Quick question on deadline for responding to proposed statement

[moosemama]

Hi

Does anybody know if the 15 days you get to respond to a proposed statement is working days or full weeks AND if it includes statutory school holidays?

We are expecting our statement in the post any day, but obviously the school holidays start next Friday, so am a bit perplexed as to when they set the 15 day deadline.

Have tried to call our Statementing Officer - but can't get hold of her.

Ok, now I have spoken to my SO, but she said its 15 working days from when they complete the proposed statement and post it out. Both she and another member of staff at the LEA have told me the postal service they use is ridiculously slow and I know from speaking to them that the statement wasn't actually posted until last Tuesday, despite their deadline for them informing us actually being last Monday.

Apparently the school are not expected to include the holiday in their 15 days, but we are.

I explained that we had an LSR at the school this morning and agreed a date to discuss the proposed statement - as 4 May, assuming the holidays would be excluded. She said she'll make a note on the file that we will be delayed in our response, as the we have a meeting with the school to discuss the proposed statement on 4 May and that its not a problem as long as they know.

What does everyone think about this? Not sure what to do now.

Hi am in similar situation. Draft statement received yesterday and of course last day of term today so have been hunting down Senco for some answers today. If it was me I would get LEA to put their agreement in writing/email saying that they are prepared to waive the 15 working days. Also I would contact PPS just so that a 3rd party is aware of the arrangement and you can produce an audit trail. I was not aware that school were allowed to exclude holidays from the 15 working days

Moose, honestly don't worry about it. Within 15 days (I'd do it ASAP after you have received the PS (remember to keep the envelope with date) write to them saying that you are not happy with the propsed statement ( unless you are of course) and tell them to expect your written submission on x day after you have met with the school in x date.

That will be all you need to do to protect yourself.

Jakadaal, its really bad timing isn't it.

Starlight, thanks for the advice, I will do that and refer to the telephone conversation between myself and the SO today. To be fair, she did say it wasn't a problem and the 15 days is really just because some parents either don't bother replying or leave it for an incredibly long time.

My main concern is that the finalised statement is up and running this academic year, not least of all because it covers specialist support for annual year-group transitions, but also because I think the school are either going to have to employ someone, or jig about with their staffing to make sure the provision is available for the next academic year.

I am not happy with the proposed statement - at all, pretty much from start to finish. The content is all there, but its so disorganised and vague its not worth the paper its written on and wide open for school to do whatever they want.

Tried to call PP today (no reply as usual) to get a measure of the best way to approach the fact that, whilst we don't want a change to the content or provision, there are a lot of changes - almost every point/paragraph and even the structure of the document needs changing, as there's no clear correlation between parts 2 and 3 or between part 3 objectives and part 3 provision.

Hmm, just been advised by someone far wiser than myself that if I don't stick to my 15 day deadline, then that absolves the LEA of having to stick to any of theirs.

I am now spending a delightful weekend effectively rewriting the statement so that I can push the school into meeting with me next week, to give me a chance of meeting my deadline.

Moose write or email the LA disagreeing with the proposed statement (you dont have to put any reasons for it) and request a meeting with them to go over it.

That will delay it a bit as I doubt they will make a meeting over the holidays. If its pretty quick you could cancel due to sickness etc and drag it out another week or so? In the meantime email the HT saying your meeting with them needs to be brought forward because of the deadline. Just keep every discussion in email or letter form.

If you have a meet with the LA say you need to go home and think over it/need to discuss with school etc You can then request another meet and extend your time again. :)

I thought you had to state a reason for every single change you want made?

I am just going through it creating a box under each of their points, with my rewritten version in it and was intending to cut and paste a standard quote about theirs not meeting the requirements of the Education Act 1986 and or SENCOP and or anything else I can throw at them. Gotta love all that stuff on the IPSEA website.

Do I not need to quote law at them and tell them exactly why their statement is crap then?

I think I will definitely feel happier once I have at least pulled something together that I would be happy with before I contact them to say I'm not happy. I dread not having something to pull out of the hat at short notice if I'm ill, which is something that tends to happen every time I get stressed.

I was thinking I'd get my version ready over the weekend, speak to the SENCO first thing Monday to ask her to go through it with me asap this week and then post the form they've sent me to either approve or disapprove of the statement on the way home. I think it will get delayed then, as you have to return the form to disapprove and they won't receive it until the latter end of next week, then they have to contact me to arrange a meeting.

Based on their calculations, our deadline would be 18 April (ds2's Birthday) but of course that's slap bang in the middle of the holiday. I'm really booked up the following week as well with various Paed appointments etc, so realistically I can't see us meeting until the first week in May.

I know I'm being stressy about wanting to get my version done straight away. I just can't stand to have things hanging around, as I can't stop churning it all over in my head. Once its done, I can forget about it until the meeting and enjoy the Easter Holidays, which encompass both boys' birthdays ... and then come back refreshed and ready to fight!

Yes you do have to advise them of what you want to alter and how you want it all worded.

But like me I had to have time to prepare it. IPSEA had a standard letter somewhere I will try to find it. I sent an email telling them I did not accept the proposed statement and requested a meeting to discuss. In the email I also stated DS proposed school.

Then that gave me more than the 15 days. I too got it late in the post and a weekend chewed another couple days away and I was unable to phone anyone for advice. So I waited till 12 days was up then did the email

In the meantime I was still re writing and altering the proposed statement just like you were doing.

They will phone you (mine did) to try and put their point accross regarding the specifying and quantifying. I just played polite and discussed some of the other amendments. Said I would prefer to sort it all out amicably by phone etc. They did all the amendments to try to keep me sweet but still avoided the specifying of hours and indeed sent me an amended statement by email attachment.

THEN I sent them a reply (you will find it somewhere on here) attaching the SENCOP section regarding quantifying and also a letter about blanket policies found on IPSEA which I think I sent you.

Thanks Coff33.

I think I'm starting to get somewhere now. Am at least finding that all the reports that they requested for SA asked for the same support, school, Ed Psych, Paed and us.

I was wary of changing the wording about the school providing a laptop from the usual 'will require access to' to 'the school will provide ds1 with access to a laptop', but it turns out the school had directly asked for one in their request and I'm finding a few bits like that here and there.