LA want to name mainstream school

[AntitheticalDreamgirl]

Hello everyone, I'm just wondering if anyone has any words of advice or experience really! It's a long one so I apologise in advance.

My son is 3.5, diagnosed with ASD and has a sensory processing disorder. He has over 100 pages of reports from educational psychologist, diagnostic report, autism specialist teacher who observed him in nursery, occupational therapist reports including sensory diet, council occupational therapist report ordering home adaptations - she observed him in the home and described him as having profound sensory processing needs, and speech and language reports. Most of these reports state he requires a high level of support, small class sizes and specialist placement and individualised curriculum. The autism teacher report specifically says it is her professional opinion that he requires a specialist school.

He is verbal, he can count to 100 (though this is mostly reading the numbers rather than counting from memory) and he can recognise letters and shapes. He is clever with his special interests which is identifying the names of sea creatures and dinosaurs.

The LA have said the specialist schools that take age 4+ have said he is too advanced for their cohort so now they're trying to name a mainstream school. I am appealing sections B, F and I because they have downplayed his needs due to his verbal ability and ability to count/recognise letters and they've missed out a lot of information in the reports, and the provision they have wrote in section F is vague and not quantified.

He struggles to cope in his nursery classroom of 13 children so I don't know how he will ever cope, learn and thrive in a class of 30 children.

More school options open up at 5 as that's when the independent specialist schools take from, but that would mean he starts school in September 2027 instead.

Has anyone got any experience with a child with a similar profile to mine, and did you find the perfect school for them? We are hoping tribunal will help get what he needs.

I don’t have this experience but I’m currently at draft stage of ECHP which I disagree with.

Do you know what provisions are avaliable in your area? Including private provisions outside of the LEA.

Yes we've consulted with all of the ones that take from age 4+, but the independent schools only take from 5+ so he would only be able to start in 2027. That wouldn't bother me too much as it's better than placing him in a school that will cause trauma but I'm worried that they're also going to say he's too advanced. There is one a 30 minute drive away in another LA that is specialist and takes academically able children from 5+ (one of their cohort recently got accepted for Oxford University studying engineering science!) but then I worry maybe his sensory profile doesn't fit. I don't know. It's all such a battle 😩

Sorry, I have no advice but I just wanted to share my sympathy as this is a growing picture across the country. SEN places are so few and far between and the level of need so high now that it does seem more and more children who clearly require specialist provision are being turned away, unless profoundly disabled or severely cognitively delayed.

I have 4 EHCPs in my own Reception class, currently, and one child sounds particularly like your boy. Very intelligent in many ways, but unable to access the classroom/parts of the curriculum independently due to his needs. It's a constant juggle, as these children don't even receive enough funding currently to cover an additional member of staff so it's just myself and my TA tackling what is a daily battle to a) ensure we're meeting their needs and b) ensure we're meeting the needs of the rest of the class while juggling so many children who really need 1-1 support or specialist provision.

Do your research carefully. Some schools do have specialist units as part of their mainstream provision, where children of mixed ages are taught by an SEN teacher and a couple of TAs in a smaller class, grouped by need rather than age. You might be able to find a school nearby who have a unit like this, who might be able to meet his needs for now while you appeal/wait for a place to become available at a special school. With his EHCP in place, you would be prioritised if you named such a school as the best one to meet his needs, even if you're slightly out of catchment.

I really hope you manage to find a mainstream school you are happy with while you wait for specialist provision. The alternative would be to home educate, but I appreciate this doesn't work for all families (and sadly so many parents with SEN children feel forced into this route because mainstream simply isn't an option).

I really feel for you. The state of SEN provision, and education in general in this country, is nothing short of a national scandal.

Have any mainstream schools said they can meet need? If they have, the LA will definitely jump on this as there are few special school places. You will likely need to appeal.

I would recommend visiting the named or closest local mainstream schools and meet with the SENDCo to discuss your child and see what they say about meeting need. This will support your next steps.

I am in the South west and we regularly have children starting with us who have specialist names on their plan yet there are no places. We have had one pupil who was a now year 2 and still with us. It’s a mess.

Does he have a EHCP? If he does it should go out for consultation with any schools you ask the LA to consult with plus they may choose a local school . If a mainstream school says they can meet need they will choose that school as it’s cheapest. If mainstream says no but a Sen school says yes you may get lucky. If they all say no (either caus can’t meet need or full) then LA will pick a school (again probably cheapest one) and name them regardless.

Yes he has an EHCP and we are currently doing a B/F/I appeal due to vague wording. One of the specialist schools consulted with has said yes, but it is out of borough and the LA has said a local mainstream school can meet need but the schools response and emails (from the SAR) indicate that they can't.

Of a fashion. The EHCP is very vague, not specified or quantified and the LA has refused to add his autism diagnosis to the plan along with details from other professional reports. The mainstream school have said they would need a lot of extra funding in place to be able to have him in their school, and an out of borough specialist has said they'll offer him a place. The LA has decided the mainstream school with funding is more appropriate. Currently appealing B/F/I anyway

Do remember that there is no legal obligation for any child to be in school until the term before their 5th birthday.

Have you considered a resourced provision? That might give you exactly what you want. Particularly if you find one that includes in mainstream on a needs not rights basis.

Being out of borough doesn’t matter. It can still be named if that is your preference.

The LA have said the specialist schools that take age 4+ have said he is too advanced for their cohort

What do you think? Just because a (non-wholly independent) school thinks this doesn’t always mean they can’t be named. Have you spoken to the schools directly? LA consults often give an incomplete &/or inaccurate picture. It is worth ensuring they have the correct information.

Focusing on your appeal, look at your evidence. Do you need any independent assessments? You mention EP. Is this an independent EP? You mention council OT, you don’t mention an OT report for the EHCP. Is the SALT report an independent report by someone with experience of tribunals?

Are the reports detailed, specified and quantified? Or are they vague and woolly? For example, ‘requires’ doesn’t mean ‘must receive/have’, what is ‘high level’, what ‘support’, what is ‘small’? I appreciate you may have paraphrased here, but it is important to look at the exact wording. The placement named in section I is the logical conclusion of B and F. B + F = I. If B&F are poor, you risk an unsuitable placement being named in I. In turn, B&F are based on the evidence. If the evidence is vague and woolly, B&F will be too.

there is no legal obligation for any child to be in school until the term before their 5th birthday.

It is the term after their 5th birthday.

Our (mainstream) EYFS and KS1 classes have increasing numbers of pupils with ASD, SPD, SLCN and in nappies-dysregulated by large groups (ie a classroom!) and each needing an individualised curriculum. This seems to be what the government wants regardless of what’s best for the child or the teacher!

I think the SEND plan is for all mainstream schools to set up their own hub in their library/ICT room/demountable/cupboard and fill it full of pupils with EHCPs and an LSA or two. They will call this ‘Inclusion’. It’s exclusion really, and it’s just cheap.

I follow Sunshine Support on Instagram. Might be helpful to reach out to them OP

Would depend where you live a friends grade 3 autistic child was given a place in mainstream as sen schools were full, they were lucky a week before they were suppose to start a place became available at Sen school as someone had moved out of the area. Those with grade 2 or 1 have no chance in most areas, if they are lucky may get a place at a school with a unit.

If by grades you are referring to the levels used in the DSM, then many with a diagnosis from the UK won’t receive a level as part of their diagnosis, and it isn’t true those with level 1 or 2 can’t get SS placements. They can. EHCPs are based on needs, not diagnosis.

I’ve been in teaching a long time and have never seen a diagnosis in England come with a grade. This would have no bearing on the school placement named.

Hello, thank you for your reply.

We have a very robust 15 page autism specialist teacher report (commissioned privately) which was submitted as evidence but B and F mostly ignore this document. We have a NHS OT with a full detailed report and sensory diet which was used for the EHCP, and the EP was the LA EP. The SALT assessment for EHCP said his speech was within normal limits based on a 20 minute observation and we've commissioned a private SALT to do a 3 hour observation (90 minutes at home and 90 minutes in nursery) and will use this report for appeal but it wasn't available at the time of the EHCP draft. Both the private SALT and the autism specialist teacher have agreed to be expert witnesses if needed. We also have a full 15 page autism diagnostic report with recommendations for ongoing provision on and detailing all his needs and how he met criteria.

I don't believe section B fully reflects his needs as so much has been left out from the reports despite me complaining about this at draft stage, and the fact the NHS SALT have said his speech is within normal limits has caused them to water down his needs. The private SALT has observed how fragile his regulation is and how this affects his communication, and also how environmental factors affect his communication and interaction as a whole. She has also put a lot of quantified and specified provision into the report so I really hope this helps.

The LA EP stated he has a spiky profile with some development as low as 5 months old, and that he needs a personalised curriculum and how regulation is a pre-requisite for learning and how fragile his emotional regulation is and how although his expressive speech is okay, his functional communication is very delayed. They witnessed him biting himself and saying "scared" on repeat at transitions and refusing to eat near other children and laying on the floor crying about going into the food room (which has been consistent in his IEPs for the last 6 months with no improvement) and this was also noted in the autism specialist teacher report too.

All of this is in a nursery class of 13 children so I'm really struggling to understand how the LA can see this evidence and think putting him in a classroom of double that amount of children will enable him to access learning in any way. I really hope all of this evidence helps at tribunal to get the EHCP written properly and then a school that can meet those needs as written 😭

I would consider an independent EP &/or OT assessment if possible. 99.9% of the time, independent assessments will be far more comprehensive and detailed, specified and quantified than LA/NHS reports. If you can’t afford it and you aren’t eligible for legal aid, there are charities who can sometimes help.