Health Visitor and School Admissions

[nesstaylor27]

Hi just after some advice my daughter missed out on our preference schools we did submitted letters from her consultant for her hearing condition and from her HV explaining why our first choice was suitable for her needs, this is was submitted seperatly to her application for due to official diagnosis being after form was posted back to LEA i took the letters to the council reception myself. Anyway we have a meeting with the HV on Wednesday to talk about the option of appeal or finding another suitable school with a smaller intake to the one she has been allocated. in our county or boarding as we're on boarder of two counties Do you think if i phone admissions tomorrow they will tell me if they received the information and if it was taken into account on allocating her place?

Do they have medical conditions as part of the admissions criteria? If not it was probably ignored. You can bring it up at your appeal.

They do but i can't find in the pack we have admissions critiria, i do know we dont have catchment schools, i'm hoping if i call tomorrow they will be able to check if they did consider it i hate making fuss but really struggling with her at the moment and i know hand on heart she will struggle at the allocated school.

found it our admisions critiria is- 1- children in care/previously in care, 2- medicial and social, 3-siblings. 4 - religion, 5 -distance

Yes give them a call to see how they have handled her application. Hope you get it sorted out.

I think that for medical and social need you need someone a bit more medically qualified than a health visitor. (Ie. a community paediatrian or some other hospital consultant) Surely if your child has significant long term hearing problems then they should have a teacher of the deaf. Have you visited the larger school?

Usually children with hearing needs would have been to Nursery and should have been seen by an educational psychologist and specialist teacher to assess educational need as well as health professionals. If your DD does not have a statement, which would expressly say which school she should attend, usually one with specific expertise/facilities for deaf children, you could find it difficult to get the school you want as the LA will not have to agree her need is sufficient to warrant a particular school. You can, even if she goes to a school you don't particularly want, get the statement process started. If her need is not so great, you may find it difficult to leapfrog other children on medical ground because not all schools have this as a criteria. Is there any reason why her educational needs gave not been assessed yet? A consultant will not know what various schools can offer. Were you wanting a place at a school with specialist facilities for the deaf ? Also, your County Admissions team cannot put your DD in a school in another County. They have no power to offer you this and the HV hasn't either.

I would have a look at what you have been offered as this may well meet her needs in other ways than class size. It may have generous TA time for example and experience of deaf children.

hi shes not got hearing loss its the opposite as such as extremely sensitive hearing causing discomfort and pain to her.

im trying to get an appointment to visit the allocated school but have been unsuccessful even on explaining why i want to visit just been told there be in touch when all of reception come to look round.

spoke to the council and because shes not statemented yet its not considered or taken into account. also waiting for her consultant to call me back as shes slowly getting worse.

thanks for the replies x

Having had a quick glance at admissions policies of primary schools in my locality they differ in terms of how they consider medical need and where it is placed on their criteria list. One school had it as low as 4th below looked after, siblings and Church affiliation. Other schools had it higher but the school had to be considered as essential for the child. Therefore medical needs must be considered but it absolutely does not guarantee a place at oversubscribed schools or for children whose needs can be met elsewhere. Therefore knowing exactly what the admissions criteria are for your chosen school is vital and you need to be a bit more forceful with the allocated school. Don't take No for an answer and ask for a meeting with the Headteacher. Do it now! What help did you get from Nursery staff regarding a future school? It seems to me that too many professionals have been a bit less than proactive here.

Dd has hypersensitive hearing as part and parcel of the autism that she also has. Dd had a statement from being three so no admission worries here but perhaps to reassure you I removed dd from a tiny primary with 17 in her class to her current school where classes are 30. The tiny primary was bedlam (probably because of a poor teacher but also because of it being a Victorian building so there were high ceilings, single glazed windows etc) whereas she has had no problems at her current school which is a modern new build school and she has teachers who are strong on classroom management and calm and quiet.
If your appeal isn't successful don't think all is lost a school that is sensitive to your dc's needs doesn't necessarily have to be small nor OFSTED outstanding IME.

I agree with the previous 2 posters. What you need to check is whether (or not) your child was considered under the medical and social category or whether this was rejected (and why).
Possible reasons for rejection are: the evidence was submitted late or the hearing condition is not sufficient to place your child in this category - having a named medical condition may help but is not necessarily enough. In our area (but this seems to vary) to be placed in this category a child must have needs that cannot be met by any other school. A description of the type of school e.g. small class size on it's own may not be enough. The information you really need is does this school have any expertise e.g. teacher or TA trained to teach children with this type of problem?
However it is not always true that smaller schools are better with children who have additional needs. Larger school may for example have more support staff who would be able to do small group work with a child when needed.
All children with additional needs should have a medical care plan where it is written down what support your child needs and how the school can help with this. The HV needs to consult with the school nurse and SENCO to make sure a suitable plan is drawn up before your dd starts school.

thank you a lot to take in and trying to get information from schools and council. i understand about the small school not always being better at coping.

from what i can understand from the council is they wont consider her medical needs unless she has a statement which we don't. i have a meeting with the hv tomorrow so will raise this then.

I took her to stay and play today at the allocated school as was getting nowhere on the phone and asked the play leader about the school she actually went and got the deputy head who is the senco for the school and she was lovely explained my concerns about my dd she took her to see the classes and meet the teachers (without me as had my younger dd with us too) which was lovely of her and dd came back very happy and more comfortable. she made me feel better about the situation she talked about a plan for her.

A statement and medical needs aren't mutually exclusive though so the LA are advising you wrongly. t's possible to have a statement without any medical needs likewise it's possible to have medical needs and not need a statement.
Has your dd seen an occupational therapist? Dd's hypersensitive hearing is part of her sensory processing difficulties and OT are able to advise parents and schools and devise programmes to help.

Yes exactly what Tiggy says, statemented children are entirely separate to children with medical needs (who don't have statements) in this area.

well progress today has been finding out where she is on the waiting lists and also getting a list of alternative schools posted to me from the lea. hoping to find her a school both her and us feel happy with.

Also managed to get her another appointment with the consultant for mid may.

going to fill out her appeal form tonight then decided once received the list from the council.

I thought you said earlier a visit to the allocated school went well!

i said we went to stay and play (ran by children's center) and that i saw the deputy head who took my dd off to see the classes without me and dd was happy and that the teacher was lovely made me feel better about the situation but neither myself or husband are confidently happy on sending her to the school still so getting all our options to help us decided what is best for us and for her.