Letter from preferred school, does this mean he's in or another hurdle?

[hanaka88]

Got this from the special school

'as you know the LA feel that we may be able to meet DSs needs at our school

Sometimes the thought of a special school can be very worrying and there are many questions you would like to ask. I would like to invite you to a visit to the school on Tuesday.

Please bring DS with you as it is important we get to know each other from the beginning.

I look forward to meeting you but if you have any queries beforehand please do not hesitate to get in touch.'

What does this mean? Is he in? Or another hurdle to jump?

Well it doesn't sound like a "no" and they are saying that they want to get to know him from the beginning.

It sounds quite promising to me.

Good luck.

Thanks ineedalife. It's so frustrating I need to know for sure as my contract at work is up in dec and I need to arrange childcare etc at new school and find a job that fits in

it sounds like the standard, we've got your paperwork from the lea now we need to to be sure we can meet your needs so come and see us, letter. It's another hurdle but hopefully just a low one this time.

Thank you ninja

sounds promising and it's a good sign that the school want to get to know him (and you) first

Is it an LEA special school? If it is at some point in the new term they will have a meeting with the LEA head honcho SEN person whereby they go through the paperwork of all the children who have put down that placement as their preferred school. They will then say 'yes' or 'no' as to whether they think they can meet that child's needs. In my experience the paperwork does not necessarily reflect the child I think it really important to meet the parents and the child to get an idea as to how they will mix in with the school and the potential peer group. This is another really important area - getting the right grouping. We have a year group where the LEA got it very badly wrong and the mismatch of pupils has made them virtually unteachable. Conversly we have other year groups where they fit together brilliantly - interestingly these are the year groups where we had a say in it.

I think your letter sounds really positive. They wouldn't want to meet you or the child if the LEA hadn't approached them as a potential placement but it isn't a 'given' so go and be very enthusiastic and supportive. You may well find that your child is wisked away from you to do an 'activity'. Meeting the people involved is so important and its great that the school want to do this so they can be informed fully.
Good luck.