draft statement

[trunkybun]

After much battling and with a tribunal date looming, our LEA has caved and issued a Draft Statement. As a lurker I have read many times that a Statement must be quantified and specific and I can see that what I have been given is neither of those. So I know I need to do something but am unsure how to go about it.
As it stands the provision' part of the document seems to be almost identical to what was on his Note in Lieu' and the frequency' part just lists what is on his IEP. At the end of part 3 it says In addition to the School Action Plus provision provided by the school, the Authority will provide a total of 10 hours a week Teaching Assistance to enhance the school's ability to meet the objectives of the Statement'
There is no `extra' help mentioned in the Statement as far as I can tell.
I spoke to the SENCO at the school who told me that the statements are always written like this and when i have signed it and sent it back the school will decide how the 10 hours will be best used and will put it on his IEP (I thought a statement replaced an IEP)
My main worries are that a) I wont have any input into the content of the statement and b) the school will use the extra hours to provide provision he should currently be getting under his IEP but they haven't been providing because of staff shortages.
However I also don't really feel qualified to dictate to the school how they should use these extra hours as I am not a Teacher and I do not really have enough knowledge of how the school day is organised,how long lessons/break times are etc
Am very confused (as is evident from this post) For now I am goung to phone and reject the Statement on the grounds that I want to seek advice (am still within the 15 days) Any advice would be much appreciated!

It sounds like you need someone to go through it with you in person, there's sossen, ipsea and ace, have a google, their sites have loads of info about what should be in a statement and what wording to aviod/put in as well as their helplines. Parent partnership any good where you are?

don't listen to the senco and sign it whatever you do, as you say it should be specified and quantified.

'the Authority will provide a total of 10 hours a week Teaching Assistance to enhance the school's ability to meet the objectives of the Statement'
when you think about it, this could mean anything, it's not specific to your child, it's specific to the school and teaching assistance could mean anything from spending 10 hours photocopying to intensive 1:1 with your child, not good enough.

A statement does not replace an iep. You should still have an iep, it should be smart and reviewed at least once a term. The statement isn't really a working a document in the way that it may well concentrate on longer term goals, an iep is your short term goals.

im with bigcar on this id get someone to go through it with a fine tooth comb asap ring PP/ace or whoever your local advocate service is and ask to see them they are very helpful and understanding and will know exactly whats not in there and the correct jargon to use and as bigcar says you dont want the TA whos supposed to be giving your dc 1-1 10 hours a week spending it as a spare pair of hands for the school

Here are some links to some of the advocacy services mentioned by other posters:
www.ace-ed.org.uk/
www.sossen.org.uk/
www.ipsea.org.uk/
www.kent.gov.uk/education_and_learning/special__additional_education/partnership_with_parents.aspx

Thanks everyone for your kind advice. I will try IPSEA etc although in the past I have found them permanently engaged! I did use parent partnership when I first asked for statutory assesment so will get back to them also. Thanks bigcar for explaining about the IEP (feel such a dunce )