Secondary appeal advice sought

[SuperSue77]

Hello all, I've been following a few other threads on here, but thought I would ask for advice specific to my situation. Thought @PanelChair or @prh47bridge might have some helpful advice? My AuDHD son has got 4th preference school and no one from his 3-form entry primary has a place there, so he will know no one. We have an EHCNAR submitted, due to hear if they will assess at the end of the month, but even if they do it's unlikely we'd have an EHCP agreed by September. I suspect any EHCP would recommend regular mainstream with some support as he is bright and no cognitive impairments, just social, communication and interaction difficulties, and anxiety. Our closest secondary is the one where his 7 closest friends have a place, one has it named on his EHCP, he has similar diagnoses to my son. My argument is that as a socially vulnerable child who has difficulty developing relationships with peers, it is important that he has some peers with whom he has established relationships to prevent him being isolated during the transition to secondary.

I have no doubt that his current class teacher and SENCO will write something in suppot of this, but I note you mention how much weight a medical or professional opinion adds to the argument, so I approached the Dr who did his EP assessment to ask if she would write something. She said she would only reiterate what I have said about freindships and that these things are already in the EP report. The EP report talks about social vulnerability, especially during unstructured times of the school day and ensuring his has the opportunity to develop relationships with peers. That's not quite the same as needing his existing friendships to help him during that transition - which I actually think is essential. So my question is, do you think my signposting of the EP report, and also similar parts of his SaLT report will carry sufficient weight, or should I try to find a "profesional" who would interpret these reports to leave the panel in no doubt of the important of him being at a school where he has existing friends? His school mixed up their classes for year 6 to "prepare them for secondary" and my son still seeks out his old classmates at breaktime. I don't know what he'd do without any of them. There are 1 boys he had been with since reception, one id off to grammar, two to a school that would not be suitable for my son, and the other 7, who happen to be his closest friends, all to our closest secondary.

Any advice welcome!

My longer post has just vanished into the ether.

The gist was that (as you’ve seen on the many other threads) the panel will be looking for confirmation from a paediatrician or other health care professional that, in their professional opinion, the child needs to attend this school and will be disadvantaged if they don’t. Describing the child’s needs is not enough; the evidence needs to make the connection between those needs and attending this particular school. Otherwise, the school is likely to argue that all schools are capable of helping new pupils to settle and providing support to those with AuDHD and the panel is likely to agree.

Agree with PanelChair. You need a medical professional to say that, in their professional opinion, your child needs to attend this school. That would make your case much stronger.

The difficulty you have is that most children are more comfortable with the familiarity of their current peer group and most children would benefit from consistency. As it stands, your DS doesn't have an EHCP. You can use the Ed Psych report to show that he has a social need, and you can state that he has built relationships with 7 children who will attend the school. However, the bar is fairly high and it is much better if you can demonstrate that maintaining those friendships means that this is the only school that meets his needs. This is why a specialist opinion carries weight (a GP letter isn't likely to be enough).

Bear in mind that professional letters need to say 'in my opinion....' or something similar. It isn't enough for it to say "SuperSue informs me that...." or "Mum feels...." It has to be the medical opinion of the professional.

Yes, that’s exactly the issue. Everyone understands that many children would prefer to go to secondary school with their friends from primary school, but there isn’t enough flex in the admissions system always to keep groups of friends together. This argument therefore only works at appeal if there is evidence from a health professional to say that, in their opinion, this is a medical/social need and not just the child’s or parent’s preference.

Can I also add that you need to look very carefully at the admissions criteria for the school. They may still accept an application under medical/social grounds, without an EHCP, although they will ask you why you didn't do this when you first applied. Look very carefully at the criteria - if it says you need two letters from medical professionals that name the school then just one letter won't be enough. It must also specifically name the school and state the professional's reasons why it is the only school they can attend. It cannot say something like 'we agree with the mother's opinion that this is the best school for X' for example. Also make sure that your son is on the waiting lists for this school - there is always a bit of movement before September.

Apologies to the more experienced appeal panel members here if I have misunderstood how that criteria works.

Thanks everyone for your advice - it's helped me understand the importance of the letter from the professional - though my EP wasn't keen, but she isn't the only professional who has been involved with assessing my son - I shall try some others. @LCason unfortunately the school in question removed their "social/medical" criteria from their admissions policy last year, so I can't use that, though to be honest what this school has that no other does, is his friends ALL got into this school and he knows NOBODY at the school he has been given. He does have 2 other friends in primary not going to this school, but they are more on the periphery and the school they are going to is not suitable for my son because of his ADHD. So back in October when applying, I didn't know that the school we put as first choice would have all his friends there (though we could have hazarded a good guess based on siblings and distance) and that the school we were given wouldn't have anyone he knew going. He will automatically go on the waiting list for our preferred school, but looking at the distance for this year we're unlikely to get offered a place before September - and as an autistic child that preparation for transition is so, so important. It really could make the difference between a settled school year and emotional school avoidance.

If you are expecting a decision to assess at the end of the month, does that mean you put in your application in the middle of February? If so, if all goes smoothly, you should get your final plan at the beginning of July.

Why was the EHCNA request submitted so very late, though?

I suspect you're going to find it hard to find a professional that is willing to state that this is the only school that will do because of friendships, to be honest. Friendships are so transient at this age and most people find that their children's friendships even in year 7 don't tend to stay their friendships throughout school. In fact most friendship groups seem to completely implode in year 8-9 and then regroup as smaller friendship groups.

I think you need to go back to square one and look at every detail of the offer school 1 gives, then compare and contrast that with school 2. You'll either decide that the offered school isn't so bad after all, or you'll have a really good list of reasons why your DS should be offered school 1.

Friendships are rarely a good grounds of appeal for a school. You'd be much better looking at the pastoral benefits, structure of teaching, teaching and learning support, home school communication, etc.

Look at everything in real detail. For example, if school 1 uses Google Classroom and school 2 expects children to write homework in a planner, you can use that as an example of how, with your DS's ADHD, he'll find it easier to keep up with homework in school 1 because he will have a written record of homework, whereas in school 2, he's likely to lose his planner or be inattentive when he's supposed to be writing it down.

Thanks @Lougle that's all really helpful. The ECHNAR only went in recently because I was advised to do a parental request and to get independent assessments done beforehand - we're in an area with a notoriously tough LEA who refuse a high percentage and force people to go to appeal at every step of the way, so we had a long wait for an EP to be available to assess. Also, we initially felt his needs would be best met in a small, local independent school with smaller class sizes and less pupils in the whole school (all state schools round here are 8-form entry) but one by one they all turned him down saying they "couldn't meet need". We'd thought we wouldn't need an EHCP if he had the smaller class sizes and a nurturing school, we were naive I suppose.

So the EP was an independent EP? That means it's even more unlikely that you'll get someone to say that he needs that school for friendships.

Have you included the information about independent schools turning your DS down in your needs assessment request?

Yes, independent EP, though LEA specialist SEN staff came in to assess him for transition from year 5 to year 6 - I’ve e-mailed that woman to ask her for advice, as recommended by the triage woman dealing with the EHCNAR. I did include the info about independent schools turning him down and the reasons that they gave, not sure if that was right thing to do or not. I used that to explain why we weren’t further on in the ECHNAR process and why it was urgent now because of secondary transfer. What does a parent do with a bright child who can manage the academic challenges of mainstream but not the social demands? Specialist ASC schools that I have come across have a more narrow curriculum, and the state doesn’t have schools with smaller class sizes for the kids that get overwhelmed in the big ones.

In the circumstances, the information about independent schools declining a place will be helpful. As Lougle has said, the most helpful thing would be a health professional confirming that in their opinion your child needs a place at this school but, in the absence of that, assemble anything and everything that shows how the school will meet your child’s needs.

Hi all, I am after some advice from anyone who either has knowledge of how the secondary school appeals process works, or who has been through this!
I want to know whether our argument has any chance of being upheld at appeal, as I have been told that this process is very stressful and time consuming and if there is realistically no chance of winning an appeal, I’d just like to know so I can decide what’s best to do. The last thing I want to do is stress out my already anxious daughter with any false hope.
our situation: my daughter has a very anxious personality. She has quite bad OCD and anxiety and in order to be able to cope, she really needs a calm environment. For the last 2-3 years of primary school she has been bullied by a group of girls. There are a couple of girls in her year who have been supportive of her anxiety and have never bullied her.
We chose our preferred school based on the fact that

1. it is a girls only school, which she feels is calmer than a mixed. It has good pastoral care, and ‘quiet’ areas where she could go to read etc if she needs time out, and the overall feel of the school is calming.

2. the girls who have been bullying her did not apply to this school, so we all agreed that it would be good for her to have a fresh start away from them.

3. the preferred school has a bus which would safely take her to school, whereas the allocated school has no transportation and is 2 miles along a busy road or 2 public buses. She is small and a summer born baby so very young for her year. There’s no way she could safely get to the allocated school.

we found out on allocations day that she did not get into her preferred school but has been allocated the mixed school closest to us, where the bullies are also going. The couple of girls who have been kind to my daughter made it into my daughters preferred school..

sorry for the essay!
Would a panel take into consideration the argument for her anxiety and the bullying?
thank you for any advice x

Yes, a panel would listen carefully to any argument which relates to a child’s well-being but (as has been said on many other threads) this will carry much more weight if it is backed up by confirmation from a paediatrician or other health professional that in their professional opinion the child needs a place at this school and will be disadvantaged if they don’t get one.

You would do best (I think) to concentrate on the issues around anxiety, OCD and needing a calm space. Preferring a single sex school isn’t a winning argument at appeal, so focus on what the school offers that the allocated school doesn’t. (I also suggest that you don’t dwell on the point about getting away from bullies, because the school is likely to argue - and the panel might agree - that in a secondary school it’s possible to put the children in different classes so they rarely come across children they know from primary school).