Am I going to have to fight again?

[asdx2]

Ds is in an Autism base with ft 1 to 1 support. He is now in Y11.For all his difficulties he is an intelligent boy capable of A levels in maths and ICT despite functioning generally like a 4 year old.
At Y9 review LEA informed us that they intended to maintain the statement into Y13 but have been very quiet since. I suspect they felt that ds wouldn't meet the entry requirements for sixth form and so it was a "safe" offer as it's highly unlikely that any of the other students would meet entry requirements.
Ds will meet entry requirements (predicted 8 GCSE's A to C) and I intend to keep him there. Ed psych who I saw yesterday is supportive of the need for him to remain where he is with the statement unchanged but will the LEA wriggle?
Anyone any advice or experience please?

Am at similar stage myself but DS will not qualify for VIth Form. As far as I can tell from the SEN CoP you should be OK. There is a date in February by which the LA have to agree to maintain the Statement if your DS is staying in a MS school or VIth Form College. If, like mine he will leave school he will have to be asssessed by the learning skills council through Connexions to see what support he requires.
I looked on the IPSEA website but couldn't find anything about Post 16 education. Have you looked at the Connexions website?

Asd2 the law says that a statement has to be provided until dc is 19yrs if still in education. but will this place have the resources to meet A levels?

I do not have experience sorry but hope ds stays their as sounds like year ds doing really well. - spoke to 1 parent who ds was in asd school and went to ms school to access A levels.

Yes it will have the resources although they will need to recruit a TA who could manage A level maths.It is a unit attached to an outstanding secondary so he goes with support to lessons in mainstream.
Have seen Connexions but tbh he hadn't got a clue as I think he is the advisor to the mainstream students. He certainly had no grasp of ds's difficulties and couldn't reconcile ds's need for 1 to 1 support when he is academically bright.
I don't trust our LEA at all, they backed down before tribunal to get his place there in Y7 and because ds was one of the first two pupils there I have no precedents to quote and the other units in the LEA opened in the same year so couldn't use them as an example either.
I only have the support of the head of the unit,the ed psych and I could provide a case for no local establishment able to meet his needs (unit 30 miles away)

When is ds annual review. Why do you think they will not continue ds statement at current unit? Did you get the lea confirmation in writing in Y9?

I didn't, the then head of the unit just mentioned it but she has now left.
When I accepted the placement in Y7 it was offered as a five year placement. It was a new concept to our LEA at the time and I don't think they considered that a pupil would be able to access mainstream sixth form exam syllabuses.
I might be panicking for no reason but I like to be forewarned if I am going to have to fight.
The head has informed the Local Inclusion Officer of my desire to keep him at the school who has said he will "be in touch"

Yoou are right to be onguard as ur ds was offered 5 yrs. - keep asking better to know sooner rather than later. Hope it good news let us know as your ds doing fab. 1here is it - feel envious (well if you read my posts you will understand).

Hi Asdx

The post-16 placement is a bit of a mine field.

In our area there is no Resource Base provision during the 6th form. Pupils are expected to move into mainstream.

The LA must maintain teh Statement as long as the child is ina school setting and not FE placment - so if he qualifies for 6th Form they must maintain his Statement while he attnds 6th Form.

He should have a Transition Plan. This states what his education will be post statutory education age of 16. the Head should have called a multidisciplinary meeting fo all Agencies involved with him to receive their input (including you).

The school shoudl also have made him known to Connexions while in Year 9 as he is on the SEN Register.

If you are dealing with Connexions you must insist on a specialist Connexions SEN advisor - not all are and it's only the specialist advisors that undertsand the SEN COP and can identify SEN support. Don't waste your time with the 'normal' Connexions advisor that wil have been assigned to teh school - ring Connexions Regional Office and demand a specialist advisor.

If he decides to leave school at post 16 it's a different ball game. The problem is that LA will try to force the child out of 'school' which leads to automatic cessation of Statement as they then become the responsibility of the Learning & Skills Council (via Connexions).

You must ensure that doesn't happen.

Best wishes