Deferral - legal help needed

[corkysgran]

Going to Tribunal to try and get DGS deferred for a year before starting Reception class. He has ASD and XYY syndrome, just turned 4 (had he been born 48 hours later would have been placed in next year group) and pretty much still non verbal. Need case law/precedent/research evidence in favour of deferrment in such cases. Hope someone can help.

Hmm...I'll take a look, but one question for you:

How much progress has he made in the last year, and do you think that he'll make any significant progress in this year?

Because IMO, unless you can demonstrate that a developmental year for him will make a crucial difference, I'd say your case is dead in the water. A non-verbal 5 year old in reception is no different to a non-verbal 4 year old.

Also, what do you expect to be done with your GDS in this year? Do you have a plan of action which will be superior to full-time school education?

He has been attending MS nursery 3 days a week and private specialist nursery 2 mornings, where he receives speech therapy and OT. He has made great progress since starting the specialist provision in Feb this year. Prior to that he had SLT provided by LA/NHS which meant a block of 4 half hour sessions once a year and was obviously not sufficient. His statement provides for speech therapy delivered by a TA with 10 visits a year from SALT, to be used for assessment etc, no direct therapy. This is why we want to defer starting, so he can have one to one therapy (which we pay for obv) and hopefully have a better chance of succeeding in MS next year. Thanks.

You'll have a fight on your hands as LA like to keep the child with peers of the same age. They'll trot out the 'it'll cause low self esteem to be a year older than his year group' blah blah blah.

Ultimately the LA will decide/refuse. I can't see a Tribunal ordering a deferral - they are more likely to focus on the support that would need to be delivered in order to permit your DGS to start at this same time as his age group.

Watching with interest as we want to do the same for DS1 who was born in July(due date was Nov). In our case his Paed has said she will also support us if we were to fight for a referral. We haven't got to that stage yet as we have not really been involved with LEA/schools yet.

deferall not referral... doh...

Well I couldn't get one and all the advice I got was that I wouldn't be able to force them.

There's zero point in having a kid in a setting they can't access - I learnt this to my cost as DS effectively "lost" KS1 due to being totally undiagnosed/supported when he started school. He made NO academic progress from R to end Yr2 as a consequence. A useable statement was only in place at the start of year 3 and that's when he bgan to move forward.

Another compromise be flexi-schooling where he does 3 days a week in reception (to keep his place if you like the school?) and 2 days a week in the theraputic centre you are paying for. This can be done without Tribunal, just a sensible Head Teacher's say so. Education Otherwise has lots of info on the legalities of flexi-schooling, it's not as rare as you might think, especially in the early years.

Reception is officially "Foundation Stage", so flexi-schooling would allow him to fully access the NC, as far as he is able. It would also allow any school time to assess and make adequate provision for KS1, where formal schooling starts. It may be you will decide he needs to attend unit of specialist KS1 provision.

they don't legally HAVE to attend school until the term they turn 5, which gives you another year. Could you just let him join year 1 if the HT says no to flexi-school? Use the flexi-school query as a test as to whether the school you've chosen is the right one for his primary career perhaps?

dev9aug: You are in a good position as we were told the only circumstance in which the LA would consider is if a child is born before the due date and the due date was after 1st September. We have seen this provision in writing, pretty sure it is a national guideline.

bochead: Thanks for your advice. We like the ms school very much (in fact DD - DGS mum - attended there as a child) The HT is very supportive but we think the LA will veto any form of flexi schooling as they have said the half hour once weekly speech therapy provided in the private nursery is 'over provision'. This despite the fact that in previous years they have funded a number of children at the centre for the same provision. DGS has 'severe and significant language delay' according to their own SALT. They have also said they think attendance at nursery and the therapeutic centre (we asked for a place in the nursery at ms rather than reception) would be impractical. Tbh I think they wish we would just take what they are offering and go away. Surely DGS 'peer group' would be both years, bearing in mind if he started school on 3rd September other children in that group may be 51 weeks older than him? He is developmentally delayed by about 18 months. And don't some schools place children in KS groups rather than individual classes of the same age?

Not much help for you, but in Scotland you can defer a child until the age if five. So if school year starts 20 August and your child turns 5 on 21 August you can defer. In practice it is SN kids deferring that long. But I know lots of children (esp boys) deferred with birthdays from October to February. The intake year runs March to Feb here.
Anyway my Feb child was deferred and started P1 a few weeks ago. OMG what a difference a year has made for him. I think you are absolutely right to try and buy hum an extra year or flexing school at the very least as per Bochead suggestion.

I thought, legally, a child didn't have to be in full-time education until the term after their fifth birthday.

Can keep child in nursery till 5 and they still give nursery education grant 15 hours/ week. Private schools let their families put this towards reception class

Thanks corkysgran, that's reassuring.

appropriately this is true but some LEAs insist that if a child misses reception, then they go straight into Y1. This is why I want to get it in writing from LEA with HT's agreement to stop them changing their mind later.

Mariamma thanks, I will keep that in mind.

Aaargh, I see.

Hi OP I know that the charity Bliss offer some support in this area, might be worth a look at their website, although they are more geared towards premature birth. I wish you luck. I'm preparing to have the same battle for my August born November due DS.

There is something in case law which may be relevant for you - can't remember if I saw it on SENDIST site or quoted on IPSEA or SOSSEN case histories, but will post link later if I can track it down. The case referred to an older child in year 6 with learning difficulties whose parents wanted her to repeat year 6 as they felt she was not ready to cope with the demands of secondary school. Tribunal supported their request as they felt in her case overlearning was essential to meet her needs and enable her to make progress and cope with the transition.

As far as I know you can defer starting school until term after 5 (Sept 2013) but may have to go into year 1 & you give up the place this year.
You can defer starting reception until Jan or April 2013 and they have to hold the reception place.
You will still be entitled to the 15 hours free nursery placement this year if not in reception.

Why don't you just appeal for what you want - PT m/s nursery and PT specialist nursery and for LA to pay the whole lot? It sounds like you have the evidence to prove specialist setting is working. It may be a year from now that your DS still needs the specialist help at least part time.

What does the specialist nursery say? Would they support an appeal / deferred entry? Ultimately you need professional support to win at tribunal. Have they transitioned children into mainstream before? If so how? Was it gradual / to a lower year group?

My DS is in Year 1 - he is Nov birthday so one of the oldest, but he still only goes part-time (5 half days) and rest of his education is Education Otherwise than at school (home ABA programme - ordered by tribunal). So different combinations are possible.

My gut feeling is if you are going to appeal, appeal for what you actually really want and what works - here a dual placement - that way you have the best chance of proving your case at tribunal.