no statement no school?

[honeybeetree]

Hi all I don't usually post here but I have a question which you may be able to help me with.. I was chatting to the school SENCO today .. I work in the playgroup oin the school supporting a child, child has DS and is FAB who will start in MS school in Sep 2011 straight into R... I was chatting to the school SENCO today and she maintainded that if the child does not have a statment the he will not be able to start school... This sounded fishy to me!
Is it leagal?
Thanks

What are DS and FAB?

Is it a sn school? some sn schools only take children with statements.

If its a MS school then they are wrong.

fabulous .. DS Down's Syndrome sorry :)

MS school .. I know the parents will queery this and ask me you see ...

Marne is right - a MS school can't refuse to take a child just because he doesn't have a statement, regardless of their needs. The admission of the child should be in accordance to the school's normal admissions criteria, which would normally be based on distance, siblings etc.

The SENCO may be saying that she thinks the school can't meet his needs unless he has a statement, as his needs are severe enough to require additional funding which couldn't be met out of the school's normal funds. In that case it's a positive thing that she recognises that, because she can support the application for a statement which would mean the child has enough support to enable him to go to mainstream.

thank you :) sugar and marne

It's illegal for a scool to refuse admission simply because the child has SENs.

To refuse they would have to assess the SENs and determine that they were unable to meet his needs.

The SENCO is spouting crap.