Quick question re academies

[LimboLil]

Hi the school my child attends converted roman academy in July 2011. We are going through SA at the moment and haven't yet decided who to name on the statement. Can they turn us down? It's the type of academy that is independent from LA if that makes sense?

To an academy not a roman academy lol.

Lol Sally the same image was going through my mind but I thought everyone would think I was weird

I can only tell you my experience of an academy and it went all wrong....

They also changed in 2011 and not one jot of DS statement was adhered to.

They made all the promises in the world pushing the statement saying the funding would help them support him. Pushed me to get dx as it would be better for him.

I only had the dx 10 days and it was still sinking in when they used it to say he would not survive in MS school.

They refused to take him on a trip we had prepared him for by only telling him the afternoon before he was due to go :(

They had the funding of 25 hrs but did not employ anyone for him and their idea of support was to "contain" him.

This was all once they changed to academy status...

Another school could well be different but it has put me off trusting academies for life tbh.

oh and btw he is back in MS not an academy and is doing marvellous :)

Thanks coff, sounds horribly familiar, I suspect that is where we are headed. What I was trying to find out, did they use their academy status as a way of not keeping him there, I understand the funding arrangements etc are slightly different to schools maintained by LA?

It depends on your situation. If your child is already there and they are clearly able to meet needs once the statement is in place they shouldn't have grounds for not agreeing to be named. I would say it's probably worth having a very frank discussion with the Head to try and ascertain the lie of the land.

However, lots of academies are currently refusing to take statemented children, my ds included and citing the only thing they are allowed - which is that educating the child with a statement would be detrimental to the education of other pupils. This is blatantly not true in 99.99% of cases, but they are getting away with it nonetheless, partially because a lot of parents, like us, refuse to then fight to send their dc to a school that plainly doesn't want them and will probably therefore do it's darndest to make sure they aren't properly supported - ending in disaster - as in either a breakdown for the child or exclusion and also because many of those that do want to fight simply don't have the ability/means/ability.

The academy that refused my ds - who incidentially doesn't need 1:1, just extra pastoral support to help manage his anxiety, use of a laptop and social skills sessions - refused every single child with a statement for this year's intake and pretty much got away with it. They refused ds, despite assuring us only a couple of months beforehand that they were confident they could meet his needs. Ds does well academically as well, so it's not his academic ability that was in question and there are similar pupils to him already at the school who are doing ok, so it's all about funding and being able to spend their SEN budget on yet more whole school improvements, rather than on actual SEN pupils.

For us the end result was a positive one, as by refusing to take ds, the academy effectively rendered him unsuitable for all the ms secondaries in our area, as they are all of similar size and set up. We therefore went for an out of area independent with a specialist interest in - and excellent reputation for - supporting pupils with ASD and the LEA funded it without a fight. Sadly I fear the ending will not be so happy for many of the other pupils who were refused a place, as the majority will be forced to attend the only suitable-ish school that is no longer an academy and has effectively become a sink school for pupils with both SEN and behavioural problems.

Their funding arrangements are directly between them and Michael Gove and the new academies in particular are getting very clever at flouting the rules. Refusals are on the increase and no-one seems to be able to stop it.

That said, not all academies are created equal and there are good ones out there - but it sounds from your second post that you don't think the school you are referring to is likely to be one of the good guys.

Thanks moosemama, I am going to find out very soon. Just trying to get my head round the whole legal side of though, like you say, if a school is doing their best to not keep them ..... (Though there is the part of me that wants to change the world and can dig my heels in to achieve that, usually my downfall actually in life). I've just posted another thread about out of area schools and your post has got me thinking in that direction too. Honestly, what hope in hell can there be for parents who do not have a tiny bit of savvy in situations like this. It makes me mad.

On a more positive note, my son starts at a mainstream secondary academy this september. They did ask for more hours on his statement, and got them, but they have been helpful so far, long may it continue. We are lucky in a way, because my ds has mainly physical needs, so we can be pretty sure that they will meet his requirements, otherwise he will not get around school at all. They have had children with similar physical problems before and have been brilliant so fingers crossed.
They are accepting statemented pupils, mainly pupils with dyslexia as they have a special unit for that, but did not bat an eyelid at my sons requirements.

It's great to hear you have found one of the good ones ImStickingWithYou.

Limbo, that's what I meant about there being some good ones out there. To be honest, if an academy is one of the stinkers, their reputation often tends to go before them, so it's worth asking around a bit.

Oh well I will find out soon one way or another what they want to happen. Then take it from there. Not handing anything on a plate though.

Sorry LimboLil I had to go out. DS was already registered well before they changed to Academy. Infact it was his last 12 months there they changed.

So they didnt "refuse" to have him they just did not act on the statement and just plain excluded him. Had him on half days right up till statement was issued then didnt bother. Refused to participate in any courses or training etc. Just dragged it out as they knew he was gone in a year.

They got rid of him but only because I pulled him out as the mental torture was too much for him and us x

I am certainly not saying every academy would be like this one though. Just think how they are progressing with him now and use your own instincts. I wish I used mine well before I did :)

Ds1's school converted to an academy last year. He doesn't have a statement but does have SN. Changing to an academy hasn't made any difference whatsoever as far as I can tell. The school still routinely takes statemented children. They have a specialised unit within the school, so are always named on the statements of children with a particular group of disabilities. One of DS1's best friends is in the unit (with a statement) and it's been no problem at all.

I don't know why the school bothered converting to an academy. Surely they must see some advantage, but I honestly can't tell the difference. It doesn't seem to have been at all about gaining control over admissions. The school wasn't even listed with the academies in the schools transfer brochures, and just participated in the general LEA admissions process along with all the other community schools in the city.

It's awful that so many others have had horrible experiences of the academies agenda.

I think it gives them some leeway on how they offer the curriculum and (might be wrong here) can operate a bit more like an independent business. I think I need to stop thinking about it for a few days now, once I know where they are coming from, it will make decision making a far easier process. I might be pleasantly surprised naieve

You might be. I guess more control is useful for schools. Certainly it does seem to have made it easier for them to wangle a laptop for DS1 (despite the LEA refusing to fund anything because they are utterly skint).

I guess it depends on whether you find a non-evil academy. They do exist.

I wasn't pleasantly surprised. Last ditch attempt before the statement comes along the lines of we don't want you to think we don't want him here but we think you should move him. All done in a very nicey nicey way with a slight hint of well of course, if you did name us on the statement, we would then have to decide if we could meet needs. Absolutely pointless meeting, as it was basically exactly the same meeting I had with them a few months back which was done in a very unpleasant way. We already knew they wanted him out and yesterday did nothing but confirm it. No mention of how they would support him if he did stay.

Sorry they turned out to be as predictable as you thought.

At least you know now and can concentrate on finding the right placement for him.

No LimboLil It wasnt a pointless meeting. The school have shown their true colours and not very pretty ones which is better to find out now :)

I know its hard when a school plainly "doesnt want" our DC. It can hurt and it can put you on the defensive quite rightly so. But just think along the lines of the fact that the feeling will end up mutual with your DS if he stayed there. He would not want to be there either.

Use this knowledge to hunt down a better placement. Get some appointments armed with a list of "can you do this" "will you be doing that" etc and get the feel of more than one school before you make your mind up.

I think this school would still have to write to the LA reasons they cannot support your DC or put provision in place for him? perhaps someone more knowledgable will come along and confirm this.

What may be a good idea now is to email the HT "just to confirm" "to make sure you understood correctly" and relay the meeting in minute form. Request an acknowlegement back just to make sure you understood what had been said as "such a lot was discussed blah blah"

Paper trail time, diary of events time, application and school hunt time :)

I agree with moose and cof33... Maybe it is time to find another school that can actually meet your DS's needs, and want to meet them. I feel for you, it really isn't nice when schools act like that.
I have had to move dinky school for that reason. They don't want her so they were not going to support her.

I hope your DS can get the support he needs through the statement

I agree. Definitely not a pointless meeting because now you know the school have absolutely no intention of trying to support your child. You can find a school that will meet his needs (and not begrudgingly) where he can thrive.

Academies are not all the same, though. It depends a lot on their previous ethos. Some schools may have taken DC with statements previously only because they had to. My DS2's school is an academy and is still very good with SN and SEN, hasn't changed for the worse at all.

I hope you manage to find a good school that values your DS. X

Thanks. The tricky part is my DS went through massive massive anxiety in the beginning and over time this has improved and I am very keen not to go through that again. They were also pushing me to view a couple of ss that are not ASD specific and then let slip that they know the local ASD school is quite full at the mo, so trying to influence me in the direction of the schools that could take him now. So transparent. I think this will be the sticking point as if we move him I want him to go there, their outreach person has supported him in school and put strategies in place that they use there (even though they lied to me consistently about where was from, which I have no idea why as I have known all along that she is from the local ss, but I have just gone along with it to see how long they eked out a pointless fib). Honestly, you couldn't make it up could you. Ultimately he may well be better off in ss but the way they have posed and positioned things along the way and I think if I fought to keep him there, at some stage they would turn unpleasant. I am going to engage as little as poss and I think now be the time to start using Parent Partnership though I am a bit unsure of where PP loyalties lie.

I cant see PP siding with the Academy but I can see them linked to the LA way of doing things :)

Do you think your DS would be more settled in an SS? or is it just because the school said so?

Reason I am asking is DS old school said maybe he would be better off "somewhere else" meaning SS.

He is a different child in his new MS school. There are good ones around and good ones that will help with things like transition to break things gently.

My DS's Primary is converting on April 1st (hoping it's really an April fool's joke tbh...).

Considering they are even shitter than shit with SN's currently, I'm very concerned that they might get even worse. Though I can't yet see how...

Well I think sometimes there is an element of whether your face fits. I sometimes wonder if I was one of the cupcake baking, alpha mumzilla types it would make a difference lol but I'm not exactly value added. Seriously, I think if we move him we would have to go special now because another ms would be too risky. It was a seriously difficult time last year. It's such a shame because he is so much a happier boy now and he is changing. He has ASD and learning difficulties and the gap with his peers is wide, really he's a bit like a 3 year old. Personally, I think his happiness is more important than his progress at the moment, that's the thing that is really worrying me the most. I don't want him going bananas if we make a change. I think I am going to have to go to PP to he me on the way forward once we have the statement. I don't want school sticking their oar in about where he goes, to try and hurry the process along.