What to do when there are no suitable schooling options?

[MumModeActivated]

DD is 12 and in year 8 at a lovely specialist school. She spent all of her primary years in a mainstream school and managed well, until the move to mainstream year 7 where the wheels came off.

Before DD moved to the specialist school, we were pre warned that DD would be the only academic child in the entire school (it’s a small school). However, as they do offer a curriculum pathway, we were assured they could meet her needs and for the most part, they do differentiate her curriculum. However, due to the overall setup of the school, it’s not very academically challenging.

DD has now expressed a want to move back to the awful mainstream secondary which let her down badly, because she feels she has no peer group in school. She has friends who still attend the mainstream secondary and she’s hearing of their own friendships and I think she’s feeling forlorn that she’s left behind. I’ve offered to explore other mainstreams but she says it has to be the same one. In fairness, all of the mainstreams in the locality have poor SEN reputations.

Whilst I do understand her feelings, my concerns are great:

Firstly, the mainstream are awful for SEN and failed DD the first time around.

DD also has weekly therapies which will just not happen in mainstream because they can’t accommodate them. She says she’ll give up these therapies.

DD is happy in a class of 10 children; to double this and to also move in to a large mainstream overall, will be a huge shock. However, she says she’s prepared for this and will make it work.

When I ask her what she feels went wrong the first time and what has changed, she’s unable to pin point what the problem was. However, I know the sad, angry , crying child I got home every night is not something I want to repeat. She is genuinely much happier now.

Having said that, I do have concerns over the lack of academic challenge; whilst her school do try , it’s just not at the level DD is capable of and I worry this is going to hold her back.

I have considered independent mainstream but the overall cohort is still very large and in line with mainstream state. I also worry about the pressure this may place on her. There are no suitable independent specialists near to us (or even outside of our area) as they mainly cater to children with LD.

I don’t want to make any quick decisions so I’m considering the following and wondered if others could offer their thoughts?

*DD attends a dance class twice weekly; I’ll encourage her to solidify some of the friendships she’s made here with other mainstream children in the hope this may be enough to make her happy.

Or

*I respect her wishes and request mainstream at our next annual review ; I’ll have to keep in mind that there’s no chance of getting her current placement back if she leaves. Yes I could appeal but that is a long, drawn out process with no guarantees.

Or

*I keep DD in the SEN school and also home educate her in core subjects (I’m a teacher). Full HE is not suitable for a myriad of reasons. In addition to encouraging out of school friendships, this may be our best option.

DH and I are going around in circles; we’d appreciate an outside perspective.

Moving back to mainstream may not be an option if they say they can't meet needs based on her EHCP and the therapies therein. Has she looked around the independent schools? If the problem is socialising, that would seem to be a good option to avoid the poor SEN provision in mainstream. Or if you can afford it, specialist boarding?

Have you considered EOTAS/EOTIS?

I don’t see any of your options working long term. 1 & 3 don’t solve the lack of peer group at school. For some, this isn’t a problem if they have social opportunities outside of school &/or the school has similar pupils to mix with, even if they aren’t at the same academic level. However, DD is telling you and showing you it is a problem for her. Social opportunities outside of school &/or you supporting the academics won’t solve the lack of peer group at school. There’s a reason a mainstream secondary didn’t work out. What would be different this time longer term, especially as the demands increase as DD progresses through secondary?

Although DC in MS can still receive weekly therapies.

Moving back to mainstream may not be an option if they say they can't meet needs based on her EHCP and the therapies therein.

There is a right to a mainstream education unless a mainstream placement would be incompatible with the efficient education of others, and no reasonable steps could be taken by the LA to overcome this. This isn’t a right to a specific school. Rather a mainstream education.

Unless wholly independent, the LA must name the parental preference unless the LA can prove:
-The setting is unsuitable for the age, ability, aptitude or special educational needs (“SEN”) of the child or young person; or
-The attendance of the child or young person would be incompatible with the provision of efficient education for others; or
-The attendance of the child or young person would be incompatible with the efficient use of resources.
This is a high bar. Higher than LAs and schools like to admit. Weekly therapies would not meet that threshold. And the school can be named even if they object.

Even if the LA can prove one of the above, it may still be appropriate (in the legal sense) to name the school as part of the LA’s legal duty under the right to a mainstream education unless the LA can show a mainstream placement would be incompatible with the efficient education of others, and no reasonable steps could be taken by the LA to overcome this.

@ADifferentPathAuDHD This is one of my concerns . I did approach another local mainstream and casually discussed the situation and they said they don’t think they could meet DDs needs.

I haven’t taken DD to see the independent schools as due to her previous lack of attendance at mainstream, casual discussion hinted that they don’t think they’d be the right school for her. I also would need our local authority to fund the place which will be nigh on impossible without a lengthy fight (and that’s if the independent school agreed to take her).

@BrightYellowTrain I did consider EOTAS but the offerings in our area are very slim. Our authority has a list of alternate provision and none of them would either interest or be suitable for DD.

Sadly I agree with you that none of the options are long term. We are just at such a loss. DD has made friends at her current school but she realises she is “different” to them in the sense that she is academic and the others are not.

I do wonder how much she is viewing through rose tinted glasses because I agreed to look at another mainstream but she only wants the ones her friends are at. They were awful and her friends have moved on and formed new friendships. So does she really want to move to mainstream itself?

We never did get to the bottom of what the issue with mainstream was; she just struggled so much and stopped attending. Her whole personality changed within weeks and I made the decision to pull her out because it was having such an impact . It took another few weeks for her to become herself again.

In theory DD could and should receive therapies in school but even with her EHCP in place, the school were useless and it didn’t happen. It appears the case across many schools due to lack of resources so I’m loathe to send her back there.

With EOTAS/EOTIS, you are not limited to the LA’s approved AP providers. Even if that’s what they are telling you and what they would prefer. It is not true. There will be more options for EOTAS/EOTIS than you realise.

What would DD think to boarding?

It is the LA’s responsibility to ensure the SEP, including therapies, detailed, specified and quantified in F is provided. If it isn’t, you can enforce it, via JR if necessary.

@BrightYellowTrain I didn’t know this as I was told I’d need to pick from a list. EOTAS is very daunting to me as I don’t know how it would work in principle.

How would DD access academic learning outside of a school in a setting that also has children of her age in? Forgive my ignorance but there are no schools like that anywhere near us so I would not know where to start.

She’s a very sensitive child and has never been away from home so I don’t think boarding would be suitable for her.

That’s what some LAs like parents to believe, but it is not true.

EOTAS wouldn’t involve a registered school. Otherwise it wouldn’t be EOTAS. (Despite what some LAs try to tell some parents.)

How academic learning in EOTAS packages is delivered varies because EOTAS packages are bespoke to the individual’s needs. It could include an AP (there will probably be ones you are not aware of. There often is. They won't all be on the LA's approved AP provider list/in the AP catalogue), online schooling, a tuition centre, online group tuition. Or it could be individual tutoring (online or face to face) alongside provision for socialising/mixing with others/accessing the community made via other provision (e.g. sports/exercise, art group, cooking lessons, music lessons, drama group, chess group - whatever DD’s interests are. &/or alongside AP for the therapeutic side e.g. a care farm), alongside the academic provision.

@BrightYellowTrain I’ll certainly look in to this. Any ideas of who to contact or where to start looking for social style tuition? I’m grateful for your input and for the others on this thread.

Asking around EOTAS/EOTIS families locally (not just your LA but neighbouring LAs. Lots of DC travel cross border and many organisations work across multiple LAs) can unearth some options.

If you know anyone locally who has an EOTAS co-ordinator as part of their EOTAS package, speaking to the co-ordinator will give you some ideas.

I’m not on Facebook but if you are there are some EOTAS groups on there.

If you want to, you could start a thread on here.

We had a somewhat similar situation, in that my son simply could never cope in a mainstream school (or even a lightly special school) as his autism needs were off the chart.

Unfortunately, the only school that could (just about) meet his autism needs had no intention of offering him GCSEs.

We had an EHCP review in the Autumn of year 8 at which I raised merry hell about this and asked for tutors to be brought in to teach him academic subjects with a view to doing GCSEs. He's very bright but as per so many kids with SEN had a lot of gaps in his education.

All I was asking for was that he be taught five GCSEs. The LA refused my request and I appealed.

The appeal was finally heard 18 months later in the Spring of Year 9 and obviously I won. I am still angry now that I had to fight so hard for something so basic as access to five GCSEs.

Anyhow, now we are in Year 11 and he has made so much progress. He is predicted reasonable (some great) grades in his five subjects, which include English and maths and then the things he's really interested in. He hopes to do A Levels and go to university.

He has his therapies and non-academic activities with others but none of them are doing GCSEs so he has his academic sessions one to one.

Anyhow, you could consider asking your local authority for something like this.