My child has SEN did not get any of my 3 choices

[Ilovedipdap]

I am going to have to appeal. Anyone got any advice as I am devastated. Thank you.

Is your child statemented?

And were the admissions authority aware of your child's SN at the time of application? Did you provide medical evidence of their needs and why your desired schools would be best for him/her?

If your child has a statement of SEN you should have got a place, and will have grounds for appeal. If no statement then you will have had to submit strong evidence as to why your child's SEN meant that the school you wanted was the only one that could meet their needs.

I disagree with Pud2.

If you have a Statement of SEN the school named on that statement must admit your child. They have no choice. And you would not have needed to go through the normal applications process.

If you do not have a statement you may well find that any appeal will be heard under infant class size rules. That basically means that admitting your child will push the school over the legal limit of 30 pupils in a class. In that case you will need to show that a mistake has been made or the admissions authority acted unreasonably in refusing to admit your child. Note that "unreasonably" in this context means their decision was irrational.

If it is not an infant class size appeal you can win by showing that this is the only school that can meet your child's needs. But if it is an ICS appeal you are unlikely to win unless you can show that the admissions authority has made a mistake that cost your child a place.

Try ACE(admissions advice) and IPSEA (for SEN advice). Both are excellent.

Also your local Parent Partnership if ou haven't already spoken to them.

Did you put your catchment school down?

When you say SEN, can you be more specific?

Prh47bridge - just to be absolutely clear: A school does not have to admit a child who applies through a statement. They can turn it down if, for example, they consider that the child's needs are too great, and they can't provide what they need. It can be appealed though.

Pud2 - Just to be absolutely clear, once a statement names a school the school must admit. It is entitled to object to the LA's intention to name it on the statement but once the statement has been finalised the matter is closed and the school must admit. That is the law - Education Act 1996 s324 5(b).

I was actually disagreeing with your second sentence and making the point that evidence of SEN will not help in an ICS case.

As an aside, could I just hijack for a second and ask prh if a school named on a statement can defer acceptance of a child, e.g. until the next academic year? (older child)

I agree prh. SEN needs would have had to be presented at the point of application, which is what I was trying to say. They would not win you an appeal after application.
OP - I hope that you are feeling a bit clearer after the initial shock.

clam - There is nothing in the legislation that implies any right to delay admission. Are you aware of a case where this is happening?

Pud2 - Glad we are in agreement!

(Have pm'd you)

I am curious as to how a child with SEN gets to school application stage without being known to Health Visitors, Medics, Educational Psychologists, Nursery Teachers and Other professionals who could assist with the school application for such a child. Usually, in my previous educational experience, these children were known about in advance even though some of them would not have a statement. Their movement into nursery and full time school was a matter for discussion with all concerned, including the school and the LA. How come it is now possible for a child with SEN to slip under the radar? Who now determines SEN? What sort of SEN does not trigger a discussion about suitable schools at an early opportunity?

I think, Millymollymama, it depends on the severity of the need. A child with SEN could be a child who has fallen slightly behind their peers, and is classed as School Action, right through to a child with severe or profound need. The OP on this thread hasn't specified what the SEN is so it's hard to say why the child didn't get into the school of choice.

It really depends on what the level and type of SEN is and in this case we don't know.

I work with children with SEN and support the statementing process where needed prior to school application. It can be tricky to get the statement in place far enough along before the school application deadline even starting the process in the Autumn term before the following Sept admissions. But in that case parents are advised to let schools admissions know that there is a proposed statement in progress and apply directly as well if needed. Also it does depend on how much the parents engage with the process and sometimes parents are not ready to look at this level of making their child's SEN 'formal' before they start school.

If there is a statement in progress for this child then it will add one more onto the Reception intake as the school can't refuse to take the child once they are named.

Speech and language problems can be enough - there are specialist language units (which we failed to get in and have been offered a sen base in a mainstream instead ).

Some sen only come to light gradually; it may only become apparent once the child has started to engage with formal education. This is especially true of ASD, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia etc. Some are not diagnosed until 7 or 8.

MMM time is a big factor. Depending on need (ie, some special needs will be known about from birth, some may not start becoming apparent until 3yrs old) and also when in the year the child was born (so you'd have nearly year longer before school starts with a Sept born child than you would with an August born child) you might have a very small window from when the child appears in Nursery (often the term after they are 3). Allowing some 'settling in time' cuts down the time before hand, and waiting lists are a fact of life, you don't get seen by someone as soon as the referral is made. Then you get a lot of families that are not, at that stage ready to consider that their child might have an additional need, and, unfortunately you also get people who agree to the referral but then don't attend the appointments. You can also get professionals who can't agree a diagnosis / if there is an issue or not / agree the severity of the issue. then there's the fact that the applications have to be in before Christmas in the year before they are due to start.
We can only talk in general terms though, as OP hasn't come back to answer any questions.

MMM, sadly there's also a lot of fobbing off of parents by some professionals.

The classic one is to say cheerily, "Oh, you don't want to be labelling your child unnecessarily, I'm sure!" -- and if it's your eldest child, the temptation is to assume that the profs are right and your child doesn't need extra help, just a better parent...

I'm surprised you didn't already know, a friend has a son who is statemented and she has known for weeks which school he is going to because the procedure for applying is different. Good luck with your appeal. Is your child statemented?