Where do I stand with preschool/primary transition?

[ShadeofViolet]

DS2 is in preschool and is 3.6. The Primary school where I hope he will get a place is strongly considering changing from January Intake and September intake to just the September one, meaning he would be due to start next September (2011) when he will be 4.6.

I just dont think he will be ready and would prefer him to start after Christmas in 2012. I have spoken to his preschool and his support teacher who both agree that he wont be ready in a year (his understaning is very poor and his speech is delayed, no self care, rigid behavior , no play and no interaction with other children)

His support teacher (portage) is going to speak to the SENCO with her recomendations and my personal feelings, but I dont know where I stand. Do they have to accept it like that (Portage suggested either doing 2 full days or 5 afternoons so that he could continue at Preschool) or can they say no?

The school is a very good school but the Head Teacher has an inflexible attitude when it comes to things like this and I am sure it will be him that has the final say.

Is he Statemented? If it gets written into the Statement, nobody has a choice.

Nottinghamshire dont do statements unless a child is going to a SN school so no he wont be. He will have an IEP instead.

Not bloody Notts again!. They are so shite.

BTW your son should have an IEP in place already.

Notts policy if your current understanding is correct is illegal. They just don't want to issue statements in order to save money but statements still are issued for non special schools. Your son should have a Statement as a matter of course, no two ways about it.

Any chance also at looking at other schools as well; some are far better at working with children with SEN than others and that Head's attitude would have me walking to the door marked exit. Your son could well have a truly miserable time at this school with such an inflexible attitude; do not put yourselves through it.

Short of moving out of this county I would seek advice from independent organisations like ACE and or IPSEA as they would have experience with such illegally acting LEAs.
You cannot take this lying down, such LEAs rely on parents giving up. IEPs (particularly poorly written ones) are nothing worth writing home about and your son currently has a high risk of being failed in an educational sense.

A child is entitled to a Statement if a school can't meet their needs without extra help. Places that claim otherwise are breaking the law. I second Attila's suggestion of contacting IPSEA; I would apply for a Statement yourself, based on your description of him. The only guarantees are provided by a Statement.

Shadeofviolet it is against the law categorically to only issue statements to children attending special schools. So don't let that shape your thoughts in any way.

In fact, taken from the Nottinghamshire LA site

"Can I request a special school place for my child?

Yes, however, the expectation is that the vast majority of pupils with special educational needs, including pupils with a statement, will have their needs met in a mainstream setting. In a few instances a special school will provide the best setting to meet a pupil?s special educational needs. In these circumstances a pupil will need a statement of their educational needs. "

So this clearly shows that they do expect to have Statemented children in Mainstream Schools.

You are being told a lie somewhere.

Notts is well known for being anti-statementing, far more so than other LAs! I would think seriously about moving if it's possible, it could make a huge difference in the long run. I know other parents have done so.

And I'd also agree with Attila that it's worth looking at other schools. Flexibility is key to good SN provision ime.

I am absolutely terrified :(

We live in area where alot of the schools are judged satisfactory or poor. We cant really afford to move and this school is the best choice.

My other DS goes there and they are very good with NT children, but I worry about how they will deal with DS2's behaviour. I have a friend who is sending her child there (he has HFA) with lots of sensory issues. He likes to wear jogging bottoms and gets extremely distressed in his school trousers. Basically the head said he would have to get used to it.(although the class teacher said it would be okay).

My DH is no help either. I dont drive and would struggle to get DS to another school out of the area. DH just shrugged and said that it was up to me to get him there and if I couldnt what was I going to do.

It makes me so stressed and upset I dont know what to do.

Having read their SEN & Inclusion document, it is similar to Hampshire, but slightly ahead of it (negatively) in terms of how they are phrasing things.

I think the confusion arises between funding and provision.

Statements of Special Educational Need are only concerned with the provision a child needs, and the measures that will be taken to provide it. They are not a statement of cost, or funding of special educational needs.

What Notts is saying is "We don't have a budget back at central LA level for children with Special Educational Needs. The schools (and families of schools) already have it all. Our central money is not designed to be used to fund the provision on statements"

This is intended to tell parents and professionals that they shouldn't be thinking that by getting a statement, their child will be able to access the holy grail pot of gold that the LA has for such children.

Fair enough.

However a Statement of Special Needs is a very different thing to a Statement of Educational Cost.

It is a legal documement which must be adhered to, and that document can be held for scrutiny by the Tribunal for Special Educational Needs and Disability (SENDisT)

It sets out the assessed educational requirements of a child, and the educational provision that will be used to meet those requirements.

How the provision is met financially is of no consequence and no concern to the parents or the child. It can be met with the promise of hay for the summer and shelter for the winter if necessary, but met it must be.

And that is what sends the LA into a spin. If a school says 'We've spent all of our budget on sports activities and fancy displays SEN already', the LA still must meet the needs of the child, which means that if they need to provide more money, regardless of their budgetary constraints, they must do so.

What the LA want is for people to think that as the school have the budget already, an IEP or an IPA should suffice. They will argue that the document is laid out very similarly to a statement, and indeed makes the same provision as a statement, and they may well be right.

But, shadeofviolet, the very crucial thing to remember is that you will never (at this time) see a document detailing a Tribunal hearing for non-fulfilment of an IEP or an IPA. They are just pieces of paper with (good) intentions, and if they don't get fulfilled there is absolutely no comeback.

And that is why you need to fight tooth and nail for a statement now. DO NOT wait until your DS is in school, and they say 'well you need to work through school action and school action plus, then see what he is like in Year 1, and really we'll only know if he really needs a statement in Year 3..."

Apply now, give yourself the time to appeal if necessary and get it sorted before school.

My son's HT was the most inflexible person in the world (before a recent softening) and the way I protected J was to make sure that everything was in the Statement. The Statement, as a legal document, isn't open to being argued with, and so you don't need to have debates. That can even be down to allowing exceptions to rules like what drink the child can have and when (I have seen this specified in Statements) so you can have the tiniest of details included.

So, don't get panicked and start looking for new houses/ schools just yet. The Statement route is the one to start on and IPSEA are fab.

Sometimes the satisfactory/poor schools can be better for SN children though. Academic results and the kind of things that make a school good for NT children are often of secondary importance for children with SN. And schools that have a lot of SN children will have their results distorted.

Are you in touch with any local support groups where you could ask other parents what SN provision is like in their schools?

If you had a statement, your DS could get transport provided to his school. But that's going to be difficult to get and would take time.

Definitely get in touch with IPSEA - I'm sure they get a lot of calls about Notts.

Thank you for all your advice.

We do have a local support group, and a local charity that helps with SN Educational problems so will talk to both of them and IPSEA.

God its so hard :(

It is hard, but what choice do we have but to fight for our kids? And yes, it is all about rights, even though they make it sound as if they are doing us a bloody favour