I feel so defeated and I don't know what to do next :(

[extremepie]

Ok, bit of a long one but here is the short(ish) version - I have posted this in AIBU but just wanted to see if I get any different responses here:

My DS1 was 5 in Feb, and is not in school. He was offered a school place at a school just under 2 miles from our house, despite there being 9 schools closer to us, one of them being just 500m from us.

We cannot send him to the school he has been offered.

He is currently attending the same pre-school as his brother who has just turned 4 but will not be able to return after easter as he is too old, meaning that after easter he will have no pre-school or school place and will just be sitting at home with us until a place at the closer school comes up (he is currently on the waiting list)

DS2 has autism so we have a TeamAroundFamily thing set up with social services to try and help us get them both into school (amongst other things) and they have assisted me in appealing for the closer school under rule 2 - special social or medical needs. We sent them a whole bunch of reports from our paediatrician, speech therapist, SENCO, just about everyone officially connected to our family, outlining our needs as a family for both DS's to attend this particular school. I also wrote a letter myself.

Got a letter yesterday saying that they had considered our information and decided that it doesn't sufficiently prove that the particular school we want fulfills our needs.

This basically now means that DS1 has no school place and will not get one in the forseeable future unless by some miracle enough children leave the school for him to be offered a place.

I don't know what to do now. I have honestly done everything I can think of and none of it is working. Want to bash my head against a brick wall!!

Any ideas? Help!

Someone told me on AIBU that I was entitled and seemed to think that society should give me an easy ride. Am I being unreasonable to feel fed up with this?

Forgot to say as part of your statement you get to name a school (part 4). The normal pan rules don't apply so you can get a place in an oversubscribed school sometimes - it's one of the only advantages of the system I've seen.

You're right bochead, they do sometimes make exceptions to the 'no more than 30' rule - a close friend's son managed to get into a very oversubscribed school because he had been in care.

Only issue is, I don't think that DS2 will have a problem getting into the school we want largely because of the fact we live so close, even though he doesn't have a statement yet (although I am getting right on that!) - it's DS1 I'm worried about!

He has already been offered a place, albeit it at a crappy school far away from our house, so as far as they LEA seems to be concerned that's that!

We have been told they will not provide transport because the school is (just) less than 2 miles, and they will only provide it for schools more than 2 miles away. Someone mentioned asking for transport your contribute to but honestly I'm not sure we could afford that :(

I hadn't thought of asking for a tutor but I think they may be reluctant to provide this for us - it does hurt to ask though!

If you aren't getting dla mobility apply now, then you have extra support for saying 2 miles isn't walkable for your child. In meantime OT letters etc are proof. I think Health visitors sometimes write school appeal support notes.

We've been told that DS won't get mobility until he is over 5 (a year from now!) because he is physically mobile, he just can't walk outside for his own safety :(

Sorry, meant to say doesn't hurt to ask!

Well, soon we'll find out what school place DS2 has got and hopefully we can go from there :)

I appealed, although it was a secondary school place for my son without special needs. I dont know whether the reasons for appeal are different for primary school, but you might be better off appealing on the grounds that one extra pupil would not be detrimental to the school. I hope ive got this right, the ds you want to appeal for doesnt have special needs, but his brother does?

I still have my reasons for appeal and would happy to give my reasons (we won) if the criteria is the same for primary schools.