Will a new school offer a place if Educational Psychology Assessment refused

[3kids1dog]

Hi all, my friends child is 7, last month his school hours were reduced to 1.5 hours a day due to his behavior, he is not violent in any way but is very disruptive ie, he sings, never sits down, acts the fool. he has always been behind development wise but is an absolute maths wizz. School decided to call an EP in for an assessment, arrangements were made for them to see him last week but the parents decided to pull him out of that school altogether so assessment was never done. What she wants to know is will another school offer him a place because firstly his behavior and secondly because they refused the EP assessment.

I know it’s not a helpful thing to say, but it was unwise to refuse the assessment. Are they unwilling to consider that he may have SEN?

Unfortunately yes they are refusing he has any problems at all and to be honest everyone else realizes he does, his oldest brother has sever autism, the middle son was in school with my son and he had a lot of emotional and anger problems and possible autism which again they refused to acknowledge, its really difficult as she comes to me for advise all the time being an older mum but, i dont know how to advise her on this

I don’t know the answer to your question, but if his behaviours are in part because of a SEN, then, unless he gets support for that, I’d have thought the same problems are likely to happen in a new school.

The short answer is no, a new school can’t refuse for this reason. They won’t know this bit of information at the point of application anyway, unless his parents or previous school tell them. Even if they did know, a state school must be inclusive and offer a place if they have a space. It is likely though, that the same problems will occur wherever the child is.

The Ed psych isn’t trying to find a problem but to work out how best to educate the child!

The school may not refuse but why on earth not try to nip this in the bud now rather than wait to see on the off chance he wakes up one day a calm and diligent student?

School decided to call an EP in for an assessment, arrangements were made for them to see him last week but the parents decided to pull him out of that school altogether so assessment was never done.

I can’t believe they did that! EP time is like hen’s teeth and I think they will regret it.

Another school may accept the child if they have space. What are the parents hoping to achieve at another school though?

The school will contact the previous school immediately and will in all likelihood put him on another reduced timetable if his behaviour is that difficult to manage.

its really difficult as she comes to me for advise all the time being an older mum but, i dont know how to advise her on this

I would advise her not to withdraw her child from school and to accept any external help offered. If she refused to listen, I would ask her to stop asking me for advice if she wouldn’t listen.

First of all, a school can only put a child on a reduced timetable with parental permission.
If she has removed her child then she is at risk of being fined for not having her child in a school.
If she finds a school with a place available they cannot refuse her DS but she needs to be honest with them as to her reasons for taking him out of his last school. As Senco, the first thing I would do would be to phone the old schools Senco to ask for some background.
She was very very foolish withdrawing him before the EP was able to assess him. It may be months before he will get the opportunity again. In the meantime, if his behaviours escalate, he is at risk of being excluded.
She needs to take him back to his school- he won't have been removed from their register yet as this only happens once he's enrolled in a new school, apologise for her rash behaviour and support the school in helping her son.