statementing -probably a dumb question but....

[NotOnUrNelly]

the boy has one more year in primary school, doesn't have a statement but gets quite a bit of support to help him focus and deal wih stresses during the day, so as you can imagine I'm thinking again about statements as he is going to struggle massively in secondary school. If he doesn't get one in primary school - as he is doing more or less ok with the support he is getting - will it matter if he is going to school in a different LEA? ie is it still the LEA where we live that would do the assessment and statement even if he is at school somewhere else - and would that cause problems?

I don't have a child in secondary at the moment, although numerous people here do (so I'm sure they'll be along shortly with good advice).

I would have thought the SENCO would be coordinating a meeting between you and the SENCO at the secondary school to discuss any possible support needs and how they will best handle them, along with any transition plans for him.

thanks Triggles - he's only in year 5, but I can't see that he'll improve enough in a year to be able to cope with secondary without a lot of support - and he's starting to worry about it as well - I just wonder if he'll need a statement in order to get it in secondary school - or whether the assessment would give the school guidance /impetus to get him to be more independent - he's on SA+ as he is "under" the EP - but she hasn't seen him for 4 years as far as I know. I'm psyching myself up for a contact with his teacher or the senco to ask these questions...

It's the 'home' LEA that will do the SA, i.e. the one where you live. In principal it shouldn't matter if he goes to school in another LEA, but I've heard of LEAs turning down parental requests for SA routinely if the child attends school out of borough. Also it can sometimes be more difficult to co-ordinate services like outreach as they refuse to travel outside of borough to other schools.

I would get in touch with the secondary you expect him to attend and ask in more detail about what kind of support they can offer. Year 5 is not too early to start thinking about this. If you are thinking of requesting a SA, I would do so now because it could take a year to put a statement into place, since given what you say about him currently coping, it's likely SA would be refused and you'd have to appeal. You can make your own request for SA as a parent - see the IPSEA website for a model letter.

thanks ever so Krystalklear - and Triggles

You are right to start now, for children with statements LAs have to name the school by 15 Feb so that there is time to appeal before Sept start. So by applying for a statement now you would just get through the process (6 months) by Xmas time assuming they don't refuse the statutory assessment / statement.

You do not have to name the school until they have issued a proposed statement, the statement can also name a type of school e.g. mainstream and leave you to decide on the actual placement later.

There are proposed changes to funding places which should mean it is easier to go out of area as the govt are proposing to impose a notional £10,000 base place minimum cost to each statement so LAs won't be able to say their own schools are nil cost.here

I would be tempted to apply for a statement just saying you want a mainstream secondary with support and say you will name the school once the open days etc have taken place in the Autumn. If the LA know you are thinking out of area they may be more tempted to turn the request down.

thanks - that's a really good tip - though the 'out of borough' school is still a mainstream comprehensive - ironically it is only 100 yards from our house!

We started this whole process last April (2011) - DS moves to high school this September.
The LEA agreed to assess and the agreement to issue a statement was made by the September. We received the statement in October and sought amendments to it as it was not precise. The LEA issued a final statement in November ignoring our amendments "to get the funding to the school" and told us they would consider them and implement them. Nothing much happened to I put in the documents to appeal. We were given an appeal date for next week. Despite my chasing and another useless proposed amended statement nothing much happened until we had a meeting 3 weeks before the tribunal date. We have now agreed a form that we are all happy with and I have just requested that the tribunal rule that the LEA must issue this new document.
It has taken just over a year.
BTW we had the school named - no problem it was just the actual wording on the statement that caused the issue - so if you need to apply for a statement given how long it has taken me, my advice would be to do it now.

sorry - to be mrs needy, but I have another question, I've just remembered that SENCO has previously said NOT to apply for statement as school is meeting his needs (which is for the most part true) - though it means him having a TA nearly all the time and he has special measures in place for assembly, lunch time and so on. I'm now thinking that she (and LEA) will make that point again - and I can see where they are coming from ...am I on hiding to nothing until he actually goes to secondary and fails ?

he is easily keeping up academically - even back in the early years when he was spending most of the day head banging and rolling on the floor, he was producing very good work - when they could persuade him to put pen to paper or join in the lesson.

DSD has AS. He is miles ahead academically in most subjects. He has a TA in class 3 mornings a week in primary for him and she is in the class for another child afternoons so can help DS as and when needed too. DS also has help and support and social skills groups in playtimes and lunchtimes.
He is hypermobile in some joints and can have problems with PE and he has sensory problems with noise and smell - the former lead esp to problems with music lessons.
He is coping with the help in primary but the school were concerned that he would not in secondary and supported the application for a statement.
You need to look at barriers to education - in our case this was he needs social skills to be able to access group work, and so as not to disrupt others education. He needs help with sensory issues and to be able to withdraw from situations to prevent H&Safety issues and so he is calm enough to be able to learn, he needs help with transitions from one activity to the next. He needs OT exercises to enable him to write without too much effort so he can keep up. Without the break time support he is to anxious and unhappy to be able to learn in the next lesson - etc.
You have to take each and every difficulty and turn it into a problem with him accessing the national curriculum.
Oh and normally funding in a mainstream school ( you didn't say if SN school or not) is only up to about 8 hours a week without funding from a statement.

DS2 is way ahead academically as well. Our SENCO insisted that it doesn't matter where he is academically, if he has SNs that need support, we should apply for a statement to protect his interests and make sure he has appropriate support. They helped us go through all the paperwork as well.

Oh and just to say that our Parent partnership were very good at helping me work out what the important things to say on the "parental advice" forms were to show "WHAT BARRIERS STILL REMAIN" to DS's education

I think it's important to remember that there's a huge difference between "meeting academic standards" and "working to their potential." The SENCO basically told us "if he's doing this well while struggling, imagine how well he COULD be doing."

I would strongly advise going for a statement.

My unstatemented ds had a lot of support from his lovely primary school. There were transition visits, meetings with the outreach team, and lots of care taken to provide the secondary school with information about ds' needs.

Ds is now reaching the end of Yr7. Individually his teachers have been really helpful and made allowances where needed. OTOH I'm still not sure who the SENCO even is, despite being promised on numerous occasions that he/she would contact me. Ds had IEPs throughout primary but absolutely nothing at secondary.

He's doing well and his teachers are very pleased with him, but it's very much been a case of being left to sink or swim.

Apply for the statement now and ignore anyone who tells you not to apply for it!.

My DS in secondary school has a statement. One of my DS's peers who is now statemented had a very difficult year 7 (at that time this child was on SA plus) primarily because this person's additional needs there were simply not being met.

Secondary school is very different from juniors. A statement too is legally binding. Support offered at SA plus can be too easily curtailed or withdrawn.

wow thanks you guys - I;m definitely going for it - I've just realised that by the time he needs more support at High School, the SEN green paper will have been implemented - and as far as I can see, children can only sign on to the new style assessment at a very younga age? - so if he doesn't have a statement by 2014, he won't get one - or whatever the new thing is either??