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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

School dilemma

17 replies

XxAlisonxX · 04/04/2012 19:36

I have posted in SN about this but thought id have a go in here aswell since it is a Education problem iv got. here is how it goes

DD1 (age 10 yr6 at school) is due to finish junior school in july and move up to secondary in sept. Now DD has SLI for which she is statemented. now the problem i have is. The special needs school has turned her down because her levels are to high ( she would be brighter than most there) and they cant meet her SLI needs. So they recomended a mainstream school with a SLI provision (great we thought till we visited ) and they turned her down, point blanc straight away, due to her levels being to low, and they couldnt meet her needs. SO this rules out mainstream schools, and the local SEN schools, they have placed her in a catorgory in the middle NOT SEN and NOT MS, ( erm hello this doesnt exsist) so i am now waiting on the LEA to have a meeting to decide what to do with her..........

In the mean time iv been looking only to find that due to the above there isnt a school in the whole of our county that can meet my DD's needs. so what should i do

OP posts:

Colleger · 04/04/2012 20:26

Legally the LEA need to provide a school for her.

Colleger · 04/04/2012 20:26

Home ed?

admission · 04/04/2012 22:25

If your child has a statement and the LA have said this will be continuing into their secondary education, then you as a parent can name the school that you feel will be best for your child.
It is not for either the special school or the mainstream school to decide whether they are prepared to accept your child, it is supposed to be a joint decision between the school, parent, child and LA. That attitude is getting very close to being against the Equality act in my opinion. Expressing concern about how your child will be able to cope and what the school can realistically offer in terms of adaption is OK, a flat refusal is not.
I am very concerned that you by now should have had all this sorted out and the LA should have agreed the school placement well before now, which is a full month after the initial admission allocations for secondary schools has been completed.
Do you as parent have a preference for which school your child should go to? IF you have and you genuinely believe that you child can cope in that school, then my reaction would be to tell the LA that you want that school naming on the special needs statement and what extra help that your child needs to have for them to be able to cope appropriately in the school. If you do not push it then you will get as little as they think that they can get away with, which at the moment seems to be just ignoring what should be a priority for a suitable placement.

Original poster

XxAlisonxX · 04/04/2012 23:17

No we dont have a school in mind, due to the fact that we know she will not beable to cope in MS and that the SN school will do her more harm than good

OP posts:

KitKatGirl1 · 05/04/2012 20:20

OP - the other posters are right, the LA have an obligation to find a place for your daughter and that could be independent if a special or mainstream state school is not considered suitable.
However (and am not an expert but have an Asperger's son in mainstream primary and friends with SEN children in both mainstream and special schools), I can't imagine at all that there isn't a school suitable for her in your area.
Have you looked at more than one special school, and is the one that said they couldn't accommodate her a moderate or severe learning difficulties school?
If moderate, then I am not sure that her levels (you posted on another thread that she is working at age 5/6?) would put her as 'too bright' (without wishing to be too blunt: I know that there are children working far closer to national expected levels in our moderate ld schools).
Why did you say the special school would do her 'more harm than good'? (Because of their attitude?!) It really does sound like a good, welcoming moderate learning difficulties school with emphasis on SL would be the right place for her.

Please do as much research as you can over the weekend and possibly contact your Parent Partnership for advice too?
It sounds like you've really been let down by your LA and possibly your primary school too (plans for transition to secondary should have begun early in yr 5!)
Good luck with it all - I hope you find the best place for her soon.

Original poster

XxAlisonxX · 07/04/2012 12:42

Thanks, the SEN school closest to us said that they could not meet her SLI needs, which is her main disability, we have looked at other SEN school but because NONE of them have any SLI provision or support they cant assist her either, full blown mainstream school isnt suitable either for there is no way on this earth she would cope in one, and the only school with the SLI provision turned her down point blanc. I live in west yorkshire, and please feel free to look and you will see that there is no other schools.

OP posts:

cronsilksilt · 07/04/2012 12:44

Are there any parent groups in your area? There has to be somebody else who's had the same problem.

prh47bridge · 07/04/2012 13:08

the only school with the SLI provision turned her down point blank

They cannot do that. As Admission says, if you think this school is the right one for your daughter you should ask the LA to name it on the statement. The school then must admit your daughter. They have no choice.

KitKatGirl1 · 07/04/2012 14:52

OP, didn't mean to imply that you hadn't looked around properly, but please don't panic. Is there the option to go out of county? Or any independent special schools at a suitable distance? Because the LA have to place your daughter somewhere appropriate and fund it. And if absolutely necessary that would include a home tutor - much more expensive for them!

You should have had your statement finalised mid February by law - what have they been doing up til and since then?! (We only just got ours on the legal date by email!)

Do you want your dd to go to the first special school you mentioned? If so, please push for it. As prh says they are not allowed to flat out refuse her a place and, as I said, her levels do not sound too high for a special school at all ( a friend's very bright brother is at a special school near us for asd but is still taking GCSEs via a local mainstream school, these arrangements are quite common now for ks4).

I hope you can get some answers after the bank holiday weekend. Your caseworker should not have been allowed to let it get to April with nothing sorted...as another posted suggested, your situation cannot be that unusual in such a densely populated county.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Original poster

XxAlisonxX · 08/04/2012 13:59

Neither school is really the right place for her when i think about it, for the SN school i feel is the wrong enviroment for her yet there is no way she would cope in a MS school either,

The woman from the SEN LEA sent me an email saying she has had to call a meeting with her bosses to discus what to do.

yes the MS school with the SLI unit turned her down in an instant for he could clearly see that there is no way she would cope or manage there ( if we sent her i have visions of her sat in a corridoor crying her eyes out).

Yes iam aware now that all this should have been done before feb and wasnt done till end of march. which is there problem to sort out now in time since i have pulled them over this.

There is an independant school that specialises in SLI kids, but it is 58 mile away from us, (its Dawn House) I have sat and thought long and hard and if we could get her in i would send her tomorrow but i cant see the LEA funding it for her to go and board and there is no way on this earth i could even afford it, Think my last resort is to have to think about moving house just to find her a school

OP posts:

Colleger · 08/04/2012 23:06

Would you not consider home ed?

mummytime · 09/04/2012 10:46

Have you contacted someone like SENSOS! (there is another one but I can't remember their name). If neither the Special school or the MS are the right place for your daughter you might just be able to force the LEA to get her a place at an independent school. I know SENSOS! Help you fight such cases.

Original poster

XxAlisonxX · 09/04/2012 12:38

sorry but home ed is totally out of the question, i struggle to cope with her most of the time and having her home constantly would end up in me breaking down.

OP posts:

ragged · 09/04/2012 13:02

That SLI thing looks interesting, never heard of it, but reckon DS2 has something like that.
Could you send her to the mainstream school, anyway, knowing that they are best set up to provide the closest level of support (that she needs) down the line? Would she never be allowed any support if she went without a statement? Would they block her application? What happens if you send her there anyway?

Reckon I'd be contacting local councillors & LEA in the meantime.

Original poster

XxAlisonxX · 09/04/2012 23:48

she is fully statemented and no i dont think it would do her any good in me sending her into a ms school knowing that she would not beable to cope, and the possiblity of her falling behind even more, im going to wait now till i have heard back from the LEA and see what they suggest

OP posts:

jiggles01 · 10/04/2012 12:04

Hi Alison ..... we were similar to you (look at past threads) we went to tribunal and LA gave in a few weeks before and DS now at residential SS School ....... his scores for S&L assessments were all around 1% tile or less but more for non verbal ....there was no language provision near us for SLI so now travels out of borough ....
It was EXTREMELY stressfull and expensive ,but would do it all again !!

iseenodust · 10/04/2012 12:21

If in Yorkshire have you looked at www.readschool.co.uk/. They are a small independent and take children with SEN. Friend has a DS there and is happy with school.

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