tribuanal- LA are consulting a school that I have previously removed my son from

[bjkmummy]

my son is currently at school part time as he cannot cope - in fact he is home now as i had a call to collect him today. about 18 months ago when we moved here, my son did not have a statement. The LA agreed to place him in a school which had an autism class. He had a twin sister and she couldnt be placed at teh school because of teh 30 in a class rule but my son was accepted as he was in the unit part of the school.

my elder son was put into the school on the same basis. neither child accessed the unit and were placed in the mainstream. my elder son had a statement so i used judical review to get the school to comply but as you can imagine my relationship with said school blwon to pieces. my elder son now left for secondary special school and is happy.

anyway my younger son was placed in a mainstream class with 34 kids. i worte letters to teh school and LA which were just ignored even though i had it in writing he had a unit placement. he was bullied and i removed him after 6 weeks and moved him to his twins school. he was then statemented and new school been fab but sadly this too has not worked as he cannot cope. statement hours increased to 32.5 but he is still part time.

i have found a fab asd specific school for him - current school say they cannot meet his needs. my new school has a palce and offered a place. the LA have just ignored us and dont seem keen on my school which is frustrating.

got a letter today to say that they are consulting my school choice, my elders sons school - which is permanetly full and is a generic special school so think unlikely they will offer a place and the old school unit place .

how can they suggest a school where he has already been, it didnt work out as the school were rubbish, school hate me with a passion, my son would have a breakdown as soon as he stepped into the school, i could not send him back there. there school is huge 300 plus kids and even int he unit he would be expected to attend the mainstream 50% of the time. they have about 4 lunchtime sittings, teh children in the autism class are non verbal hence why they refused to place my elder son there last year -we compromised and he went into the MLD class as he did have learning issues but since my elder son left they closed this classed. i have kept all the letters etc from when my son was last at the school. im just fed up they have done this, they know i hate the school and its clearly not suitable plus he is now in year 4 - by the time this is sorted its going to be easter next year so in 2 years time we will be fighting yet again for secondary whereas my school choice will take him until 19 and is a specific school for HFA kids.

i am also concerned tehya re consulting now - they said they would consult once the statement was finalised - i have had the first working document which has been redrafted with help and is now gone from14 pages to 28 pages! there are still the salt and ed psych reports to go in yet so whatever the school have been given is not a true refelction of all of his needs

List ALL the reasons why the school the LA are suggesting is not suitable in bullet point format. Take your emotions out of the equation.

Then do the same with the school you like being as negative as possible. (Be honest here).

Then repeat the exercise with all the GOOD stuff for both schools.

Never show the list of negatives to anyone whatever you do. Instead use it to inform your clever comebacks to any arguments the LA may think of to obstruct you from sending your child there iyswim.

Compare and contrast your lists. You'll find that by a process of osmosis you end up with a logic based argument that'll blow their socks off come tribunal.

Doing all that will probably take you a week. Don't be scared to walk away from it when you find yourself wanting to blow a gasket and then to come back the next day in a calmer frame of mind.

You can't fix stupid, and you know the LA don't have your kid's best interests at heart. Don't waste emotional energy fretting over what you can't change. They KNOW they are trying to pull a fast one, they are just waiting to see if you'll let em get away with it.

Boch, that's an amazing strategy.

If the school is that unsuitable then perhaps it is just a paperwork exercise to show that they have considered alternatives. If the school really do hate you they'll find good reason to refuse him a place.

I plonked myself in between two schools that I knew woukd be consulted but equally they woukd refuse my Ds (I had already called them before moving to make sure they understand the potential extent of my PITAness). DS got an independent SS as a result.

on the upside the other 2 schools are special schools so we are making progress as previously they seemed adamant he should stay in a mainstream school - had the quote 'just because one mainstream school couldnt meet his needs, didnt mean another one couldnt' one of the special school is my first choice, 2nd school i hadnt considered as its always full but i would accept it however i reckon the LA would agree to it on the basis that i transport him as they know my elder son is already there and i transport him already so one more in the care wouldnt make much difference i suppose and would save them a fortune in transport costs but not sure if they can meet his needs

From what you are saying I don't think you have a lot to worry about. You're not actually asking for much.