Well!!! Tribunal turned us down...

[sahs1969]

As the title says really-and must say DH and I are so upset by this-but the LEA won and they have said DD is getting enough support at school-they mentioned her ADD and wanting to harm herself.....but feel this can be dealt with at school.............
Where do we go from here?
We haven't got the money for private assessments, lawyers etc.
She is in Yr 5 so our thoughts are to wait till this time next year and request it again so perhaps it's accepted for high school???
I am just so angry-we have spent so much time working on her case-getting different professionals to assess her.............all for nothing!!!!!
S
x

i dont really know what to say here and im very sorry this has happened my friend has just been under the same situation she took her child out of school in the end and had a long battle but she ended up getting him into school with more support there must be a way around the tribunal decision do you have a number you can call to have your case looked at again?

i'll see how my friend went bout it as she was refused and then her son is now in sn school

Aww that is so unfair...have you tryed legal aid? If you receive certain benefits you may be entitled to free legal help they've been brilliant for me,and always won my various cases,but I can imagine you are mentally exhausted right now,perhaps give your mind a rest then consider the legal aid x

I think start by having weekly meetings with the class teacher / senco and HT where they prove to you they are meeting her needs.....

Record it all and email them the minutes - every single week.

Become such a fact based, knowledgeable, PITA that in 6 months when you apply again they support your application.....

I'm really sorry to hear this .

You won't be able to have this decision reconsidered unless there was a legal error, but there's nothing to stop you reapplying straight away. It's probably worth spending some time building up more evidence, but you don't need to wait 6 months.

My son got his first statement in Year 6 - trying to get the right school in time for him to start secondary was difficult. It's also often harder to get a statement once a child is in secondary, so I wouldn't want to wait too long.

The positive thing is that you've been through the process and it wasn't as bad as you thought it could be. The school and the LA know that you're a fighter and hopefully it should bring some improvement in school as they know you're willing to go back to tribunal.

sahs Did you get ANYTHING out of it? Are the school now better at communicating with you? Are they now sticking to their promises etc.

The climate is crap for this kind of thing and unfortunately I think we'll see more of this.

However, it's a process/stage/step. It isn't over and it isn't as gloomy as you might think. The journey itself will make the people providing her support more accountable and you should see some improvement.

What you need to do now is take a bit of time and then start beavering away collecting evidence to counteract all the reasons written in the decision. Don't be disheartened. I know it is hard because you expect justice to be done and it hasn't been.

Don't let the anger eat you up. Please. This is really important. It won't harm anyone but you and your family.

Stay strong.