Applying for a school place.

[nailak]

H+i.

I have a friend with a dc in reception. he has moved to a new area and they wish to change his school from a special needs school that he had been attending, to local mainstream school.

they have been informed there is a place in local school but they need to meet with the school on monday to talk about his needs, and decide if they will give him a place.

he hasnt got a statement.
he has hearing problems and wears a hearing band.
possibly understanding delay. he can talk but chooses not to outside of the house. which is why they werent happy with previous school, as they felt they relied on non verbal communication rather then encouraging speech and language development.

is there anything they should know before they go to this meeting? or any advice?

he also had medical needs and noone at school is trained to administer medication through stomach button, but mum is prepared to go in every day at lunch to do this.

bump

I think your friend needs to apply for a statement?

If he has been at special school he must have a statement, as the main criteria for attending special school is a statement, even if it was for the previous area they lived in. The statement can be transferred to the new LA for the remainder of the valid year.
I would advise your friend to go to the meeting fully prepared with as much information about her son as possible, also I would be very weary of a school that doesn't ask questions and just says something like 'Oh yes, we can support him no problem' without asking questions and speaking to the previous school.

have a look on the ndcs site, there's all sorts of info about starting school which may be appropriate, you could also try the helpline, they're usually pretty good. They should also have support from their teacher of the deaf in case equipment/training is involved. If there is no statement in place it would be a good idea to do that now, ipsea has plenty of info on how to do that if needed.

Hi,
There is no reason why a HI child cannot attend mainstream. As far as I am aware, unless the school control their own admissions, admissions would be through the local LEA.
But I do think that a meeting with the school is a good idea, because they can get prepared for your friends dc, (get train done, get a TOD in to do an acoustic audit, and make sure all staff are briefed in deaf awareness).
If your friend doesn't have a statement her DC may go straight in on school action plus, and if the school feel they can't meet his needs on school action+, then they can apply for a statement.