.

In early June (the week after half term) we received the draft EHCP, which stated 20 hrs per week 1to1 in current mainstream primary.

Both the school, and Ex and I as parents, responded to say that wasn't sufficient, and a specialist provision was required. Ex and I rushed to visit various options, within County, and both agreed St Dominics was our preferred provision. We named that on our responses.

Surrey has sent papers to St Dominic's, but they will not have a chance to review before Sept. St Dominic's do have space.

Just at the end of term (18th July or something like that), received final EHCP, but now it only listed Mainstream Primary, and did not even mention one2one.

Email received separately to let us know it had been issued to meet deadline, but they were still looking at specialist options.

OK, so as a precaution you should immediately appeal against the EHCP. Don't leave it whilst the LA dithers about placement, because your appeal deadline will be around mid September. You will need to appeal against section B, F and I because F in particular will have been written to support a mainstream placement - ideally it needs to set out that your son needs to be in a special school with small classes, specialist teachers, therapists on site etc.

There's a very useful booklet on appealing (plus others on things like what should be in EHCPs etc) recently issued by SOS SEN which you might like to get - www.sossen.org.uk/news.php

Sorry, really stupid question, but can I appeal even though application for EHCP was made by the school, not by us as parents?

Yes, you can. The letter with the final EHCP should have explained about your right of appeal.

Sorry, and presumably I can reply myself, without having to do it jointly with Ex?

Yes, you can, assuming you mean appeal. However, he is entitled join in the appeal and be heard if he has parental responsibility.

The appeal form asks you for the names of other people with parental responsibility. It also states that paperwork will go to one person only and asks for confirmation of who this will be.