Child with Sen, info about budget

[Disneyisthebest]

Hi,

My almost 5 year old son has SEN, the school already have the higher needs funding from the local authority however they have asked for a meeting because of his lack of progress and said they want to move things forward in terms of support for him. Not sure exactly what this means but I'm seeing it as a positive. I just want to be clear on a few things before the meeting; so the higher needs funding that was given for my son is it illegal for the school to spend it elsewhere? And I am within my rights to ask what they have or are planning to spend it on? I'll just point out that the school have generally been very good but I'd just like these points clarified for my own piece of mind.

Also, am I right in assuming the next stage is to apply for an EHC plan? And is there any basic info I should know about that before the meeting? Does he have to have a diagnosis to get an EHC plan? He is currently working in all development areas the same as a 2.5 year old but as yet we have no diagnosis.

Thanks

I have no idea in funding but .... they should keep a weekly rupdate cord of all the interventions thy try - a starting point (lets say handwriting) what they hope to improve, how they intend doing it and a set review date - did it work?

This will show you how much time and input your child is getting and not overlooked for a school trip or visitors or whatever

The funding issue is between the school and the LA. There's a lot of information about applying for EHC Plans and similar issues on the IPSEA website.