Examples/experiences of school's contribution to SEN

[Lynn6697]

Hi there

Our son has had a statement for 2 years; he gets 10 hours of support. The school has put in a request to panel to increase to 19 hours based on an additional diagnosis from recent EP review and more support needed as he moves into Year 4. Panel has just come back with refusal - not outright refusal actually - they say they need clarification as to what the school is providing towards our son's needs, above and beyond the 10 hours that the borough funds.

SENCO seems a bit clueless as to how to proceed. She says they don't have any additional funding (It seems some schools are given a non allocated pot of SEN funds but that does not seem to be the case here) SENCO plans to resubmit paperwork giving all these marginal examples of how eg the class teacher spends time with our son 1:1 during assemblies pre-teaching vocabulary, how he is in te lowest maths set which has an unusually low teacher/student ratio....basically examples of things they do that cost them nothing extra but which are examples of extra help he gets.

Can anyone give me examples of what their school has contributed towards their child's SEN? What is the panel expecting to see? What should I be expecting/demanding from the school? Is it possible that the SENCO is not being truthful, ie that they do in fact have this pot of SEN money but are choosing to use it elsewhere?

Lynn6697

[Lynn6697]

Thank you Agnes - yes the school definately missed the timelines as Easter got in the way. I have just checked the review meeting date and it was March 29th so I'd better get my appeal in before end of this week.

[Agnesdipesto]

Its 2 months from the decision letter which it sounds as though you do not have yet. The letter should say the statement is not going to changed and tell you about appeal. You need to send the letter to tribunal so I don't think you can appeal until you have the letter. I would speak to Sen officer and check if letter sent and if so date. You can speak to tribunal clerks they are helpful.

[Lynn6697]

School responded to the LA. In short, they are willing to contrbute zero towards our son's LSA time, despite LA's specific request that they do so. LA came back and declined request for additional time, so we remain with 10 hours. We've hiring Fiona Slomovic to fight this one out. Big battles ahead.