what to include with tribunal letter for SA please?

[brandy77]

Bearing in mind ive only got 4 weeks of the 8wks deadline to send my appeal form off as ive only just received the NO letter on saturday, 4 weeks after the decision was made. Son is 6 and in Year 1.

Do i wait for the paeds letter stating that he will support me in getting my son assessed as he feels he should be? letter on the way but i can chase up

and do i put the negative comments in my statement that the teacher made, for my reasons why i want him assessed.

ie: cannot work without constant support, concentration is very poor and sometimes doesnt concentrate at all, very poor fine motor skills and will not write, lack of confidence, lack of self belief in himself low self esteem etc

spoke to teacher today and she said he needs support but they just cant provide it

Does this sound sufficient? at the moment im trying to get my son back into school as the senco calls him a "school refuser", ive told her hes only refusing because hes scared of school and the pressures it puts on him and him feeling a failure. i wouldnt want to go either

did manage half hour today in the library with him on a laptop, for the whole half hour he said "im bored when we going home", but at least he went in without physically attacking me plan is to go in for half hour tomorow but in the classroom this time.

he told a lady at the shop today that he was scared of school and didnt like writing, i know this is true but really annoys me when education peeps think hes blagging it!

Hi brandy - as mum of a 9-year-old 'school refuser' who has not been in since September my heart goes out to you - and especially to your DS.

Mine is so reluctant to write that he will scarcely lift a pencil even to tick yes or no boxes. He says exactly the same as your DS about being scared.

He has 30hrs statement (though has barely accessed school since we got that) and currently receives a few hours tutoring a week but most of the time we don't get him there either.

In our case we are going through assessment for ASC/ADHD etc. and should hear soon. I don't think diagnosis affects statement as it is more a case of proving need, though it helps them to know what is being considered.

Others will be along with more experience of tribunal, but anything that shows he is not making progress despite any intervention (or not?) by school is helpful. Keep a diary of your own about what happens each day. Ask school if they are doing the same. I also had my own 'attendance record' complete with details about how long it took to get him out of the boot, how long he spent in school, etc. Even if you only have a few weeks of this you can submit it for tribunal.

I just wanted to comment about going in for the half hour today - if he managed that, from bitter experience here I would suggest not leaping on too quickly tomorrow. Can he just do the same in the library tomorrow rather than 'overload' in the classroom again? Would they be inventive about other methods of recording than writing for the time being - dictaphones can be fun - DS used to practice his spellings on one.

In our experience too much pressure to be in with and the same as the other children tipped DS into complete refusal. I may be wrong but I feel interventions need to be given enough time to have a chance of working and one day in the library then back to class is not enough.

It is time-consuming for school but if that helps him, it is another example of why he needs a statement.

Off to do dinner but will check back later.

Have you downloaded the IPSEA refusal to assess pack? It gives you all the background info you'll need before sending your appeal papers.

The 8 weeks is counted from the date on the top of the LA's letter, whether they made their decision earlier or not. If it was dated from 4 weeks ago and you've only just received it, you may have grounds for an extended deadline. Is it postmarked more recently or from about 4 weeks ago?

You could wait for the paed's letter and to gather other evidence before submitting the appeal, but if you choose not to wait, you will get the opportunity to submit further evidence later. It will probably take 4-6 months to get a hearing date from registering the appeal, so waiting will mean getting a slightly later hearing date.

If you get very close to the deadline, it's possible to fax your appeal form on the day that it's due. This would be enough to register the appeal, but I think you'll still need to send everything by post as well.

Have a read through the SENDIST booklet here on How to Appeal - it contains the form you'll need to send with your appeal and the list of things you have to include. It's best to send as much additional evidence that you have at this stage, but you can send further evidence later on as well.

The advantage of sending more evidence with your appeal to start with, is that everything you send is then passed on to the LA. If you have a strong bundle of evidence, it may be enough to convince them that it's not worth opposing the appeal so they might back down (which is what happened in my case and it's not uncommon).

Finally, SOS SEN are running workshops in the next few months - I would strongly recommend the Refusal to Assess one in Middlesex if you can get to it.

thanks andperseand, sorry to hear your daughter is suffering the same yes you are right that it cannot be rushed and I think il go by him in the morning if he wants us to stay in the library then we will...i think the teacher is expecting him to be going alone by wednesday!

Ive already told her that if we stuff this up then its back to square one so going at my sons pace is what i will be doing and not going by the schools pace. Im sure they look at him and think hes just playing up, he certainly isnt and makes me feel very protective of him. Im also going to tell them that when he is attending alone il be collecting him at lunchtimes as until he starts on this growth hormone and it kicks in his energy levels are awful and a full day is just too much for him, especially if hes trying 10x harder than the other kids.

Candy, thanks for the links, il look now. the letter is dated 15th december. Il definitely chase the paed letter up then and include that with it. 4-6months for a tribunal date! good lord thats a long wait hoping the LA will back down and agree to assess then...although my LA in kent apparently is not good for assessing!! My dad is printing off the info from the Sendist site and the appeal form tonight and popping it round tomorow. thankyou.x

Sugarcandy, ive skimmed through the IPSEA refusal to assess, bit worried now that a paed letter stating that he feels my son needs assessing will not be enough evidence What about a letter from his class teacher who is the SENCO saying that she wants my son assessed and that he isnt going to progress without additional support? would this carry any weight? Shes basically written all through her report that he needs constant support to achieve anything at all

Also do i include in this that i think he could have ASD? He may not but until hes assessed i wouldnt know, i personally think this is why something can upset him at school and then he carries that with him for weeks. Hes still saying he wont write at school because the teacher made him do a wordsearch before xmas and in his tearful words "she knows i cant write so why did she give it to me!", i never got him into school after that

brandy you can call the tribunal and ask what is necessary for you to send. The nice person over the phone told us what was necessary to get the appeal registered and that the current wait was appx 6 months so it was in out interest to register it as soon as possible and then to gather/photocopy whatever information is needed.

Howevr, sugar's point about building as strong a bundle as possible makes sense if all the evidence is ready. We waited for our pte. Ed Psych report but it got lost, she was on hols etc. Luckily we had an electronic copy and managed to quote quite a lot of it on the reasons.

morning trying, ed psych is only just getting involved now on the schools request and i wont be meeting her till after the appeal date has gone, il ring them today and ask them. sounds daft but i hadnt even thought of ringing them, lol! x

It will definitely be useful to have a letter from the teacher/SENCO. Probably the most important opinion though will be from the Ed Psych. A paed's opinion will be respected and add to the weight of evidence, but because he won't have specialist knowledge of education, it won't be decisive.

If you think the SENCO will support your case, you can get SENDIST to arrange a witness summons. She might not agree to attend without one, as it would put her in conflict with the LA. But you'd have to be confident that she won't be pressured by the LA to play down evidence in your favour.

It's worth mentioning that he could have ASD - is he on the waiting list for an assessment? He might have reached the assessment stage by the time of the hearing, so it's worth keeping SENDIST updated if you get any more reports/letters about this. But the focus should be about his needs rather than diagnosis.

Hi sugar, il chase the senco up again tomorow. My mum has just collected a copy of a letter that my gp has sent to camhs asking them to start from scratch to assess my son for severe behavioural disturbance or possibly ASD and stated all the issues revolving non compliance with school because of his anxiety etc. and that he wants to die rather than attend school very good letter, but perhaps wont have as much clout as i thought on reading that the ed psyches opinion is more important. Problem being is that my first meeting with the Ed Psyche is at the next TAC meeting which is 8th february and by then i would have had to send the evidence/appeal off.

thankyou for your help.x