Independent school funding - how?

[bochead]

Right then. Have found a school that can meet my son's needs and are willing to have him.

Trouble is - it's an independent mainstream school. (I would actually much prefer it wasn't if only to avoid the distance and uniform costs. Private schools always have lots of hidden costs assoiciated apart from the main fees and I'm a lone parent).

He's year 2 and has had 2 mainstream school failures so I am determined not to have him shoved just anywhere that has a place this time round. Background - 1st school destroyed his mental health so I removed him, 2nd school threw him out.

I want to name this school on his statement and have a water tight argument why the LEA should pay for an independent school ready to make my case as soon as the SEN officer returns from annual leave.

Has anyone done this without a full scale war with the LEA and if so what were your tactics? He has a "social communication disorder with complex needs" (in laymans terms that seems to similar to an aspie + high anxiety in noisy situations.)

I'm not gonna just settle this time, as I've done so twice now already with disatrous results.

You'll need a Statement that recommends special school.

You'll need to prove that none of the LA special schools or those of neighbouring authorities can meet his needs.

You'll almost certainly need to take it to Tribunal.

The LEA will fight you every inch of the way.

So paying for uniforms may be the least of your worries

I asked the SEN officer about mainstream with asd units attached as I figured the mainstream staff would have more knowledge iykwim. I also asked about special schools. Was told "his statement is for mainstream". This school has asd specialists and a good rep for dealing with these kids.

I'm not risking sending him across borough borders again due to the issues it caused accessing SALT etc last time. Neighbouring authority schools can't meet his needs due to the utter incompetence of the NHS PCT.

There's a severe shortgage of primary places for non-SEN kids in my area anyways.

Oh well, looks like it'll be a centre/home tutor for a while then as I'm gonna dig my heels in. He's far easier for me to manage when he's not at school, and I really don't mind teaching him myself. Also it'll give him a chance to get caught up academically.

It's the financial implications of not being able to work and the lack of peer social interactions available to him that stop me wanting to home ed long term. He's an only child and I don't think it's healthy for his social development for it to be just the two of us for too long.

Best start reading up on these tribunal thingummies then as hell will freeze over before I ever go through a day like I had on Monday when his last school kicked him out. I'm not sending him to any old school just to keep the LEA happy as it's me that has to cope with the gibbering shell of a child that results.

What's the timescale for tribunals?

btw - I used to famous with my friends for being too easy going. There are days I don't even recognise myself any more now.

you need to discuss with the lea the reasons why the 2nd school 'threw him out', and what effect this will have on the school they are likely to name on his statement.

i am slightly surprised that a state ms school was allowed to 'throw him out' tbh. if they are unable to meet his needs this would usually have been made clear and the lea would be involved to organise the next placement.

where are the lea planning that he attends school at the moment? this will have been discussed.

what were you told? why can't they meet his needs? if a ms school is unable to meet his needs (particular a school with asd specialists) they may be prepared to look at units and special schools, but i would think it unlikely that they will agree to an indie.

your reasons for claiming this is the only placement that is appropriate will have to directly counter the reason the other school can't meet his needs - and that no other state school can. it will be really difficult. and probably impossible. but difficult to guess without knowing why the state school felt unable to cope.

well done for being strong though. you sound as though you intend to fight for the right support, which is half the battle x

i would contact the lea tomorrow

and ask them to clarify exactly what they are doing now, where they expect your child to be educated currently, and how they intend to meet his needs if the 'named school' is unable to meet them.

The LEA are going to provide a home tutor or access to a 1:1 tutor at a centre after half term while we look. I've been given no timescales as to how long that will continue for.

I don't want the centre as it's a 2 bus journey for a very limited number of hours, if he's taught at home I'll have more time each day to teach him myself and help him catch up. He's bright but has been falling further & further behind, nothing that can't be sorted with a little tlc, time and patience.

Right now my relationship with the LEA is good, but it seems I've been lucky in this to date. Certainly my solicitor was suprised.

Meant to add his school was standard mainstream. I'd like a school with an ASD unit attached as the staff are more likely to have a real understanding of his issues, rather than the usual assumption I'm a terrible mother and he is just naughty. I'm so tired of fighting that crap attitude.

well, to be fair, they must know he would benefit from some specialist support as he's got a blardy statement in place, so you'd think they would have grasped the 'issues' bit.
it's good that they have got a plan though - home tutor would be the way ahead, and presumably if he did well in that environment it would bolster your argument in favour of smaller class size/ unit being the right setting...
are they intending to get the tutor in place immediately? (the fact that they are being helpful currently is probably a sign that they know the school haven't really played fair...)
he's still very little - hopefully the right placement can be agreed and he can thrive for the rest of his school years. hang on in there. x

It's either this independent school here in London or up sticks and move to Cardiff (noise & crowds are a major issue for him and we live in London zone 2) where I have a bit of family support.

What he's NOT doing as a long term solution is yet another stint in a local mainstream. My hunt for a school place 2 years in a row sadly means I'm aware that they won't meet his needs any better than the last place. I've already been round them all!

I've never ever been one to pick a fight for the sake of it, BUT:- there's only so many times you can wash, rinse, repeat before you are forced to admit summat isn't working!

I am cynical re the LEA too, but it's easier if conversations are based on cooperation rather than confrontation. They admit the school haven't been fair on the phone, (doubt they'd ever put it in writing tho lol!) I was raised to think you catch more flies with honey, but am enaging the services of a solicitor just in case. I'd much rather use persuasion if I can, than be forced down a legal route with all that entails.

Tutor will be in place right after half term or I'll want to know the reason why? He's as entitled to recieve an education as the next child.

Hi- good luck with your fight

tribunal timescale: I sent my appeal form off about 3 weks ago and have a date for late June-

Is hiring a solicitor for this expensive,as I may have to ?

i def agree re relationships with the lea. have always maintained professional deference (whilst knowing exactly how much kow-towing is necessary before they think they've come up with the idea themselves) and a healthy sprinkling of 'we are all working together for the best solution and to enable x to meet her potential' even when it's blatantly clear their priority is budgetary needs rather than child's needs. if you say it often enough some of them even believe it and get swept along with the ideology.

will look forward to an update after half term!

You don't need a solicitor (these can be v expensive)..we used a superb advocate who helped us get exactly what we wanted, and charges 1.5k for the whole tribunal process. Think this is at least a tenth of what it would otherwise cost. Check out The Advicacy and Mediation Partnership website.

Hth

fedupandfuming - thanks for that info. The current situation renders me unable to work so finances are a big issue. I'll check this out.

Madwomanintheattic - Glad someone else sees my point of view re LEA relationships, or any relationships regarding dealings with your child really. They should all be mutually cooperative and respectful if only to set an example to the children involved!

They should all be mutually cooperative and respectful if only to set an example to the children involved!

In an ideal world ... but I'll bet you'll be bad-mouthing them on here in no time at all.

You cannot have a reasonable dialogue with a body that refuses to be reasonable.

as for Cardiff... have heard some horrendous stories about SEN support there.

With regard to getting the independent school on the statement you will need to prove why it is the only school that can meet your sons needs. (not that it is the best school for him) Get advise. SOSSEN can be helpful and they run courses on going to tribunal. One family near us who got fees paid at a independent mainstream school managed it because with smaller class sizes there DS wouldnt need LSA support therefore it worked out cheaper than mainsteam state and LSA. You may need to get reports from professionals to back up what you want

I was able to get an independent mainstream school named in my sons statement. The LEA don't pay the fees but do fund his ta. It went as far as tribunal, although they had conceded the case the day before. I would really recommend IPSEA, we didn't have a solicitor, did it ourselves with the advice from ipsea. I know at least one other person whose child also got an independent mainstream school named on statement.

Just to say going straight to appeal is the only way to get funding for an independent school - though they may cave in before the hearing id your case is strong enough. Normal timescales are 5 months from applying to hearing.

But as your ds is out of school you have a good reason to request they expedite the hearing. You can request sendist to send you the extra form to expedite over the phone. They will ask you to try to agree an earlier date with the lea but even if lea do not cooperate with this they can overrule and give earlier date if they judge your reasons are compelling and lea acting unreasonably in refusing.

If he has been officially excluded, he is entitled to 25 hours per week tuition though this may be offered in a unit rather than at home.

The relevant legislation re getting home tuition support for children with medical needs is here: http:www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/publicationdetail/page1/DFES%2f0025%2f2002

Most important thing to bear in mind is that the 5 hours they will offer as standard is in fact the statutory minimum and the recommendation is for as much support as the child can access given their medical needs in order to meet their need for access to a full and balanced curriculum.

Oooh thanks for that advice re hours, I've been offered 5 hours - that's a very different proposition to 25.

There's nothing physically wrong with him so in my view, especially considering he's really behind he should be getting a standard school day of tuition. His issues are anxiety, and asd related. He may be dyslexic, (many family members are) but I'm not concerned about that.

I've said I'd prefer a home tutor simply because I can't see the point in 4 hours daily spent on buses when he could be at home learning summat in that time! Part of my thinking on that front is that his Gran is a qualified dyslxia tutor and she'd offered to come over a couple of hours a day to help with his reading.

Seemed better to do a couple of hours with me on writing, science and maths, an hour with a tutor and then a couple of hours reading help with Gran each day rather than 2 hours bus, 1 hour strange environment with tutor, 2 hours bus & kid too tired to do anything else constructive for the day.

I was intending to use the tutor hour to check the stuff I was doing with him was aligned to the National curriculum and to draw attention to the fact the pead has referred him to OT for help in this area. OT is not something I can give him myself iykim, and I'm wondering if the lack of it is related to his school failures. His old head was very dismissive of the OT referral and I think it merits further investigation at least. An hour a day is so little I wanted to try and focus the tutor, (and therefore the LEA when the tutor reports back) perhaps where it's most needed.

If however the centre tuition is full time then I'm much more willing to tackle the travel so long as it doesn't stretch on indefinately.

He's being handled as a "managed move" rather than having the words permanently excluded on his record.