Reduced School hours

[MummyPop00]

DS 13 is in year 8 at High School with ASD in Designated Provision attached to mainstream, but the wheels have been coming off over the last year.

In December there was a safety incident, DS had a meltdown & threatened to jump off the first floor staircase so he was excluded temporarily & then started again in Jan doing two hour days, then gradually readmitted to full time again over a three month period. Been doing full time over the last six weeks or so but due to further behavioural issues, School have cut his hours again to two per day, as of yesterday, before the upcoming half term.

School are now contacting the LA regarding where we go from here.

We requested an emergency review of the EHC plan in January, the LA have only just implemented the additional funding now for a 1:1 TA, School have been doing this out of their own funding since Jan.

Increasingly looks like we are going to have to jump ship to a ASD specific school 8 miles away, we named this on the emergency EHCP review but the LA went with the increased support at his existing school.

We are dreading the possibility of another emergency EHCP review, then another three or four months reduced school hours whilst the LA, with their EHCP backlog, take months to deal with it…

Home schooling is not really an option, School is the only respite we get as we have no extended family to call on & DD 12 also has ‘issues’, just not formally recognised (as yet).

What are our rights here regarding the reduced hours? Can school keep doing this for safeguarding reasons?

You could appeal (has the LA completed the AR process, do you have the right of appeal following the AR?) for the refusal to name the ASD school you mentioned in your OP. If it is wholly independent you will need an offer of a place, but if it isn’t you don’t.

If it is inappropriate for provision to take place in a school I second EOTAS, you wouldn’t have to EHE.

In the meantime the LA should be providing alternative arrangements to ensure DS receives a suitable, full-time education and anything detailed, specified and quantified in F.

The AR hasn’t been formally completed, think the LA wanted us to accept the place at the SEMH School before going to print (been 12 weeks or so since the AR meeting so far)

As already said, we would accept the place at the local SEMH School but son wasn’t keen to put it mildly.

Tbf though, he was also negative about the ASD School that we were impressed by & named, so not sure that’s really worth fighting hard for.

We won’t be home schooling so looks like EOTAS might be looming as an alternative option then. No experience or real knowledge of how it works tbh, but looks like I might have to start suggesting it.

We’ve got an Early Help Worker who even though SEN education isn’t her area of expertise has done a good job getting involved, even emailing the existing MS School asking for answers where we haven’t had them. She arranged a productive Team Around The Family meeting last month & a rep from the LA’s EHCP team was there. Looks like we might need another one of those meetings :/

The LA should have informed you whether they were going to amend or not within 4 weeks and if they were going to amend issue a draft. Then, if they were amending they should have finalised within a further 8 weeks, so max 12 weeks overall.

Is it the ASD and SEMH schools themselves DS doesn’t like, the thought of any school or the thought of change?

For EOTAS you will need to show it is inappropriate for the provision to be made in a school. EOTAS packages are all bespoke, so what it could include will depend on what DS requires.

Hi

I thought it was 20 weeks before EHCP finalisation?

The LA, courtesy of its rep, told us verbally it wouldn’t be maintaining the current plan, the fact they have recommended an SEMH School seems to suggest they are as good as their word, even in the absence of an EHCP draft.

I’m all for sticking the boots in on LA’s as & when. In this case, I’m holding fire for now.

Yes, Son has been out of education now for 23 days, so if we aren’t going to this SEMH School & the MS don’t want him/can’t cope with him then provision will have to be made somewhere sooner rather than later.

He has been negative about both SEN schools primarily because he ‘wants to be normal & go to a normal school’ & ‘doesn’t want to go to a small school because it will be boring’ (the current MS is big, 1500+ pupils). Both SEN schools have around 70 pupils each. His Primary provision was also an ASD unit within mainstream so he has never been to a ‘small’ school…

20 weeks is the timescale following an EHCNA request. It isn’t the timescales following ARs.

Ok, another update

emailed the rep at the LA this morning & tbf she telephoned me back within the hour.

Basically reiterated that the MS school cannot meet need as they cannot guarantee ds safety (we knew this by this stage, but didn’t appreciate school going radio silent & not answering our emails even in respect of a temporary return until another placement was sorted, so a complaint to the governors has been sent in respect of their poor communication as we still have a sibling in the school)

So, anyway, we have agreed to give the SEMH school a go for the remainder of this first half term. Son has also agreed -very reluctantly- & well, his options are limited at this stage.

If it doesn’t work out, we have been told to call another emergency EHCP review & then the likes of EOTAS may be considered.

All seems fair enough, if a laborious, stressful pain in the ar$e! sigh