school appeal - medical needs

[pale02]

Hi, we submitted a detailed medical letter (from GOSH) with school application. We were not offered a place at the school we wanted and we have been given no reasons to why his medical needs are not considered exceptional. We are left wondering if Haringey council even looked at the letter. We are considering appealing and would be grateful if any one can tell me if there is a protocol a LA has to follow when considering medical needs. Like many we feel badly let down by the system.

Have you spoken to them about it?

Not sure where the Authority spells out what consideration medical conditions have, obviously some are/should be allowable, but minor issues (broken arm, because I can't think of anything else!) wouldn't be....

Sorry, no help, but speak to them first. Find out whether it was considered, and what basis they use for assessing medical conditions.

Good luck

I just posted this on another thread, trying to explain how the medical/social needs category works ...

There?s a difference between getting into the med/soc category for consideration of the initial application ? as I mentioned earlier, that?s usually a decision for the med/soc panel ? and satisfying the appeal panel that your child needs a place because of a medical/social issue.

A child with mobility problems who needs to be at a school within the distance they can manage to walk could well be accepted as a social/medical need. Much depends on what the professional's letter says. A letter saying "Ms SchoolsNightmare really wants her son to go to this school" won't help much. A letter saying "Master SchoolsNightmare has [medical condition] and can only easily walk x metres. This school is the only school within x metres so in my professional opinion he needs a place at this school" might well convince the panel, especially if it is one of several different arguments in favour of admission. However, you need to bear in mind that (depending on your circumstances) the LEA could well be arguing that your son could easily get to the allocated school by bus. This is a secondary appeal, isn?t it?

The distinction I?m trying to make is that there needs to be a demonstrable link between the need and what the school offers. Generally, as I said, that will be some sort of specialist provision but (probably most often for children with mobility issues) it could be proximity to home or (say) having flat access and no stairs.

What it isn't, though, is a general facility for children with a medical condition to get into their first choice school, when the preference is not related to any need the child has but is a preference based on (say) the school?s academic performance.

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I would be surprised if Haringey did not look at the letter from GOSH. I imagine they took the view that your child's medical condition does not indicate a need to attend that particular school. Does it have (say) a unit for children who share your child's medial condition?

Haringey's schools admissions booklet says:

In very rare cases children can be given priority to a particular school where there is evidence to demonstrate exceptional medical or social reasons why
only one particular school can meet their needs.

Applications in this category cannot be considered unless you provide written evidence from a doctor, social worker or other appropriate independent
professional. In each case the connection between our child?s need and the specific school must be made nd you must clearly demonstrate why this one specific school can meet your child?s needs in a way that no other school can.

You will need to supply evidence by the closing date of 5 January 2012. Information provided after this date ill be considered after 18 April 2012.

There's nothing there to make me think they are behaving in a way that doesn't comply with the Admissions Code or that their policy is unreasonable.

What does the letter refusing the school place say?

Would this be an infant class size appeal?

Having a medical condition doesn't guarantee that your child will get a place at your preferred school as it may be argued that most schools should be able to cope with most common medical conditions. In practice though some schools are better than others and it may help if your child needs extra help because of the condition.
For example: does your child need regular medication that has to be given during the school day ? Some schools are reluctant to give medication and others will only do so if it is in liquid or tablet form - they don't do injections e.e. for insulin or would expect a child to do this themselves.
does your child require additional medical support e.g. physiotherapy and is there a member of staff qualified to do this ?
Hope this helps

We were in the same situation.

In our case, part of the problem was (stupidly) that the school we had listed as our first preference was not down on the council list for accessible schools, so they thought dd couldn't be disabled after all. Hence a major part of our appeal was to explain to the panel that the LEA list is made up of schools which cover a wide range of different needs, but that no two disabled children are the same and what they needed to look at was whether X school met the needs of our dd, not whether it would meet the needs of some hypothetical child with a different disability.

It turned out that our school had been missed off the list because they did not have provision for visually impaired

The schools that did meet this criterion and had wheelchair access were massive ones where dd (who has impaired mobility) could never have walked between classrooms but would have been confined to a wheelchair at all times.

So we needed a letter from the specialist describing exactly the kind of school she needed: one that had wheelchair access on the days that was required, but was also small enough to encourage her to get around without a wheelchair, which the specialist explained was essential for her health.

I have to say I rather enjoyed explaining, to a sympathetic panel and a very disorganised pair of LEA representatives, that disabled people are all different and have different needs. So easy to explain and so obvious that this thought had never occurred to the LEA.