Ugh ... ok im back and panicing.
The couple in before me over-ran by an hour and a half.
So i ended up going in late. The LEA did there bit first then i was asked if i had any questions.
So i asked why i was refused criteria 2 (which is entree under medical and or social grounds) They it was because my chosen school doens't have an ASD unit.
So i then asked in that case since my chosen school has no specialist unit who Could get critera 2 for it??
The LEA guy, fumbled abit and avoided the question and said while i built a strong case for wanting the school i hadn't proven that the other school's couldnt provide the same care.
At which point i replied saying that i wasn't aware i had to prove reasons why the other schools couldn't take care of him, but to be fair i rang up the LEA and asked what i would need to provide to get him into critirea 2 in september and was told that he didn't qualify because he wasnt statmented. So if i was short on evidence it was only because the LEA refused to tell me what i needed and insisted from the word go that i didn't qualify before knowing anything more about my son.
This is when the panel seemed to get intrested.
I explained that i'd phoned when i was filling in my origional school choice paperwork and had asked what i needed to be concidered under criteria 2 and was told in no uncertain terms i didn't qualifiy because he didn't have a statement. Hence my original application didn't ask for criteria 2.
I then said that when i got my allocated school i was so upset i spoke to the choice advisor and she asked me why i didn't apply under criteria 2? i explained and she replied saying that the LEA was wrong i didn't need a statment at all.
So i explained that i rang back the LEA admission's team asking if i could be re-allocated, only to be told yet again "No" i didn't qualify i needed a statement and that the woman had been quite abrupt about it. But because my Choice advicer insisted the woman on the phone was wrong i decided there was no harm sending in a letter stating my case and requestion pretty please could they re-allocate me.
Phew ... Anyway the letter came back and they had refused my application.
I explained to the panel that its quite possible i didn't provide enough information but i'd been rushed getting the evidence together because it was last minute having been told twice i didn't qualify but i provided a good strong case as to why i did want that school and i'd provided evidence that my son had SEN's. That perhaps instead of being told twice, applying was pointless because i didn't qualify if i'd been told in september exactly what i needed to provide i would have done a much better job.
The panel at this point questioned the LEA about it, asking why i would be told such a thing when it was wrong etc. The LEA guy asked for the woman's name who gave me this mis-information which i did and he said he would take it up with her. ($£%* will he... i complained to the same guy twice about it already and he didn't seem to care he certainly didn't re-allocate me)
One of the guys on the panel nodded and say's it sounds like you where really missinformed?
I nodded and said yes i think so, but i blame myself i should have triple checked back in september, tbh if i'd have understood what a statement did better i would have known critera 2 wasn't for statemented children and that now it was my understanding that statemented children are above all catagories?
So they then asked, why didn't i have a statement?
I explained that i was told the statement would outline requirements for the school and that because the school my son go's to have been providing all his needs without a statement i didn't see the point. Infact tbh i didn't want to rub the school up the wrong way, incase they felt me getting a statement was a reflection on the job they where doing. Also that at the time it wasn't really explained to me the other benifit's of being statemented.
One of the panel guys rolled his eyes ?? good thing bad thing i have no idea??
Anyway ... at this point .. the lead panel guy said my document's seemed to explain my case well so he didn't want to upset me further by making me go though it all ... but was there anything i wanted to say.
I waffled on abit about my son and how he is so much more than "just autistic" and that it's been a long battle to work out what was wrong with him and that i when they told me he was ASD i was shocked and scared, i'd expected alot of things that that was never one of them. That i'd refused the diagnosis because i was in shock and that i was looking to have that rectified ASAP.
i explained that because he is quiet and good at his school work he get's over looked, that sometimes i think it's easier for parent's to get help when their children are disruptive or very obviously distressed and that just because my little boy was quiet and didn't complain didn't mean he wasn't suffering. I really really needed a school that would take care of him and wouldnt lose him in the crowd of noisier more confident children who scream and shout when they are unhappy and that perhaps i didn't have anything stronger to go on than my gutt but i knew this was the school to do it.
And then that was it ... they said they didn't have any questions for me and it was over.....
At my last appeal they asked 1000's of questions about EVERYTHING!!! this one they asked none?? surely thats a bad sign right??
I won't get an answer till next friday??! Apparently they have loads of other parents to see?
Why didn't they ask any questions!!!?? or even really get me to outline my case? didnt they want to know or is it possible my application document alone was enough?