Tribunal during transfer from primary to secondary

[KOKOagainandagain]

Does anyone have experience of being caught in this time frame? By the time of any Tribunal DS will have left - what relevence does the SENCO or CT from his old school have? Would it be the SENCO from the new school?

I'm in a similar situation. I think both are relevant. The primary school SENCo will have years of experience of working with your child and the secondary school SENCo will know what help they can/cannot provide without a statement. I will be watching this thread with interest. Hopefully someone who has been through this will be able to share their experiences.

We have just finalised DS's statement the day before the tribunal. He moves to secondary in Sept. At the meeting with the LEA there was also the current senco from primary who knew what DS was like and was able to confirm things I was saying about DS, and the SENCO from the agreed high school. They were reasonably quiet after I kept on saying that it didn't matter what they did in that high school, but that the statement had to be prescriptive enough to work in any school so that it needed to be generic. To be fair I had spoken in detail to the high school and knew already what they did and didn't offer and how they could cope so I knew I was on safe ground with all the things I was asking for.

I know that DS hasn't quite finished primary yet so the timescale is not quite right but does that help any?

Were you planning to use the SENCO as a witness? or is that the LEA?

This is happening to us, our tribunal is on Friday and one of the LEA's witness is the head SENCO from my son's primary, in approx 5 weeks he will be out of her hair and this is the hardest thing to get my head round, as she will be there as a witness and on the side of the LEA. I have made contact with the SENCO at his secondary school who we will be meeting with after the tribunal, hopefully with a statement in hand.
So no experience but also in the same boat.

Nick, How are the relationships with school though?
Although my LEA had the SENCO down as a witness, in our meeting with the LEA she was probably a lot more help to me than she was to the LEA. I had spoken to her a lot though and kept her up to date so that she knew what I was trying to achieve and exactly why, and although she didn't agree with everything I wanted she was much more of an ally to me than to the LEA.
I was just wondering if you can use it to your advantage?

Alison222, relationship with our SENCO is not that good to be honest, she thinks I am a nusiance without actually telling me, but this is the impression I get in all the meetings we have had, she will definetly be pro the LEA as she thinks my son is doing perfectly well with their support as it is.

Ah, My Senco thinks that too (and to be fair he is) but she was worried about how he would cope in secondary. She had always said that. We focussed on all the non educational bits that affect DS's mood and ability to learn, to be in the room and not disrupt the others and not be a H&S risk. We turned all of these into barriers to his learning. We ignored the levels he is at as he is doing well.
Does your SENCO not have concerns about the transition?

My son is no bother to anyone at school, sits quietly will not put his hand up if he is struggling, is polite and popular becuase of his nature. But the school does not see the meltdowns, the anxiety which I think has caused his motor and verbal TICS, he is no problem to them I am there problem as I am the one talking for him. They have no concerns what so ever over his transistion, some times I think I making it all up as no one sees it but me.

Sorry Keeponkeepingon1 for hijacking your post.

No problem Nick

The new head/SENCo that started in September is an incompetent, cheating bastard who is soley responsible for the LEA refusal to assess as he submitted projected attainment for DS that is exaggerated and is not supported by standardised test scores. As we had focused on what we believed was incontrovertible and supported by school/LEA evidence of inadequate progress rather on behaviour (problematic as it is hidden in school) we were scuppered. If the actual SATs results are different from the projection we can then (again) submit new evidence. But all in all, his actions have cost us precious time and there is no way we can have a statement by September. Transition is a difficult time for all kids - why make it worse for the least able to cope.

The only reason I would want to see him at Tribunal would be if I were given special dispensation to use water-boarding

I have just received the lastest attainment levels and guess what his progress has miracoulsy improved so much over the last few months, if this get shown at our tribunal then it is curtains for us, I just wish the SAT results were available before the tribunal but can;t get them until July.

It seems to me that the trouble with pinning hope on the actual SATs is that they are a bad measure of progress below level 4 - level 3 point range is usually only about 6 marks and so each 2 marks represent a sub-level (or 6 months progress). So whether or not progress is adequate or not can depend on a couple of marks.

Sorry to jump in, but im in the middle of the change from junior to secondary but the problem iv got is that the LEA have chosen 2 schools that they feel is sutable for my daughter but were not happy with either option, due to numerous things, im sat here trying to figure out what on earth im to do about it., I really could do with parts 2 and 3 changing on her statement but her nxt review isnt untill the autumn, do i pick a school and send her while i sort the other stuff out or not. arghhh