Is Premium funding that pre-school will receive for DS seen as 'extra resources' or as their own resources?

[babiki]

Hope it's clear - going to Tribunal in February over decision not to assess and received a call from LEA just before holidays. Suddenly Premium funding has been approved, educational psychologist has been and 'would the new information change your mind about the tribunal' asked..so now left a bit confused.
Firstly I just don't understand why are they doing all this instead of just agreeing to assess, secondly not sure now if Tribunal will say 'he's got his needs met now' or 'clearly if he needs 1-1 now he needs assessing..' and thirdly as the title says..
LEA guy will call again first days of January, he is terribly interested in my opinion, as they should send their view regarding the Tribunal by 5.1. What do you think?

I too am confused by that! Surely they are two separate things?! So yes,extra funding & help is great in the short term,but you still want the decision to assess to be changed to a yes,so unless they have changed their minds on that, you will still need tribunal?

We had a refusal to assess,but whilst we argued the toss (didnt need tribunal,they changes their minds) our ds still had extra funding at preschool,1:1 etc. They seemed to be 2 separate processes. We are now waiting to hear decision on statement.

Sorry,that was a waffley way of saying I'd be confused too! I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will be along,this board is fab! Good luck with it all :)

You're not going to tribunal for provision, you're going to tribunal to get them to assess needs. Provision without understanding needs will be a waste of time most probably.

The funding may have been approved but there is no guarantee it would continue and they could stop it at any time. Clearly if they want to out this support in place he must have needs to warrant it so they should go ahead and agree to assess him and his needs. I would say thank you for the funding but he he still needs to have all of his needs assessed and the only way that can be done is via statutory assessment as that is a legal document and will give you the protection/support your child needs. I would not be surprised if. You stand firm that they will quickly agree to assess

Also a nursery 'getting' funding is very different from your child 'receiving' provision. Funding does not equal outcomes unless targeted to need, which you will argue they do not understand. Also, your Ds might not need resources that require 'funding',just resources that a school woukdn't normally provide.

No child needs 'funding'. Money does not help children. Funding can be used to pay a 1:1, but equally a 1:1 can be a volunteer. What is important is that the child gets 1:1 if that's what the child needs.

Thanks guys, some good points - will stand firm and hopefully they will back down eventually. The LEA edu psych. sent the report ( which was used to access the funding) so I hope they can't say he's been assessed already - not sure how the report should look, but it's more like a storytelling with no data etc.

school funding has absolutely nothing to do with your child recieving the support they need.
Dont allow them to dissuade you from proceeding with your request for SA and statementing by dangling funding in front of you.
Funding is a school budget control issue & nothing to do wioth the needs of your child. Do not allow them to muddy the waters

Concentrate entirely on having your childs needs identified and what support will be provided quantified in a statement and let the school worry about funding streams.

Well got reply today from the LEA, they are not backing down so the tribunal will happen. In the letter they mention 'only a minority of children need statement' and they also claim as ds has been assessed by their edu.psychologist already (she will be their witness) that assessment for statement would not bring about other new information about him and it is not therefore justified to spend 2500 pounds on the process...

Babiki
The Ed psych report should list the assessments used and your ds's scores. Also any recommendations etc.
If you say it is mroe of a story, it sounds like an observation from an Ed Psych rather than full assessment.
You need to ensure thet understand that they are failing to meet his needs & by failing to assess denying him the opportunity to access the curriculum equal to his peers.
Stat assessment should also include input from any other professionals involved, not just the Ed Pysch so I cannot see how observations by one person is reason to refuse.
Keep Battling!

thanks Mymatemax, it's so lovely to be able to talk about it with someone. You are right, her report doesn't include any scores etc.
I keep thinking whom to get as witnesses, or will reports by private OT and private edu psych. be enough?

They could argue that a private OT or Ed psych may have a conflict of interest as you have paid for their services.
The LEA will need to be reminded that these are professional people with prof integrity and have no greater conflict of interest than their Ed Psych paid by the LEA.
Do you have the support of the school/nursery staff? If so ensure their opinions are included.
Does the setting have a SENCO? Is he/she on side?

It is also not at all appropriate for the LEA to quote the costs etc, funding is not the issue and should not be their first consideration. Ensuring your childs needs are met must be their priority.

Yes I thought the mention of the cost was a bit off! The pre- school staff are with me, including Senco, but not sure how much pressure they can stand in the long run. They have supported and filled in in detail my original request for assessment, so can always use that as well. Both the OT and edu psychologist used to work in the state sector and are experienced with tribunals so hopefully their opinions will be taken seriously. Is there any point talking about DLA ( ds receives high care) or is this totally irrelevant to education?