Applying for SA for the 2nd time advice needed please

[claw4]

Ds currently has a NIL, after previous SA request.

Do i have to apply for SA as if it were the first time or am i asking them to reassess?

Well you need to address those issues yes, because if you go to appeal the LA will state that it woukd be a waste of time and resources to go through it again as the tribunal has already made a decision based on the same evidence. They won't let that lie.

You'll have to be careful and tactical. At no point must you imply that the tribunal was wrong in their decision based on the evidence at the time. This will weaken your case and the LA will goad you into saying it.

Claw

Don't take the advice of the LA that it should be a reassessment and not an application of SA. You know you can't trust the buggers!

Alpply for an SA. If they say SA is not appropraite and it should be a reassessment - get it in writing. That way if it ends in a NIL/no additional provision you have an appeal route to Trubunla (whih I don't believe you have with a reassessment).

I have read the SEN COP from cover to cover many times and there is no provsiion in it whatsoever for a reassessment following a NIL.

As I said - it's a legal process and the process terminated in an NIL. End, finish, terminated. You need to start from scratch

Wet

Star the tribunal was not wrong to make that decision based on the evidence they had at that time. Just the evidence used to make that decision was wrong. I have plenty of evidence of this, can i use this?

Wet that is what the LA have informed me i should do. I can do both, to make sure i have covered all bases.

Good luck. I wouldn't trust a syllable my LA uttered

Star - why the ??

Thanks Wet.

Not AT you, just at what you said. You'd think I'd have learned by now but it appears not.

Well I must be missing the point totally here Star.

I can't see anything I wrote that would shock.

Must be your hormones

Yes, you can use that. Make sure you are clear why if it is ever challenged by the LA. I mean they might say that it is not new evidence so the tribunal must not consider it iyswim, but it IS relevant to the case you are making now.

Oi!

No I mean I didn't know you couldn't appeal an assessment and shocked that the LA has subsequently informed Claw to do this. I mean on the scale of shocking things that LA's do it isn't huge but I'm shocked all the same!

A reassessment of a nil

I just can't see how you can ask for a re-assessment.

If the Tribunal issued the NIL but said it could be reassessed at a later date then I suppose you would contact the Tribunal directly and ask them to do so (which I've never heard of).

As mini-Claw does not currently have a Statement I would take the very clear cut approcah of asking for a Statutory Assessment that may lead to one being issued.

It would probably be quicker than this re-assessment and they have prescribed timescales. If Claw requested now she may even get a result before the summer holidays.

Hi claw - what you need to bear in mind is that as a statutory assessment has been carried out, you have to wait six months before reapplying. If the LA had not assessed your ds, you would have been able to reapply straight away.
Generally speaking, from the issue of the Note in Lieu you had 2 months to appeal and request a Statement be issued. Or you can wait six months, gather info and reapply.

Argh - just read the post above re the tribunal directing the la to issue a NIL? Is that true?

Things such as they said that they follow the advice from ASD Advisory teacher as to ds's sensory needs and movement breaks.

Since Tribunal i received a copy of ds's school file and i also wrote and requested this specifically after Tribunal. It doesnt exist. They have failed to provide it and its not on school file. In fact only thing on file states that school had NOT requested any advice from ASD advisory.

Basically everything they said to either my solicitor in writing or at Tribunal doesnt exist.

How do i go about saying that 'nicely' or in a 'im not slagging school off' way?

Wet, ds already had his NIL prior to Tribunal.

Tribunal concluded that ds's special educational needs can be met from within the school's own resources. School said they could and were in fact providing all this wonderful support (they lied)

Does this amount to the same thing?

Notactuallyme, NIL was issued a year and half ago.

Hmm, so you received a NIL following SA via LA? Then appealed, and Tribunal essentially agreed with LA? Think you have to wait six months then.

You can't focus on a hearing about whether the LA/school lied, you have to focus on whether your DS needs a statement.

Part of the evidence that the tribunal should seek in order to make the decision is any new evidence or changes in circumstances. In the light if that you can point out the discovery that the School were not honest at the last tribunal. It is the LA and not the school that were responsible for ensuring accurate information so you could (and still can - although you have a more pressing cause) claim maladministration.

Yep, LA refused to issue a statement and issued a NIL, waited 8 months between NIL and Tribunal.

Tribunal decison was about a year ago, so i have already waited 6 months.

And you can use the word dishonest. It is fine. LAs are always using it with me even though I'd say my biggest mistake is always honesty and openness.

Tribunals have heard it all.

ah well, apply with new evidence for sa then. reassessment seems only to apply to children with statements (disclaimer: just had a quick flick thro the COP2001)

Dear Helpful High

As we have been discussing, ds's self harm continues to escalate. I had worried that this might happen if his very complex needs couldnt be fully understood and met within SA+, hence previously seeking the formality of a statement of SEN.

I appreciate that the tribunal panel felt a NIL would be adequate, and i know that the flexibility and discretion it allows can be useful to ds's teachers . Thanks for your efforts to provide what the NIL and sebsequent experts have recommended, which must have been difficult given resource considerati

It would greatly help to know which recommendations you have found useful and practical,
which have been a struggle to put into place,
which have proven unnecessary or unsuitable,
and which have simply been too costly and/or time-consuming

Star, im not trying to prove that school lied, just that support has been inadequate. If school are saying he has support in place, that doesnt exist, surely this amounts to inadequate?

No, I understand that. But you might be cornered and challenged on this so you need to have a way of saying they lied that will work and that you'll be unafraid of saying and that will also have you coming off as reasonable.

It could get to a direct questioning of this issue so you must be prepared to have the strength of your convictions and more importantly, the evidence: