School's Appeal for ASD child going into senior school

[leiela]

We have our final shot at a school appeal for our 11 year old ASD son on tuesday. We failed the last one so this truely is our totally last shot.

At the last appeal i felt the panel didn't really understand ASD, they kept asking questions like had we concidered a specialist school and asking lots of questions about his needs and why we felt the school we were appealing against could suit his needs.

Honestly i dont think i fought a very good case... i just couldn't seem to prove "that" school was the only school which could deal with him. I think most of the problem came from the fact that i don't have any real soild reason's for wanting this school other than a list of reasons a mile long for not wanting the alternative because it is a diabolical school.

Ok so far the reason's i have are.

For registration they mix the year's this means my son will be interacting with older boys with whome he tends to have more in comman.

The Senco was sympathic to the needs of an ASD child, and could give me examples of stratgy's she's used with them.

It's a single sex school and my son is "funny" about girls at the moment. (he's just learn't about sex ed and it's freaked him out a bit, god help him when he actually reach's puberty)

Class sizes as a whole seem smaller than average.. large school but lesson's are in split into small setted groups

The school is split into lots of smaller buildings which i think he will find less overwhelming than large buildings with massive hallways etc.

There is one senior member of staff on each floor in each building meaning if he has trouble help is never far away.

The ofsted reports state they have a good reputation with SEN children and is able to push all children to reach thier potential.

Ofsted also reported that they teach acceptance within the school and they have been very successful at making all children feel safe and welcome.

Ok so as we can see i NEED a stronger case that this... i need some good soild reason's for wanting the school other than "my motherly instinct tells me he'll be ok there" I also want to try and make sure the panel understand the difficulties ASD children have, yes he's coping in primary school but senior school is a mile away.

Here's the ofsted report for the school just incase anyone spots something i missed.

www.ofsted.gov.uk/oxedu_reports/display/(id)/119319

Wow - it sounds a fab school! I don't have experience of appealing, but I think the key point is that the school has been incredibly effective with special needs pupils, and has wide experience of meeting your son's needs (you would need to specify exactly what these include). The fact that school is split into 2, so the KS3 pupils are taught separately, would be another strong factor if your son is anxious, or has sensory issues, for example. Small classes and pastoral support is vital if he is to thrive. So many ASD children struggle at large, noisy secondary schools. Is he good at Maths and/or computing? As this is their specialism, you could say that it caters to his academic strengths and interests.
I would try to speak to someone at ACE, as they have lots of info on appealing for schools, and also someone at NAS. Hopefully someone more experienced than me will give you more advice. Good luck!

We have our school appeal on Thursday, my son has asd. I'm worried sick about it but the lady at the local parent partnership has been great and been giving me loads of advice and looked over all the paperwork etc.

Good luck to you...

did you visit the school they were proposing leiela

My daughter is preparing her case for a secondary appeal for her twin daughters. She would welcome any advice, help or information re “best way to appeal.”
The Twins didn’t get any of their 3 choices. The one they were allocated is a walk and two buses to get away. It is also rated by Ofsted as inadequate. Any help/advice would so appreciated

Granniemel3 this is an old thread, you would be better starting your own in secondary education where some appeal experts post. Any appeal on the basis of the Ofsted rating won’t be successful. How far away is the school and how long will the journey take? Will DTs be eligible for home school transport? Unless the journey time is excessively long (usually consider 1hr15 for secondary) this won’t be a successful argument either.