Can school enforce a Year 1 ASD child to be part time for ages?

[GrandmasterGlitchsMoustache]

Thanks in advance for reading, sorry it's long but I wanted to get all the key points out.

I have a lovely sweet 6 year old DC with ASD and an EHCP. The school is only letting him attend until 1pm each day and there's no clear plan to get him doing full time hours as there's no TA to support him after lunch. What can I do?

Background - my son got an EHCP before school due to his amazing nursery. For his reception year it funded 50% of a 121 TA and the school funded the other 50% so he could have one of the two class TAs help him throughout the day. He loved school and did well there, forming close bonds with his TA and the other staff (dinner ladies adored him!). At his annual EHCP review in the summer the school and EHCP person felt sure he should remain in full time mainstream school with extra 121 support to help him. The 50% 121 hours was continued. He needs TA help with focussing when he zones out and taking him out of the class for breaks when he needs it, but when he's focussed he can learn pretty well. He's not rough or disruptive with the other kids.

We moved to a different council area far away in August and it took until half term for his EHCP to come through so he could be allocated a school place. So he missed 6 weeks of school. He joined the school in our new village which is small (80 kids). It's a mixed year 1/2 class with about 15 kids and one teacher. Since starting he was on half days until lunchtime as they wanted to ease him in and didn't have TA cover until they hired a new 121 TA with his EHCP funding. One of the school TAs helped him for the mornings.

That hiring process took until the start of January and he now has his 121 TA, but he has to leave school at 1pm each day as that's when his EHCP funding runs out and they have no other TA to do the afternoon hours. I had been told that they would wait until the TA started (ie start of this term) to ask the council for extra TA funding for him to do full school hours but I've just found out that they have not even started the application. They also say they don't now know if his new TA can do after lunch hours if the funding comes (why hire her??)

I've asked for him to start attending some of the afternoon school but have only been offered him to stay for 10/20mins after lunch which I think will just confuse him. They have lost some general TAs so they are short staffed but this seems so badly planned when they've known since September that he should be coming, and he's had his place since mid October.

He's missed out on so much school this year and I've been having to pay for so much extra childcare for him all school year, and there doesn't seem to be any fixed plan or timing when he will be in school full time.

I feel like we're being forced to send him to a private SEN school in order to get him a full time education, which would be even more change for him. He and his brother love the school and in many ways having the village community and walking to school are perfect for him but I'm tearing my hair out. I don't want to fall out totally with the school as it's small and we could be there for years but this just seems wrong that he can't be educated full time like his previous school and EHCP think he should do.

Can anyone please help advise me on what to do next?

The school is unlawfully, informally excluding DS. You don’t have to allow this to continue. Email the headteacher informing them DS will be attending full time unless formally suspended. Don’t worry if the school goes on to formally suspend. A formal suspension instead of an unlawful, informal exclusion will a) provide evidence of unmet needs to help you pursue additional support, b) force the school to follow due process, c) limit the number of days the school can suspend for, d) allow you to challenge any suspension (which in this situation is very important because the school can’t lawfully suspend just because they can’t meet DS’s needs), and e) ensure DS receives alternative education for longer suspensions.

Alongside this, email the Director of Children’s Services reminding them they have a responsibility under section 19 of the Education Act 1996 to ensure DS receives a suitable full-time education and at the moment, that isn’t happening. On their website, IPSEA has a model letter you can use.

Using one of IPSEA’s model letters on their website, request an early review. If DS needs full time 1:1, it needs to be detailed, specified and quantified in F of the EHCP so it can then be enforced. Focus on the provision being detailed, specified and quantified in F rather than the funding.

From your timescales, I think the appeal you will be out of the appeal window (is this right?) but you could always try asking for leave to appeal out of time. Late appeals aren’t always allowed, but sometimes they are.

Thank you so much @BrightYellowTrain this is extremely helpful guidance re our next steps. It all seems so extreme talking about suspension for a 6 year old but if it gets the school to comply with their duties and finally accept him full time then needs must.

He's such a sweet boy, I'm so sad this all becomes a battle to get him educated when my nature is normally to be cooperative and defer to professionals.

Agree with all that BrightYellowTrain said.

Do you think that your son needs full time 1:1 / TA support? What would happen if he was in school for half a day without TA support?

everything that @BrightYellowTrain said!
although you could possibly call an Emergency Annual Review in due course to get back into a position for an appeal later. Good luck!

He would struggle if there was no TA at all. If there was the teacher plus one TA I think that TA could do tasks for the other kids as well and then help my DS as & when needed. His last school didn't think he would meet the EHCP criteria for full time 121 but then they had 2 TAs and a teacher in every class of 30 kids so it was a very different type of school.

His last school didn't think he would meet the EHCP criteria for full time 121

Don’t base decisions on what the previous school said. Some schools are notorious for not accurately advising parents. Although getting full time 1:1 detailed, specified and quantified can take an appeal.

But if the school says they can't take him full time without extra funding doesn't that automatically mean that the council have to review the EHCP early, or will the council put the onus on the school to get some extra resource from its own budgets?

It just seems so extreme if he can't be at school full time until his EHCP is changed.

He can be at school full time. School don't want it, because it may lead to one of two scenarios:

• He will be overwhelmed in a class with only the teacher present and become disruptive to the learning of others
• They will feel that they need to put in additional TA support in his class, costing them money that probably doesn't exist, or taking support away from other children

However, they don't know that he won't cope, because they haven't tried.

Ask for a meeting to put in a date for an emergency annual review but also to agree a clear phased transition plan leading to his full time attendance as soon as possible.

if the school says they can't take him full time without extra funding
It just seems so extreme if he can't be at school full time until his EHCP is changed.

This isn’t the case. DS can attend full time unless formally suspended. The school cannot say he can’t attend full time unless they are formally suspending him. What the school is doing now is unlawfully, informally excluding DS.

You should request an early review yourself by sending one of ISPEA’s model letters to the LA.

If DS needs more provision, it needs to be in the EHCP, then the LA is responsible for ensuring it is provided. This includes ensuring there is sufficient funding. But if it isn’t detailed, specified and quantified in F of the EHCP, the LA doesn’t have to provide it.

Separately to the EHCP, the LA has a duty to ensure DS receives a suitable full-time education.

Thank you all so much. I'm going to push to meet the SENCO asap (she only works a few hours per week at the school) and in the meanwhile write to say that he will be attending full time from the start of next term unless he's formally suspended. That gives them more than 2 months to get the EHCP review/funding/extra TA support in place.

They're an academy so I've also put a begging email out to the education trust that runs them asking for more £/resource. I doubt that's popular with the school.

Tbh it would be cheaper for us to pay the school to extend his TA's hours instead of paying for school hours' childcare but I don't know if that is an option (would I just donate to the school) and I'm also not keen on setting a precedent that the local authority don't need to pay.

Don’t offer to pay! There’s no incentive to resolve the situation then.

Gosh definitely don't offer money.

Send him full time after half term. You don't have to wait until after Easter.

Thanks so much everyone for your support. The school finally agreed that he could be at school full time a few weeks ago. It’s made a big difference for us and he seems to be coping okay with it so far. Thank you for reassuring me that I could & should push much harder, I think me using phrases like “unlawful exclusion” scared them into complying.

That's great news!