DS too able for SEN school but would sink in mainstream. What do we do?

[Rainydays200]

DS is currently in year 5 at the local junior school. He has an EHCP, moderate learning difficulties, 25 hours of support. We also adopted him in case that makes any difference

The school have told us he would not suit mainstream secondary. But I have now spoken to several SEN schools locally who all said he is too able (on curriculum for maths, 2–3 years below for literacy) and the LA would likely not fund a place for him in an sen school.

I’ve also spoken to mainstream secondary, they tell me no mainstream school Will give him the one-to-one support he has currently, and needs! His current teachers say without one-to-one he achieves very little, And being 2+ years behind in literacy, I don’t see how he would cope in history, geography, RS etc without support

So where do we go from here? I am looking into some private schools, Which might be a good option.

How do I prepare for the fight with the LA? I am prepared to fight, they have a duty to give him a place in a school that supports him properly.

Are there any specialists who we could engage with to help us with this process. I think we only have one proper shot at this, if we don’t get the right school for year 7 everyone tells me it’s very very hard to change later as schools are all full.

Any advice? Many, many thanks

I'm so sorry you are having such an anxious time around transition. I am a secondary SENCO (currently in mainstream) and we have students working around your child's levels, some of whom have the equivalent of 25 hours of support. It all depends on the provision in Section F of the EHCP. Around here, we have special schools for MLD but without knowing your child, I imagine he would be at the top end of those schools or slightly above and may find he isn't very challenged. Our students with your son's profile do well at KS3 but can find the KS4 curriculum more challenging.

With regard to naming a different school, if it is a Section 38 (3) school (ie any school apart from one that is wholly independent) the LA must consult with your chosen school and there are only certain grounds on which they can refuse to name this school in the final EHC plan.
These are:

1. The setting is unsuitable for the age, ability, aptitude or special educational needs (“SEN”) of the child or young person; or
2. The attendance of the child or young person would be incompatible with the provision of efficient education for others; or
3. The attendance of the child or young person would be incompatible with the efficient use of resources.

These are the only reasons an LA can use. They cannot just say a school is "full". They have to provide extensive evidence why the addition of one more child would be incompatible with the provision of efficient education for others/efficient use of resources.

More details are given on the IPSEA website here:

www.ipsea.org.uk/choosing-a-schoolcollege-with-an-ehc-plan

Links for different schools:

Look at all schools available in your LA and in neighbouring LAs.

To search for schools by local authority:

get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/

Section 41 special schools:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-special-schools-and-colleges

Independent special schools and colleges:
www.specialneedsguide.co.uk/

If you want a wholly independent school the onus is on you to prove this is the only school that can meet needs.

You might want to look at getting an independent EP to assess. I would get one that is used to writing reports for EHC Plans and has experience of tribunal hearings in case you have to appeal further down the line and you want them to be a witness.

Links to psychologists:

The British Psychological Society’s directory of chartered psychologists - www.bps.org.uk/lists/DIR

The Association of Child Psychologists in Private Practice –
www.achippp.org.uk/

Make sure you get an educational psychologist. I would also ask them to review and comment on the suitability of any potential educational placements you have in mind.

Thanks so much for your help. It’s really interesting to hear that others with similar academic levels are coping in mainstream. Our son does also have some social and emotional needs and I think it’s those that we feel will be the biggest challenge. This thread is helping me untangle our thoughts, which we need to do to make a clear case for whichever school we feel is best.

COVID is not helping either as some schools are allowing visits but others are not! How can you choose a secondary school without even visiting?! I know everyone is in that boat this year, it’s very hard.

Really appreciate all this advice. This week I’ve felt a bit like I’d opened Pandora’s box!

Hi @Rainydays200
I have a y5 son with asd , adhd, anxiety and SPD. His emotional needs are high and getting worse. But he is bright - at further depth level in both maths and literacy. He has 1-1 every morning.
I don't know whether to be fighting for specialist school , to support him emotionally. Or a mainstream SRP to nurture his intelligence. It's really hard.....

Hey

I have an adopted DS who is 8 (would be year4). We have a full EHCP which says he needs a specialist setting due to his emotional needs, he has ADHD, anxiety both general and separation and I would say emotionally he is about 6 years old. However he is working above age in maths and english, this is despite slow processing. As a result we have been categorically told that there are no schools in our LA that can meet his needs. Apparently SEN schools just do not cater for those who are academically able but have other SEN. Due to his anxiety he cannot travel to a school that would meet his needs and therefore we have taken the exceptionally difficult decision to home educate him. We were doing this for a year while we awaited the EHCP and now we had resigned ourself to this being the long term plan. We are currently talking the LA to court to get them to fund his home education package.

Rainy regardless of whether you decide MS is the right choice, if DS' EHCP specifies and quantifies 1:1 then the school must provide that whether they normally do or not.

DS1 is academically able but can't cope with MS primary (placement broke down in Y1, now Y6) so definitely won't cope with MS secondary, but there isn't a suitable SS either. He currently has an EOTAS package.

Unsure it's not Elective Home Education you want, it is EOTAS. The distinction is important. If you EHE you relieve the LA of their duties to provide education and SEN support because you are deemed to be making suitable provision. Whereas with EOTAS the duty remains with the LA. Make sure you have evidence DS can't travel to the nearest suitable school.

There are SS out there who cater for academically able pupils but they aren't commonplace and even if they can meet a child's academically needs they can't always meet their other needs.

It’s interesting to hear others situations, thank you for sharing. I’m sorry to hear some of you have been left with home schooling as your only option. That doesn’t sound like the ideal situation.
I realised last week that our EHCP is quite out of date and doesn’t really reflect DS now. So that’s another battle to try to get that updated! It’s like a new part-time job just trying to sort all this out!

10brokengreenbottles Thank you. Yes our LA has accepted EOTAS but at the moment they won’t fund any provision except 3 “lessons” a week which might be 30 minutes (those are mixed lessons not per subject). We self fund 9 hours a week and he needs more but our money only stretches so far. We are hoping that the threat of judicial review will remind them of their legal duties.

Rainy - we both work full time and EOTAS was never our plan but I have to say that it has made the world of difference to our DS. He went from being behind in every subject to being ahead and due to the 1:1 lessons meaning you need less of them it has left a lot more time in the day. This has enabled there to be a real focus on his social and emotional well-being. The change in that has been far more dramatic than his academic progress. However, it has been very draining for us as a family. While I have no doubt it will be worth it in the long run, the short term is vary tiring. If you would like another adopter to chat to then please feel free to message me.

I am so sorry I have just re-read your original message. I know some great lawyers regarding getting what you want from the LA and they (or I as it’s also my carer field) could give you a name for the right person to undertake assessments depending on the difficulties your son is facing.

unsure JR should focus their minds.

DS1 has 10 hrs tuition and 10 hours therapies/other provision as part of his EOTAS package. It is exhausting and only works because I am at home to orchestrate it.

I think you just spoke to a pretty rubbish nd non inclusive secondary school. If it says your ds is to have dancing lessons with a trained elephant 4 times a week, then that is what he must have. The school cannot pick and choose which parts of the ehcp to adopt.

On the other hand this particular school clearly doesn't deserve your son. I would be inclined to speak to local Sendiass (or IAS) service to find out which local schools are more welcoming to children with a range of needs.

Thank you everyone. I am in touch with SENDIAS who have been helpful on some things. But now we are struggling with getting any assessments due to COVID! I am sure everyone is in the same boat though

Like others say, same storm but different boats. If you haven't already I would do a wide trawl of state secondaries. My son's friend has full time individual support in secondary and he was welcomed straight off, despite having spent nearly a year out of class in juniors.

It wasn't looking at the classrooms that swung it for us, it was individual conversations we had with the SENCO, member of learning support team or SLT at each school. I can see - though obviously not ideal - that it might be possible without visiting. Good luck with your search.

Rainy -I'm amazed at the level of expertise in this thread. Wow! All I was going to say that it's always a fight if you don't get exactly what your child needs. Also, what is he good at? Where are his talents? Push them. Have two now post-university SEN daughters and one just landed at a school which saw her worth and encouraged her creative talents. BA Dance. Then we moved to the next town and youngest landed in an academic school that wouldn't accept anything from Primary School and decided she was 'average' - nothing would change their mind. Not even 7 'A' grades at GCSE when she was in sets that didn't teach to an 'A'. We used every assessment, grade and achievement to get her higher up the scheme. They just wouldn't look beyond the Dyslexia. Her reward for all our effort - a First at BSc and recently a Distinction at MA. So even with one SEN creative child and one very high IQ child, we had to fight. One final comment, this time on Moderate Learning Difficulties schools. Youngest offspring was an Athletics Club athlete - her best friend there was a Moderate Learning Difficulties school student. They picked up this girl's talents in Athletics and encouraged her and she's now a ParaAthlete in T20 Long jump and has done 2 World ParaAthletics Championships and is on UK potential Athletics funding.