Appealing against school named on statement due to peer group - any experiences?

[sazale]

Hi

The LEA sent DD's papers to her current mainstream and a LEA special school that we requested them to be sent to. We suspected that the special school wouldn't be right but had no evidence to confirm our concerns. Both schools came back with concerns about meeting DD's needs which we agreed with. Due to the responses we advised the LEA that we felt that none of their schools could accommodate dd and we will look at independent provision as soon as they open in September. The LEA have said they must name a school by 6th August and intend to name the special school. They say that although the special school said the cant challenge her academically they believe they can if the school takes advice from mainstream. They are proposing to put her in a mixed year 9/10 group of 11 students of which they say 1 is closer to DD's levels than the others. If this was the case then they would already have the academic provision in place surely? They say 3 of the 11 have ASD. My dd has a dx of ASD with complex presentation. She is academically at the better end of average but cannot function in mainstream.

We will be having a meeting with the LEA and I'm compiling a list of questions but I don't feel like there is a similar peer group which it does state she needs in her proposed statement. Has anyone any experience of appealing under these circumstances? Do we have to wait till we find a school to name before we can appeal?

Thanks

Although you probably can't prevent them from naming the ss and issuing the statement, you can of course appeal the statement. In all likelihood they would refuse to name the independent school anyway even of they did allow you time to look at independent schools. I would be focusing on getting as much evidence as possible that the ss won't be able to meet her needs. have you got anything in writing that states this? I would be asking for a breakdown of the levels of the children in the proposed class. I would also be asking about the suitability of the peer group in ss. I am also surprised that they think that getting advice from mainstream will help them to meet her needs. I think it is highly unlikely that the mainstream school will be able to help the ss as I assume they are suggesting she needs to move from their school because they can't meet her needs! It might also be worth it if you can afford it getting an independent EP assessment which includes a visit to the ss to observe the class they are proposing she joins. I would also heavily labour the point that both schools have stated they can't meet her needs. keep reiterating this and then follow up with this in writing. When the case eventually goes to tribunal these written records will be important.

Is the SS school in Bucks by any chance?

If you find a suitable school, make sure that the peer group will suit your DD. That there is a good ratio of peers with similar difficulties especially in regards to the ASD. Make sure that the staff have sufficient training in ASD.

After 3 years of being at a residential special school, DD will be starting at the special school that i didn't want for her.
Using a similar argument as yours academically and peer group was why she went to residential but it back fired majorly and i feel nothing but disgust for that school

So as cansu said about the school's that you don't want you have really got to make sure that the school you pick for your child can meet her needs.
Quiz the hell out of all the staff. If they start to side sweep the questions then that's a major flag.
DON'T TRUST OFSTED REPORTS!! As the residential school that my daughter went to was outstanding.

Make sure that the peer group is suitable, on every level. My daughter has got NO friends and that hurts.

I worry that i'll be letting her down academically but at the end of the day she was deeply unhappy and staying at that school she wouldn't of gotten the grades that truly reflected her due to her unhappiness.

She's over the moon in starting at this school in September, as she will be home every day.

Thanks for the info.

I received an email from the lea advising that they intend to name the particular school and that the school consider that 'despite their best efforts they would not be able to stretch DD academically or to offer her an appropriate broad and balanced key Stage three and four curriculum.' The sen manager and the principal case officer feel that they can if they work with a particular mainstream who is in the same learning community (not current mainstream) who can provide guidance on an appropriate curriculum for DD and the two schools could work together to set suitable
academic challenges.

The email also says that the SS said that they don't have an appropriate key stage 3 group for DD ad she is more academically able than all of them. However a group of 11 year 9/10 kids have been identified and 3 have ASD and 1 of whom is more academically matched to dd.

My argument is 1 person is not a peer group. What if this pupil leaves or they don't like each other! Also I don't believe that this pupils at the same academic level otherwise all the stuff about advice from mainstream etc wouldn't be needed as they'd already be doing it for the other pupil.

I'm getting a long list of questions together. They also say its open dd to integrate into this mainstream in the future as the SS said they observed her in a drama lesson and she had no difficulties but then they say that current mainstream have said dd will be unable to integrate back into classes (she only attends drama and ict) and the sen manager believes that current mainstream have done all they could (which they have - she's at a fantastic mainstream far more experienced and more sen facilities than the proposed one)! The reason for a move and why other schools like the asd resource have been ruled out is because she's unable to access mainstream lessons. She's only just managed to go into the drama class after a full school year! The stress it causes her is unreal!

It's obviously going to have to be tribunal!

The lea did name the special school but the only mention of mainstream is inclusive opportunities to access mainstream lessons.

We have a meeting with the lea on Weds so currently compiling a list of questions. Any suggestions of what to ask? I've got a fair amount about the peers etc.

Part of me thinks just try it coz if it works would be great as still in home town but a part of me thinks it wouldn't work and we need to fight for the right provision. I don't think it helps that we haven't found a school yet and I really didn't want her going back to mainstream in September.

Thanks once again for reading x