school cannot meet his needs anymore - in absolute limbo

[bjkmummy]

son aged 8 has asd and adhd - he has a statement for 20 hours and in a mainstream school. things havent been going well so school called an emergency review last thurs. school said in the review and in the minutes i now have that they cannot meet his needs any more and even with full time hours they still cannot meet his needs. sen officer was awful and had a go at me for getting a private OT report which says hes needs a special school - asked me why i did it and didnt go via nhs - then showed her letter from NHS saying they would not see my son as they dont commision sensory intregration. the school also said the report was a very accurate account of my son. he is being sick every day - had 3 letters from paed which showed that its anxiety based. meeting very rushed as sen officer only had 90 mins - ended abruptly as time ran out and now in limbo - school feel he should have a new school by sept but lea will give no time lines as to what will happen next so im faced with next week taking my son back in to a school that cannot meet his needs and is making him ill! along with the minutes to the lea i sent a report where i said i was unhappy with how the meeting conducted and that i wanted a new specialist school named in part 4 - lets see how long they take to respond

Sounds like you are doing all the right things, producing your own minutes of the meeting, putting on record that the conduct of the meeting was unsatisfactory and setting out your main request for change to setting in part 4. Just keep requesting that they make their decision as soon as possible so that your right to appeal if necessary kicks in. link belowto some info about reviews from ACE.
www.ace-ed.org.uk/Resources/ACE/Understanding%20Annual%20Reviews%202010.pdf

I was shocked to read there appears to be no actual deadline for the LA's response:

"In order to have a right of appeal you have to have a written decision from the LA. Although there are timescales for the headteacher?s review report and the LA?s notification of its decision there are no timescales for the LA?s actual decision.
The LA does have a duty to review the statement within 12 months of its being made or the date of the previous review. If you have no decision within this time or you feel there is an unreasonable delay, make a formal complaint. You could also complain to the Local Government Ombudsman."

You handled that well bjk. Cheeky sods for crticising your private assessment! They really do overstep their authority.

I expect your current Head will be dragged over hot coals now for stating the school could no longer support your child's needs (thereby forcing LA into possibly having to make expensive specialist provision availabale).

The Annual Review is a bit of red herring I think. You can ask for the school named in Part 4 to be changed at any time. You have a Final Statement s if the LA refuse to change the school you can appeal to SENDIST.

I'd write to the LA naming the school I wanted him to attend and giving them a reasonable (28 days??) amount of time to respond warning them that if they have failed to do so within that time period I will be lodging an appeal with SENDIST.

Think school Found it easy to say as they became an academy last month. The lea did not want the head to answer the question when I asked can you meet his needs- was like something out if a legal film with my dh demanding she did answer it. The minutes were done by the school so it is their minutes that state they cannot meet his needs now or even if he gets full time support. Got a feeling lea going to try and send him to the school with a unit. He went there a year ago on the promise if a unit place. School dumped him in mainstream and he lasted 6 weeks so over my dead body is he going back there! He's in year 3 and this is his 4th school so next move has to be the right one. No special schools in county so he will have to go out of county. EP report was rubbish - lea made a big deal about how EP has said Joe improved in spelling - shot her down when I said he failed to highlight his reading and writing had gone down! Talk about sneaky - highlight one area of improvement but ignores the areas he has gone down. There were 5 of us against one lea woman - was nice to see the lea squirming for once. Will give them until end of next week and then will start chasing it via her boss. Head been blinking brilliant - review was last Thursday and all the paperwork went back to the lea on the Friday. Lea officer in meeting was saying couldn't give a date for a response as she didn't know when shed get the paperwork from head - head told her 'will send it tomorrow' so now the waiting begins - they would have got everything on weds so there is no reason now for a delay. Told them 2 schools I'd consider which are going to cost because of transport.

You have them well and truly over a barrel bjk

This is obviously a direct consequence of the Head being 'freed' from the restrictions that LAs impose on their maintained schools. I expect we'll see a lot more of this 'courageous' behaviour from Academy Heads. I say courageous because for the first time you are actually being told the truth.

Don't feel that you need to limit yourself to LA maintained special schools. I would also look at the independent sector.

As LA have the paperwork I would go ahead with the 28 day threat. After all your DS is in a placemnet that you have in writing is not suitable therefore it's perfectly reasonable to demand swift action from the LA, by setting a deadline for their response.

I bet the LA are absolutely fuming about this . And if this is replayed across the country it's going to cost them all a fortune

I'm sure they are fuming and probably even more now it's in writing!! I've named one maintained out of county asd specialist school but that only takes them to 11 then I would have a battle re secondary and the other an independent asd school which takes them to 19 and is probably one of the best asd schools in the country. When lea was flustering how long she would take to sort it out as she said we have other children we have to deal with first etc I said 'so how many other children do you have that are in a school that can't meet the child's needs and are also being sick on a daily basis' I got 'we can't discuss other cases' speech. His NC levels have fallen in a year so they are screwed but in the back of my mind I know they will try and argue that the unit at the horrible mainstream school is a specialist placement. No sign of autism outreach in a year despite me warning them they needed to see him constantly during the year. Lea officer mentioned it during meeting and we said 'it's too late now - we warned you - the horse has now bolted out of the stable' 6 weeks ago lea said they would get outreach in ASAP - we are still waiting. They have made contact with the school but don't think the visit anytime soon as head emailed them back saying they welcomed input in the interim. Noome from outreach has yet to contact me

how dare the SEN officer criticise you for getting a private dx! How unprofessional In some LEA's most assessments are privately bought by schools anyway.

I wouldn't wait for the LA - I'd drive this forward myself.

Perhaps you could make an appointment to look around the independent school now? One argument you could use for him going to that school is 'continuity of education' as he wouldn't have to move again at secondary. Continuity is a valid argument when a child has ASD and cannot cope iwth change.

Placements at good schools get taken very quickly so it's important to get him at least on the relevant waiting lists as soon as possible.

TBH - autism outreach is a waste of space.

Go look round that private school that runs to 19. After all the changes your poor lad has had a tribunal would treat a request for continuity very favourably(& that bitch at the LA knows that, just as she knows your private dx gives you a real fighting chance of demanding what your son needs).

Being nasty won't assist her in doing her job, which she's patently failed at by failing to ensure the schools pleas for support from autism outreach etc, were heeded.

Be proactive and chase on that private school. Ignore the bitchy comments and do what ya gotta do

the independant school do have a place for him - might email them in a minute and let them know whats happened. we visited the school a couple of weeks ago and it would be perfect for him - we even met the children who would be in his class - he would be number 6 - there are 15 kids in that part of the school - school on 4 different sites across the city. its run by a charity rather than a business so ethos is brilliant. i loved how the kids get 1:1 time whilst having a foot massage. lea woman a complete cow and hates me as with my older son last year she screwed up his transfer into county and i ended up at judical review and made them back down. they handed me a loaded gun now because as part of their evidence they commented on the younger son which at the time my solicitor didnt understand as this was nothing to do with him but the comments theyve made help my case now considerably and its their evidence! bet they never thought it was going to come back and haunt them = it also should stop them trying to put him back into the unit school as i have it in writing that the head will not place a verbal child into the autism class - as joe very verbal then its evidence that school isnt right for him either

Sounds good - just build your case. You probably know that you'll have to state why you think LA preferred school cannot meet his needs, whereas the idendependent could.

Keep us posted - it'll be interesting to see how the LA handle this.