What do i do now, statement and school problems

[XxAlisonxX]

The school that is named in my DD1's final statement for her secondary placement has now decided that they cant meet her needs after all. Im still waiting on a reply from the SEN LEA about this but i really dont know now on who or what to do

What reasons did they give alison and have they informed the LEA themselves.

When I first rang Juniors they were initially of the mind that ds would be better off somewhere else without even meeting him or reading his statement.

I phoned the LA who advised me that once the school is advised of his placement they have 15 days to meet with governors and get back to LA if they cant meet his needs. Said that they have to have a very good reason not to meet them and funding would not be an accepted reason. It would have to be way more valid than that.

Also I mentioned that the school suggested another school that was miles away and impossible for me to get him there. LA advised that IF I named the school as choice I would be responsilble for transport but if the LA name it then they are responsible for assisting with transport as its outside the area.

Dont know if all this helps or not. I would hang fire and see what the LA propose first but in the meantime if you dont want him at this senior school now start looking around if you havent already :)

Is this what you need to be able to get her into an independent school at the LAs expense who can meet her needs?

The action you now need to take depends on whether you want her to go to this school or whether you want to use this school's refusal as good evidence that she needs an independant placement.

DS was rejected by the school that the LA planned to place him.

If you want her to go to the schhol put pressure on the LA - they'll put pressure on the school to admit her (they'll probably be doing this already). Telling the LA that you will now seek an independant placement should do the trick.

But... do you really think she should go to a school that has already stated the don't want her?

Or is their refusal to admit just a cynical ploy to get more funding from the LA before they admit her?

the schools reasons for her not to go is that they cant meet her SLI needs, in a way that is fine with me, bacause we would like to send her to the ican school, and yes at the LEA's exspence i hope. I think that i am hoping that this will add to the rest of my paper work to push them into letting her go to the independant school. Im quite relieved that the SEN school has said this for she doesnt really fit in to the severe/ complex learning catogary, for she only has 1 thing wrong with her which is her SLI.

Then this is good news for you. The LEA will be scratting round for a suitable school. What you need to do is think in their shoes - where might they suggest and then think why it isn't suitable. Be logical and objective. If there are good logistical reasons why those aren't suitable placements then the ican is the only choice - yipee for you. Be careful, they will go for wherever is the cheapest option and may push you to go to tribunal but if you can approach the heads of the proposed schools and paint a sufficiently bleak picture of why they can't meet the needs then OK. You don't get much time as a SENCO to go through the paperwork - literally a massive bundle per child lands on your desk and you usually get loads of them and then you have to read through and turn them around asap. If you haven't met the parents and the paperwork sounds bleak then you write a review for the govenors to sign which says 'no'. The LEAs send all the paperwork round all the schools (must cost them a fortune in photocopying) fully knowing what the answers will be but just on the off chance (and I think they have to by law as well) that you might go 'all right then'. They can force a school to take someone but usually the school will demand tons of stuff and extra money by which time the independent option might seem more feasible.