Ruth kelly send her child to private school because of SN

[PeachyClair]

part story here

Now I haev no problems with private schools as such, just seems this woman is partlyr esponsible for completely effing up the chances of SN kids (such as mine) in mainstream, then she opts out.

Most parentscaring for sn kids don't have £15k a year to make that decision.

Wonder if she realised what she was planning when she was the Minister? Coz that would explain the state of Sn in aminstream schools frankly.

And on the same day I geta letter stating mys ion can't have any occupational therapy because his Teacher ahsn't had the time to fill in the forms by their deadline.

I'm seeing an ed psych with ds next week, query dyslexia/praxia. Like you Aloha, I know that his needs and minor in comparison to the situations you have mentioned.

I send him to a private school where his needs are met. I can't quarrel with RK doing the same, but at least I wasn't daft enough to believe the 'inclusion at all costs' cobblers that the Government has been pushing, at the cost of children with the greatest needs.

I'd be perfectly happy for anyone to send their child to any school where they learned to read and write - I just think it is imcompatible with having been education secretary and criticised the private sector, and I also object to her being deliberately misleading in her comments so as to suggest she is paying the fees to save the LEA some money.

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Put it like that...well, no 'politician tells lies' is hardly headline news! Sigh.

I quite agree.

I never trusted her after her first statment on Education, 'The most important thing in education is parental choice', so not funding then Ruth?

It is utter nonesense to sugest that a child whould get a private place in that school for dyslexia. We have sesveral children in all yaers who are essetially functionally illiterate. And these poor bloody kids are unsupported in lessons. So while one, utterly charming child had the IEP target of learning the key words from Y1 and 2 i had to try to make her understand words like Photosynthesis and Chromatography

it's not just the implication that she's saving the LEA money, though that's boke-making enough. It's the fact that her statement tries to imply that there is nothing unusual in the choice that she's made and that it is potentially available to all. Yuk.

If it's the school I think it is, dh's cousin's ds went there, and I don't think they have a large intake of LEA-funded children, if any at all. It's a great school, might well be an option I'd take if my child were in the same boat, but to suggest that you are not buying your child an education far superior to anything they would be likely to get in the state system is bunk. Pants on fire. It's the lying that really gets to me.

Must go an have a lie-down.

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Illegal or not, it happens. A local comprehensive (I shit you not) tells people not to appeal places if a child's application fails, if the child has SEN. That is illegal too, but it didn't stop my mate's profoundly dyslexic child being refused a place, and we are smack in the middle of the catchment area.

Tower Hamlets have made it very clear that they do not endorse her decision to send her son to a private boarding school - let alone agree to pay towards it.

Pants on Fire, indeed.

But she probably likes that....(cheap shot referring to that spiky garter she wears)

give her a pair of there

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MB LOL
I'd quite like a pair of those for myself

A local comprehensive (I shit you not) tells people not to appeal places if a child's application fails, if the child has SEN

Bloody hell!. But the parents MUST appeal - why on earth are the school saying this.

Having said the above my son's school have applied for statements for some of their children over the years with a nil percent success rate.

Both and .

ds1 attends the special school that is for the neediest in our LEA (ie the ones who need nursing care or an extremely high level os support). It costs 15k a year for a place.There is no way the LEA would be providing that much funding for dyslexia without trips to tribunal.

Incidentally the LEA has a legal obligation to provide a "suitable" education for a child with SN (any child I suppose), not the best education- just suitable.

Point of the suitable bit being - if you want your LEA to fund something extra-ordinary- like boarding school for dyslexia- then you have to prove that the provision available and on offer from the LEA is not suitable. You don't have to prove its not the best, or the boarding school would be better- there has to be nothing suitable locally.

Al, don't have time to write it and I suppose I'm not short enough of money to be bothered. When the Sun called me to write a few words about divorce I got £375 last year. It can be very easy money but it's an effort when you have to keep doing it again and again (particularly if you were trying to make the £15k a year per place fees after paying tax).

I know two people who were very severely dyslexic in private prep schools. Both went to a boarding school specialist in helping children which was excellent. Both were then coached there for entrance at 13+ to other boarding schools. In other words given help at the right time. They didn't obviously get to somewhere like Eton but went to Millfield (in fact Kelly's old school) which takes less bright children etc and then Cambridge. Many severely dyslexic children like that in the state sector don't get the help they can get at these specialist dyslexia places I think. But as someone mentioned below some private schools don't spot these things. But what surprises me about that is surely in a sense it's the parents who should be spotting it - we all know even if we have no children with special needs what you look for to find dyslexia. It's hardly a state secret so why do some parents let the school take so long to "find" it?

"Acting on professional advice ? which the local authority accepts ? I am placing my son in a school that will be able to meet his particular needs. He will attend this school for a couple of years before he begins at a state secondary school.

"It is not uncommon for pupils with substantial learning difficulties to spend some time outside the state sector to help them progress ? sometimes this is paid for by the local authority . In my case, I have not and will not seek the help of the local authority in meeting these costs.

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Xenia- the people I know who have waited ages for a dx, have been at the schools for years- but have been fobbed off. For many people the cost of a private assessment by an ed psych is prohibitive, so they are stuck.

We've had to repeatedly pay for basic provision for our severely autistic son (right up until he went to special school- when he was at mainstream we were paying people to try and fill the gaps). If you don't have the money you are stuffed.

You can't just knock off an article if you are supervising/caring for a child who doesn't go to bed and is up all night.

socci I've always understood the suitable bit to be a cop out- to make it harder for the parents to prove that the provision is unuitable-You know how many tribunals LEAs lose, they'd lose 100% if it was a case of them having to provide the best education

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I mean what does 'the local authority accepts' mean in this context. I think she wants us to think it means, 'the local authority agree with the advice that the only possible schooling for him is this school', and that is patently untrue.