Statemented child and junior school transition. Child left off list in error.

[ThoughtBen10WasBadPokemonOMG]

I'm a regular poster but am posting for my friend who has a child with ASD currently in Y2.

She got confirmation of his junior school place for September in writing in October 2011. However admissions have said that he isn't on the list for the school.

Am I right in saying that his place is priority as a statemented child and therefore it is the last child that was given a place in error. As there are no infant class size issues, they will have to expand the class to admit him?

I'll send her the link so she can read any responses.

TIA

Has she shown the LA the letter? Where do they think it came frmom .

Yes, I think they need to expand to fit him in. But someone more knowledgeable will be along in a moment. Good luck to your friend!

Was the school names in his statement review?

As I understand it children with a statement naming the school do not go through the normal admissions process thus your friend had conformation of his place in October 2011, before other applicants had even applied let alone been allocated places.
The fact his name has been left off the list by the LEA is an error on their behalf and they have to admit him to the school as he has a statement naming the school. It should be quite straight forward for the LEA to sort out as even if this was an ICS case (which as a Y3 place it is not) a child with a statement naming the school must always be admitted even if it takes the class over PAN, even over ICS of 30.
What have the school and LEA said about this, what are they proposing to do? Does your friend have the paperwork from last October confirming his place at the school?
I hope one of the admission experts come along soon and can confirm, clarify or correct me but the way I understand it your friends child has to be accepted into the school if his statement names the school, if they are trying to do otherwise then they simply don't have a leg to stand on. I am not sure who the best people to call for help in dealing with the LEA and school are, again I hope the experts can help, must be very stressful and difficult for your friend and her ds, especially with ASD if he has already been told and prepared for entry to this school if they are now trying to say he has no place!

Yes, is the junior school named on his statement? If so he is entitled to a place and would be an excepted child, over and above any other admission criteria.

Crossed with roadkill. Admission or Phrbridge etc will hopefully come along soon.

I'm not sure which school is on the statement yet. I'll find out. You can tell I'm not a statementing expert!

Yes the worry that he has been prepared for the school and then for the SENCO to call up to arrange the transition visits to be told he isn't on the list is awful for her. Admissions are going to look into it and call her back.

Yes as far as she knows it was in the statement (she'll need to dig it out) and the s/ment review was in February so after the letter to confirm his place.

Don't think it'll be a problem long term then, Ben. The school might not have experience of these sort of mistakes but the LA admissions lot will and will sort it out, hopefully. Maybe get local parent partnership on board as well.

If the school is named it really should be an open and shut case!
What they should do is say that in error his name was not on the class list passed to the school but they are now adding him to it and sending the amended list to the school ASAP.
I can almost see what has happened. Because he is a child with a statement naming the school his place was confirmed before normal admissions started, they then 'forgot' all about him, his paperwork got missed or not entered into the system correctly and they then offered places to their PAN overlooking there was in fact one less place available to be offered. It is likely that until the SENCo called the school about transfer they still hadn't realised his paperwork/computer entry was lost/miss entered. I would imagine that their is a great deal of scurrying around trying to find the correct information in regards to your friends son and the issue should be resolved quickly. However, I know that their are some LEA's out their that really do \not seem to understand the legislation covering their departments so in the meantime it would probably be prudent for your friend to contact outside bodies to advise and help, is their an organisation that supports parents of children with ASD? Somewhere like that would be very up\on this I would think, I would also advise her to talk to his current school and SENCo, also any other agencies involved with drawing up his statement so that they can all tackle this together to ensure it is resolved swiftly for the child's sake.,

I was told by the LA that once a school is named on a statement then that is the school your child should attend.

Did the mum fill in the ususal registration form for a school place (might be incorrect name!) I was told to fill it in just like all the other parents.

School get notified and are given 15 days to submit a reason for not accommodating the child to the LA. I was told it would have to be a VERY valid reason for not meeting his needs.

In which case I would get the parent to ask admissions if the school had opposed having her child in the school within the required 15 day limit.

Thank you all. I know she is getting in contact with Kids Parent Partnership so hopefully this will all get resolved v quickly. We are also members of our local support groups who I know will be very supportive to her.

Coff

This is her response: I was told not to fill in the normal admission papers. current school refused to give me a form as he had confirmation by that time already.

They should have filled in the normal admission forms, school was wrong. But so long as the statement names the school, they will be ok.

Good. Thanks Ellen x

Yes the school was wrong! and I nearly fell for that one too. It was only because I phoned the LA that I got sent an admission form to fill in. At the time though the next school wasnt named so it was rushed through as a quick amended statement for his benefit.

That is probably why there has been a cock up but nevertheless the school is still named so tell your friend to stick with it :)

If the SEN statement had been prepared and it names the school then there should be no problem. In theory the pupil should have been included as one of the pupils given a place at the school. But if the school is full then I can't see any reason, given that it is an obvious administrative cock-up, why they cannot be admitted above the PAN.
I would go back to the LA admission office and tell them that there has been a mistake made, that the statement names the school and that as parent I want that school, please make the place available.

Thank you Admissions. The SSEN definitely names the school so I will send her your wording to go back to them with.

I had a similar situation in Y2. DS was not on any admissions list and all the other parents received forms from the LEA re Junior school admittance to fill in except me purely because DS had a statement back then.

Junior school gave me verbal confirmation that DS would be attending there (had no rewritten statement at that time and was in the dark on the whole thing).

Statemented children are dealt with by a different department within many LEA's and in my area junior school admissions were dealt with by County who had no imput at all re any statemented child.

If his rewritten statement names the school in question then this child will be going there.