Managed out of independent

[gentileschi]

My 5 year old son is being managed out of his independent school, we effectively have 2.5 weeks to get something for Sept or come up with home ed plan. Any advise on how to navigate this? My son has an ASD diagnosis with PDA profile. He is not a school refuser and is up, washed and not in burn out or anything which is all I see advise for on pda sites. He just won't do anything he doesn't want to or isn't interested in. He is bright curious and interested in the world, his learning is coming along steadily. I can't see any places at any school let alone consider if he would fit there. Can online learning work at 5 years old? Is there a home education governing body? Who is supposed to look after us? Can you give advice on what I should be doing?

@Meadowtrees three children and 15 years within the education system, both state and independent schools and I’ve still not met one independent school that helps children with SEN thrive. Our best experience has been with a tiny state school that has all the resources and ability to help my DC. And my attitude towards it was nearly exactly like the OP’s, I didn’t want my children in state where they couldn’t possibly thrive, they couldn’t possibly have their needs met. I needed to take the stick out my arse to see what was best for DC.

Ah, thank you. Is this the same as home ed but you get a bursery or something? How do I suddenly learn how to manage home school/eotas?

@CracklingLogsGalore Are you advising me to look for a small village state school or will they have a special sen part? I'm asking for help and you are putting false opinions on me.

Crackling - how many independent schools have you tried? I dare say the big names or the highly selective aren’t good with SEN - that’s not what they specialise in. But lots of smaller non-selective schools do, and do a very good job. That is my experience, please don’t assume that your limited experience applies to all schools.

I think you should home Ed. It's impossible to have the child led learning you wamt for your dc in a school situation. You'll have to learn on the job so to speak but there are so many resources available online. If you Google home Ed groups in your area then you may find parents with dc you can meet up with.

There's always lots of movement at the end of term in state schools as people move house so apply now. If there's one you particularly like ask if you can go on a tour, pending a place becoming available.

OP - all schools are different, you will need to judge each on its merits. I’ve taught in two small primaries- one was excellent with Sen, one tried t avoid taking them so as not to get a reputation as being ‘good’ with sen and the head just seemed to find them a nuisance.

The LA has to offer you a state school place, even if under the Fair Access Protocol should they be "full". Might be worth a phone call to establish if here are any vacancies rather than waiting for the online system. An ehcp will enable you to name a school which suits his needs and access better resources. Are there any other independents which may suit him and which current school assist in negotiation with? While the current school has behaved badly in leaving this so late , his behaviour and reduced attendance must have been a warning sign that it was not working,

Join the Home Education For All HEFA Facebook page. Do searches within the group to find existing informative posts/files and post any outstanding questions for the helpful community to answer.

Also join your local home ed face book page to tap into your local home ed community. Look for local home ed activities and groups. Some areas have a lot of groups on offer. Consider forest school particularly and other more self directed activities. Low stress, low anxiety, low demand means higher engagement. Nature particularly can be very grounding and soothing.

Home Ed … start with what interests and motivates him. Give him a cut out list of activities and ask him to arrange the order inwhich he does things. This will allow him some control which will reduce anxiety. Allow for sensory breaks. Let him chose a timer for break.

Often state schools have to fail children to get suitable specialist school placements, with mainstream schooling imploding. It can be a very damaging experience for families and children which can effect self esteem and confidence.

Get an EHCP for your child, don’t wait for the school to do it. Ask his current school to write their observations down so that you have evidence for the EHCP.

its not just a piece of paper, it funds the care he will need in state school.

I'm definitely leaning to this being best for the next year or so. I guess I can hire tutors to keep him up on the core subjects in a way that's fun for him until he can re-join. He's not the only pda in the family and they are all highly successful in life but not in primary school!

Yes talk to the LA. Visit schools. See what’s on offer. Look at Ofsted reports and access schools with an existing large SEN population as they are more likely to understand what your child needs. Avoid small village schools with very few or no SEN children.

Independents are not good for SEN.

You need a mainstream school where they can seek support from external professionals.

I wouldn’t. The longer is he home educated the bigger the social gap and the longer it will take to access specialist advice.

Just to add, there’s lots of self paced learning he can do online. Humanatees website for example.

The moment you choose to home educate you are relieving the council of the obligation of providing education and it falls solely on the parent. Reversing that if you find that you cannot provide that education (and some people do change their minds) will be harder because the underlying responsibility is on you not the council until or if they find a suitable place.

I would ring and speak to local authority, ask about late applications and waiting lists, ring several schools directly to talk to the headteacher. If you want to do home education there will be groups of families you can do things with. For example in my area there are clubs providers that do home education groups, things like forest school, sport or science clubs. There might be something in the local library too, ask around. Not sure about the curriculum but I am sure there is a lot online once you find it. Good luck!

Can online learning work at 5 years old?
Most online schools don't start until age 9, and you're better leaving it till secondary.

Is there a home education governing body?
No - it is completely unregulated

Who is supposed to look after us?
Nobody. If you home ed, you're on your own. In 4 years of home education, we had one letter from the LA, telling us not to expect anything from them.

Document everything with the school. Written communications are best. Minute any meetings immediately after. Familiarise yourself with the complaints procedure.
You have the right to request flexi-schooling (i.e. part time attendance) but it is at the headteacher's discretion.

An ehcp is a legally binding document and will be needed if your son needs specialist which is highly likely with his profile in the future. There are specialist independents for PDA such as Gretton which are expensive and will only accept funded ehcp’s. Harsh as it sounds you can’t buy your way out of this and you have to put your prejudice aside and do what’s best for your ds.

Can you find a Montessori school or Forest school nearby?
The former's ethos was that it was child-directed learning.
They were allowed to pursue what they were interested in, which sounds like it has potential for a student with a PDA profile.
Out of interest, how did you get that diagnosed? Many still won't recognise it.

I think, realistically, all state schools are going to expect him to follow classroom routines and learn alongside others. In Year 1 there will be at least a Maths and English lesson each day. Other subjects may be taught via topic-based approach, but he would still be generally expected to be learning what the rest of the class is learning. Ultimately this is what he needs to work towards, even if not yet or not all the time.

Could you afford some tuition if you home educate? Perhaps one or two sessions per week, in addition to the child-led learning that you might do with him. There is a Home Ed section here on Mumsnet.

Definitely look into online packages which might be relevant for him. Maths Factor is fantastic (video led sessions) and there are other packages that support English, although obviously reading and writing is something that you can focus on at home.

EHCP is most certainly not just a bit of paper.

there are three families in my small support group who have private school fees (and transport) paid for by the council that way. One of the private schools is a “normal” private school (where my dd goes) the other two schools are highly specialised for children with autism.

all of the above families has to engage specialist lawyers to fight for this provision and were rejected several times. The proposition is that the local state schools could not provide the environment their child needed.

Don't dismiss state schools, They have experience of working with various SEN children and they can't just ask anyone to leave.

If you have not read it before, please read blueberries - here is a link.

newsroom.unl.edu/announce/csmce/755/3329#:~:text=The%20Blueberry%20Story%3A%20The%20teacher%20gives%20the%20businessman%20a%20lesson,-By%20Jamie%20Vollmer&text=%22If%20I%20ran%20my%20business,becoming%20angrier%20by%20the%20minute.

You have a number of options.

You can look for an independent that specialises in Sen.

Somewhere like this. www.hopetreeschool.co.uk
It's possible your local authority will have lists of schools like this otherwise get googling.

You could try an independent that allows for more child led learning.

State school - if you apply to the local authority for a place then there is a protocol that means that you should be given one. You won't get any choice in the school.

Home Ed: this is very doable at this age. You'll either need to do it yourself or get someone in. Main focus in school at this age would be phonics and maths.

There are other options in the state system (special schools, eotas, but they are mostly only available after mainstream has been tried and failed so you would need to put your son in state and let him fail first)

I get it OP. Burn out is a real risk for PDA kids.
I wouldn't write off state schools. But I wouldn't rush to put him in one either. He needs a low pressure environment with people who understand him.
If that needs to be home ed for now then so be it.
You are a good Mum to be considering all the options.

I'm coming to the end of my home ed journey with a kid with a similar profile. He'll be starting at a SEN unit within a mainstream secondary next term. Had I failed to get him in, we'd have home ed right the way through to GCSEs.

My advice:

I've not found online classes much use for younger kids. If you want to dip your toe in OutSchool has a very wide selection of classes in all sorts of subjects. £2 tution Hub has less choice but is cheaper and very ND friendly.
Try out a few stand alone classes or a short course and see if the format works for him. I wouldn't sign him up for an Online School at his age.

I've found apps a good fit. They can be dipped into as much or as little as your kid can handle. They add a little structures learning without being overwhelming.
We did Reading Eggs and Maths Seeds when he was little. Moving on to Night Zookeeper for creative writing and SpAG.
BBC Bitesize has some good free maths games.

At 5, an hour, maybe 2, per day on the 3 Rs should be enough.
If your kid has special interests, you'll want to leave him plenty of time to pursue them.
Make sure he has plenty of resources to draw on. And make yourself available to help and encourage.

Join your local home ed Facebook group to find friends and playdates. Join the Home Education for All (H.E.F.A) Facebook group for general home ed advice.

It's good his school is pursuing an EHCP. Follow the process even if you home ed. If you want to get him back into school in the future, you'll want all your SEN ducks in a row.

And Good Luck!