Provision in Surrey for physical disabilities?

[badkitty]

I have had a read of the Autism Support thread and people's (not generally very positive!) views of local provision regarding education etc for children with autism in Surrey. Does anyone have any experience of provision for children with CP or physical disabilities in Surrey? In particular any experience of mainstream/special schools in the area as regards provision for CP, but I would also be interested in people's general views on how they are with providing equipment etc.

From my research it seems that there is some really good early years provision around Surrey but there doesn't seem to be many options when it comes to special needs schools for children with mild-to-moderate cp. I would prefer DS (who is only 2 atm!) to go to mainstream but worried about moving area, getting him into mainstream but then finding it is unsuitable and then being stuck with no real options other than sending him miles and miles away...

Very grateful for any views as the whole moving thing seems very daunting when you have to take special needs into the mix - not that I am exactly thrilled with provision in our local area at the moment, but better the devil you know and all that...

Hi - we are in Surrey DS has mild / moderate CP and is in a mainstream school with a unit which is brilliant - he will move to mainstream in Y3 (current school is YR - Y2). Where in surrey are you? We have had excellent care regarding equipment etc but I do keep on top of them!

PM me if you'd prefer!

That's fantastic thank you - will PM you!

Our ds has severe cp and we've had the opposite experience to HairyMaclary.

Whilst it was relatively easy to get portage and then inclusion funding for 2 x 2 hour pre-school sessions (took long time to sort out and we had to supply/buy accessories for a chair) the rest has been uphill all the way.

Therapy provision non-existant hands-off approach once you've waited to get to the top of their 18 month each wait-lists. Instant you get into school NHS don't want to know (so statement had better be water-tight) as you then don't meet the criteria any more. Everyone passing the buck on saying they're responsible for providing anything, but only too happy to pat themselves on the back for progress we've achieved ourselves at home. And only too ready to slander our private therapists who have provided the only help we've ever received. And then there's the matter of no equipment at home except for that we've sourced ourselves..... Attitude of our childrens' centre stinks frankly.

And ds is due an operation soon. Only no-one will sort out equipment in advance even though we know what will be required (and in reality won't provide any after) so he'll block a bed for weeks. Sure they'll love it as I have 3 kids in all and expect we'll all be spending a lot of time there.

To be honest we've really struggled to get ds the help he needs in a special school (out of borough as in-borough one was awful) - took 20 months - and while I'd love for him to go to mainstream school - pretty much all interaction at SS with adults - I can see that it would be a total nightmare to try to sort something approaching satisfactory out - would have to be driven by me - (and this in in my eldest's school which is actually very good).

Don't consider Kingston area good!

we were on the border - all good. dd2 has cp and provision was excellent.

DD2 doesn't have cp but is (now) mildly physically disabled. Our input has been very good, esp since going to sn school. The onsite physio is exceptional (DD2 used to be considered as having severe physical delay). Our physio started when DD2 was 9 months old and has been reletively consistant and to a good standard throughout. DD2 is now 3.9mo.

Sounds like I should definately avoid kingston then! Thanks for the replies I am glad the situation doesn't seem that bad all across Surrey anyway.

mumgoingcrazy, I would be interested to know what area of Surrey you are in and maybe which SN school so I can add it to my list of places/schools to investigate - if you wouldn't mind PMing me? Understand if you would prefer to keep these details private though obviously!

Hi badkitty, I don't mind pming you, if you told me what that is and how I do it

I would think it really depends on you, the child and the school. For instance I know in Guildford of two secondaries that have (recently, one was not as helpful in the past) worked really hard with children with CP, and a number of Primaries that have done well. I also know of one child who went through mainstream primary and then on to Mayor Treloar's in Hampshire (I hope I spelt that right).
I would talk to the school and the SENCo, if they sound positive, then you have somewhere to start. A good primary can also make recommendations about secondaries.

It's very much a postcode lottery within Surrey. I have found (hemiplegia, not CP, but...) the underlying problem is that our local therapy team are all women of childbearing age and constantly off on maternity leave. This is SaLT, OT, Physio. The NHS policy is not to replace staff on mat leave so if 3 out of a team of 5 are on mat leave then the remaining 2 take the entire caseload and everyone gets 2/5ths of whatever you are supposed to be getting. Or less, if you don't get it into the statement and other parents have. If you don't have quantified therapy in your statement at present, I would advise getting it reviewed under your current authority if it's in line with what they are already providing (no skin off their nose) because the statement is transferable and Surrey would have to pick it up and run with it.

It's not so bad in a SN school, because the staff are very experienced and therapy tends to be designed by the therapist and delivered by the staff anyway; obviously they're not qualified therapists but the quality of input is fair and it's constant throughout the day. I imagine in mainstream, where there is no such training or experience, you are much more reliant on contact time and where there are staffing issues you are stuffed.

Hi Bad kitty - just picked up your pm - was out last night - will repsond tonight.

Yes - Kingston is not good for provision, it's better elsewhere. The maternity leave issue is the same pretty much all over but we seem to have managed it here by being right on top of them - being in an SN school or unit seems to have a bit of an advantage here as there are a number of children needing care rather than if you are the only one in a mainstream school.

mumgoingcrazy - you just go to "message poster" on the top line of the message and it sends a personal message to their inbox - you should have your own inbox at the top of the page (although having said that, maybe you have to have signed up specially in order to do personal messaging, I can't remember).

I know what you mean about the maternity leave issue! Think that must be the same everywhere.

I've pm'd you!