SEN Allocation

[Imwoodword]

My son is statemented, and the Local Authority applied for his reception place in January this year.

I have had no contact today regarding his school place - the SN office is not answering the phone or emails.

Is this normal that I wouldn't find out on the same day as everyone else does? I was actually led to believe I'd find out earlier, as he'd be priority.

Anyone got any knowledge? Thanks!

You say the LA applied?

I'm not sure ds is statement end but I applied for his school place. I though LA's named the school on the statement but didn't actually apply for the place? I'm not sure though maybe it differs elsewhere?

If you son has a statement and it names a specific school then you should have been allocated a place prior to most other places at the school (paragraph 1.30 of the school admission regulations). You would be counted as one of the number allowed into the school before reaching the published admission a number for entry in September 2014.

If you have not heard then you need to clarify the situation but you should not be worried about this glitch. If there has been a mess up and no place has been allocated, do not worry because pupils with special needs statements get preference and will be admitted over and above the PAN, even if the infant class size regs come into play at the school.

You need to talk to the admission office and establish whether a place has been allocated. If not it is time to kick somebody in the special needs team hard to get it resolved but I repeat if the statement names the school then there should not be any problem about getting a place.

Yes, the SEN office at the LA applied for us, I have it ok writing that she sent our choices off!

The statement I don't believe names the school, so that may be where the problem lies? I assumed that it would be altered to name the school that we applied to?

I will call again repeatedly tomorrow and hope someone picks up the phone! I am a worrier by nature and am stressing about him not having a place.

Thanks all for the replies.

Dd had a statement before entry to reception. It was a farce really, even though she had a statement I still had to fill in the allocations form. I was unable to do it online because if you ticked the box that said the child was statemented it closed the form and so I had to send in the paper form. I was sent the amended statement naming the school by mid February as I'm pretty sure is the date by which the LA has to do this. Are you in Derbyshire by any chance?

No, South Bucks.

You will be fine. When I was working as a SENCo I would not have expected the families of children coming in on a statement to hear via the normal allocations route.

Give your SEN Case Officer a ring tomorrow to clarify.

If the school is not named on the statement then you need to get the SEN team to alter the statement to include the school name and then the admission office should off a place at the school.
Please be aware that there are major changes happening in September around SEN statements, so you do need to get this sorted now.

You should get the proposed statement naming the school by 15th Feb for transition into reception or into yr7, shouldn't you? And you don't have multiple choices, you ask for one school which they will or won't agree to name...

Phone your case worker tomorrow.

Finally managed to get hold of the LEA, apparently a letter was sent out today detailing the situation, but he has a place held at our chosen school they just need to confirm that they can cope with his additional needs.

Such a stressful time!

If your dc has had a statement for a while then the LA should have done what they are now proposing to do before February 15th. If you have any more difficulties contact IPSEA or SOSSEN who will advise you of the LA's statutory duty and how you as a parent can enforce they meet it.