How far/long would you travel for an ideal placement?

[chummymummy7]

After scouring the county and beyond, we've found a school that is welcoming, supportive, experienced and willing to help our daughter to thrive in line with her EHCP. Everywhere else the LA consulted has said it can't meet needs and the LA has named a school that says could "adversely affect [our child's] mental health"

It's a 40 minute/30 mile drive: what would be your cut off distance/travel time for a school that seems very well suited for your SEN child?

For the right school I think 40 minutes is OK.

At primary 45 minutes is considered reasonable, for secondary 1hr15mins. Although many do travel further.

Does the 40 minutes take into account traffic at school times? And have you considered boarding if you are not sure about the travel?

Ds's school is slightly further. It's absolutely been worth it for the right school. I'm not sure what type of school you're looking at but a big difference for us has been that the school does their own transport (independent special). So his ta comes to pick him up and drop him off. It might be worth exploring what your transport options would be or taking her yourself if better suited.

The mind boggles but sadly I'm not surprised that the la would name a school that clearly couldn't meet need! Ultimately for them it's money they are concerned about.

@10brokengreenbottles

Thanks for your reply, that's helpful to know. The route is along an A road so I imagine will be trafficky at school rush hour. There's no boarding option, and that's not something that would work for us.

@spikeyfish

Thanks for your reply - that's excellent to hear it feels well worthwhile and fab that your get transport from his TA. This school we're looking at is mainstream so I think that's unlikely for us and I'll be doing the schlepping, but I'm happy to if she thrives there.

re: LA's bonkers decision, I will appeal. This whole process has been an eye opener and I've come out way more hardened and less naive, as I'm sure many parents of SEN kids have!

This is not comparable as our son was a young adult, but he went 160 miles away from home for a specialist residential college.

We had a huge battle with the LA (we ended up appealing 3 times in as many years) but it was so, so worth it as he made so much progress and achieved far more than we ever thought possible.

If you feel this school is the right place, fight for it.