Long (sorry) Should I send this email to LA school transport Dept?

[hipposarerad]

Hello all - sorry for the extremely long post, I want to give a clear picture.

I'm trying to get a bit of help with getting my autistic DS2 to school. He's on a part time timetable and our LA state in their policy that transport will not be provided for part time children, unless exceptional circumstances can be demonstrated. We've had our application refused and school have also intervened without success.

I'm struggling to afford the bus fares (we have to get 2 buses which provides scope for all manner of anxious meltdowns ) and I don't know how I'm going to get him to school long term.

How much trouble would I be in if I refused to take him to school on the grounds of not being able to afford the travel costs?

I've got an email in my drafts but not sure if it's OK or whether I should send it at all.

I've copied and pasted below and would be grateful for advice, thank you.

*Good afternoon

My son, xxxxx has been on roll at xxxxx school's ASC since 06.02.18. He was moved from local catchment mainstream (xxxxx school) due to his Special Educational Need/Disability - he is diagnosed with High Functioning Autistic Spectrum Disorder and has an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

xxxxx Council's Statutory Assessment Dept have named xxxxx school as the nearest suitable provision for my son's complex needs. As my son's needs are so complex, staff at xxxxx have decided that he will attend part time. His timetabled hours are Monday-Friday, 10:00-12:00.

I am aware of the section of your Transport Policy that states

"However where exceptional circumstances can be evidenced to show that the child
is unable to partake in a full day’s schooling the Council may consider short term
transport if a reintegration plan can be provided outlining the child’s return to full
time education."

The Parent Liaison Officer at xxxxx has provided you with details of why xxxxx is currently, and will remain for the foreseeable future, on a part time timetable and your department has refused to offer either a transport arrangement or a bus-pass to help me get my son to school.

Since xxxxx went on roll I have been buying a weekly bus ticket for xxxxx and myself from the local bus company, xxxxx, at a total weekly cost of £33.50. However, I am not able to absorb this cost in the long term and am requesting some assistance from your department.

I have attached pictures of the most recent bus tickets. I'm sure you can appreciate that there would be too many attachments if I sent pictures of all the bus tickets (there are over 30 of them) I have purchased this year, but I have kept them all and will be happy to send copies, or attend a meeting where you can see the originals.

Kind regards*

Oh and well 'll done if you made it this far!

First of all, are you happy with the part time arrangement? Because it's unlawful. Your child is entitled by law to the equivalent of full time education and all the provision in section F of the EHCP. If he can't cope in school, arguably the EHCP is inadequate. Even if you are happy with it, the school and/or the LA should be looking into something like home tuition to supplement what he is getting - otherwise it's serious disability discrimination.

Secondly, I would suggest that you point out to them that by law they have a statutory duty to ensure that your child is able to attend school and receive the provision in the EHCP, and that if they fail to provide transport they will be in breach of that duty. Thirdly, that there is nothing in the relevant legislation (s508 Education Act 1996) that exempts them from the duty to provide transport for children in school part time.

You should in any event look into the procedure for making a formal appeal against the refusal to provide adequate transport and use it. If you don't succeed, contact someone like SOS SEN to see if you can threaten judicial review. You might also find it helpful to contact SENTAS - sentas.co.uk/

Thanks for your reply Guienne. I will ask again about increasing his timetable - the intention is for increasing when they feel he is ready (less challenging for them and more ready to learn I suppose). He's already had a 2 day exclusion this year - hopefully a blip, things have been very positive before and since.

I know he should be full time and it's up to the school/LEA to do that, but I don't want to push too hard. I have a good relationship with school staff, my son is happy and his mood and behaviour have, in general, improved. He's come back to us and I will continue to support that. I will get on at school about their on going plan though.

On transport, I fully expect to need to appeal (not looking forward to that at all) so I'll find out about that too. You've given me some really helpful info, thanks! Very interesting that there's no legal reason not to transport part timers, but I suppose there's nothing there that specifically makes them do it either? Should I bother with the email or just ring them up and ask what I need to do to appeal? I thought emailing would be best as I have a record of what's been said?learn

Thanks again for your help - I'm not dim (no one is) but I need a bit of a run up at this!

Good luck hope you get the transport situation sorted!

My sons on a 2 hour a day schedule also

When ds2 was in this situation the LA provided transport. In actual fact they not only provided transport they used me as escort and brought me home again. We pointed out to them that either they provide transport or they provide a more suitable educational setting so he could attend full-time as he is entitled to do so.

I would recommend OneinEight's suggestion too. They are not making the provision for your ds that they should be. Most LAs would prefer to give in to a reasonable transport demand, than be taken to tribunal over not providing the education he is entitled to.

However, Contact (formally 'Contact a Family' have been campaigning about school transport for some time, and would be really supportive if you give them a call.

Thanks for all these helpful suggestions - I really appreciate it.

I've been in touch with SENTAS and will be emailing the transport Dept quoting the legal info they have given me. Gavin said that it sounds like discrimination to him. I've also managed to get some contact info from another local parent who's being crapped on by the system so I have a clue on where to start.

Every time I post questions about my son's schooling I get responses wondering why I'm not fighting harder to get my son in school full time. I know he is entitled to full time education, but we are still dealing with the effects of what happened with his last school. He was kept on roll at previous mainstream but I wasn't to take him in because they couldn't manage him - I think the LSAs all refused to work with him in the end (yes yes I know that's not legal either. But quite frankly I think that permanently excluding a 6 year old kid with/because of special needs is a disgraceful act of vengeful abuse, and in this instance I don't give a shit what's legal and what isn't. So I took the route of keeping him safe at home until the specialist unit had space).

So he was stuck at home with me (and a home tutor paid for out of the EHCP because I complained about him missing education). From April 2017 until this February he was at home being intensively 1-1 tutored for 3hrs per day. To say he (we?) went a bit weird is an understatement. We saw a massive regression in behaviour and he's still coming out of it now.

So when school starts again in a couple of weeks I will be asking again about the plan for his timetable. He can't just be dumped in school for a full day yet - he won't cope and will do something that gets him another fixed term exclusion.

I know I need to be a more effective advocate for my son, but I feel like I'm in an Indiana Jones film - there's booby traps all over the place! I'm trying very hard, but maybe I'm just inadequate.

I will update this thread once my head has finished ricocheting off the brick wall and let you know what's happening.

First of all, can I please say you are not an inadequate advocate - LA's are very experienced at placing as many hurdles in the way as possible and not only have years of experience of doing this, but have a whole team of people to support them. You only have to look at the statistics to see how well this method works - wearing parents down and stressing them out so that they stop fighting, even when the parents were legally in the right.

Legally, children should be able to reach their education without incurring such stress, strain or difficulty that they would be prevented from benefiting from the education provided. Personally, I think you have a good argument that if your son is in such a state on arrival at school that he can't stay the whole day or is being excluded, then clearly the bus journey is causing additional stress that he can't cope with. I would be pushing for a taxi - I don't know how far you live from the school, but for SEN children who can't safely walk, distance does not come into it, however, that said for under eights (I think) they have to provide free transport anyway, if the distance is over 2 miles:

www.gov.uk/free-school-transport

Your son might need an even more specialist school, if the current school are not able to meet his needs. My son was on part-time but was able to cope full-time, when he was placed in the right environment. But equally, he might just be exhausted from such a stressful and tiring journey every morning and afternoon!

Best of luck/x

P.S. bus journeys can be considered stressful for those on the spectrum because of their unpredictability (don't know if they will turn up on time, if at all), sheer number of people, noise, sensory (smells, people too close). Constant changes regarding who will be on the bus, who will be driving, how many times it wills stop etc. Stress because you have to change buses and he might fear missing the second bus. He might have anxiety about being late and think he will be in trouble (their fears do not need to be justified - very difficult for people with autism to judge what gets you in trouble and what doesn't). He might be so stressed that on entering school he can't let go of that experience and then he's fearing having the same experience on the way home. Children with autism often cannot communicate their difficulties or even understand them - they just feel stressed and behaviour can be their way of communicating that.

Just some thoughts...

@calmed thank you for your kind words

I have just (yesterday) sent an email to the LA transport team. I have changed the wording to focus on their discrimination and repeating the request for a taxi. I also said that if they don't meet their statutory obligations I will be taking legal advice (SENTAS will advocate/represent for £50, which is equivalent to a week and a half of bus fare - its doable for us).

SENTAS advised me to try to get transport in place first and then go for the reimbursement later. Gavin (super helpful chap) just tutted and sighed when I told him who my LA is . Apparently SENTAS have had a few successes getting my LA to fulfil their statutory duty and have also got some reimbursement for local families.

I fully expect that whoever my email gets escalated to will just laugh at my puny threat so I'll have to see it through now.

As for his 2hr per day timetable, I will ask about this on Tuesday. They will probably say "but he can't cope with full time" so I guess I'll see what they think about some kind of half school - half home tuition arrangement, or just reviewing the EHCP.

Thanks for all the replies and moral support

Update: after emailing quoting relevant bit of the Children Act and using the 'D' word I got a reply to say that in 'such an exceptional case' they will organise a one-off arrangement which will be either a bus pass or an allowance.

My reply contains the line 'given that you agree that I should not be paying...' and goes on to ask for reimbursement of the fares I've paid so far.

Will update more when I know what's what