Statutory assessment letter is going in the post tomorrow...and I havd been called in to see the senco

[2boysnamedR]

If you haven't read my post below basically I read in the school sen policy that ed phycologist only get called in at statutory assessment and the senco had admitted ( not these exact words) that she has never put my son for slt or end phycologist referral dispute his pead recommending this and the fact that the senco said he was on the list 9 months ago...

So she has called me in tomorrow. She does not back my request for statutory assessment, says it will fail, I will fail the appeal too. She wants to see my evidence on the basis that we need to build a good case for the future ( in six months maybe apply for sa with more evidence).

How do I

Oops! Sorry posted too soon!

How do I play this? I feel that I need to keep my cards close to my chest, I am getting a private salt next week for the appeal as I do expect to be turned down. I will see the pead again next month and I am going to beg her to get my son seen by cahms or who ever to get a full dx. Also tell the pead the school lied about ed phycologist and slt so can she please move things on.

Or do I be 100% cards on the table? Trust has gone now, we can't have the same agenda surely now

Knowing the school have nothing in place report wise I want to appeal as I will have private reports and the school will have nothing ( which is a sorry state of affairs)

I have been through this myself. I req SA for dd age 7. school did not back my request, they actually submitted evidence that was untrue saying my dd had met targets etc. I sent in every report I had from birth for my dd and wrote a lengthy req letter quoting from these reports. the lea EP said I would never get dd accepted for SA as her needs were not bad enough etc. the SA req was accepted first time no need for appeal. the lea have just issued a proposed statement.
check out ipsea for advice, they are great and really helped me.
good luck!

Thanks, I was debating sending all reports from age two but the letter said just most recent reports. The pead report does say I am enquiring about statement and that he will be seen by ed phycologist at school - should I throw everything I have report wise in now? I have proof that he was a concern at nursary - but a lot of the old reports are 'lets wait and see' kind of thing

Tell her you are glad she has called a meeting, you will be sending your SA request and would love to hear how she plans to help and what input she will have towards it.

Im assuming she already has copies of current reports and recommendations. Talk about how she intends to follow these recommendations and how she plans to support your ds's needs.

Ask her if you think he will get a statement in 6 months. Ask her why.

Put this in a letter and send it to and include it in your evidence.

A statutory assessment MUST be conducted if a child 'probably' needs a statement. If she thinks she'll have the evidence enough for one to be granted in 6 months then that fulfils the criteria for probably.

In addition, lack of paperwork is not considered an acceptable reason for a refusal.

Finally, you have no reason to believe that she'd do what she is promising given her past track record, and in any case you can put in a request now AND six months, and any time in between if you like so may as well get on with it.

I imagine she want 6 months to gather evidence that your Ds does NOT need a statement. Don't give her that time.

Yes she has all the current repeats except the ot one which has been most enlightening one so far - I did hand it over, but it's been lost....

You will be applying for SA tomorrow, with or without her support. Use the meeting to gather more evidence.

I remember pushing ds's previous school to supply ds with help, I had a list of needs, then the help he needed to met these needs, then I just kept asking why he couldn't receive that help. Apparently 'we don't have the money to give him that level of support' Doh! that's why he needs a statement!

Im sure lots of SENCO's seriously just don't understand the statementing process and see it as some sort of criticism or slur on them.

I agree - I think the sencos go on lots of meeting with the LA where the LA spout their 'policies' to sencos as though they are the gospel truth and the sencos believe every word and don't question it at all leaving them on a collision course with parents.

I will be applying in about 6 weeks once my daughter has had her private assessment. she isn't even on SA even though school admit she is 4 years behind and has written a interesting report that even with lots of input she has made no progress but the frustrating said that they have no intention of calling in anyone to see her so its perfectly acceptable for her to be 4 years behind. the LA the school is in has a policy that they must be 6 years behind -we live in a different LA so any application goes to them so there is a glimmer of hope so the battle commences - I want her to have some teaching with a dyslexia teacher so that will be what I will be fighting for.

I've just applied and knew that I'd have to convince school that he needed one to get their support.

I wrote a long application letter detailing the bits of the sen code of practice that applied and said how great school had been (on paper they have been). I then sent a copy of the letter to the senco and Head and thanked them for their hard work and support and that my application was not dissatisfaction with school but that my son needed input (OT and SALT) that he wasn't going to get otherwise and it was beyond what they could be expected to provide.

School have agreed to support the statement using the reasons I gave them! It is unusual for them to support an application from what I hear so I went on the charm offensive! Now to just wait and see if the LA agree to assess which I'm doubtful as I'm black marked due to pending tribunal for independent placement for DD!

Claw and bjkmummy: you are so right about the majority of SENCOs (in my experience). I am a secondary SENCO and have given parents all the LA brush-offs totally convinced that I was acting correctly because the LA trained me and continued to update me with their version of SEN law. Only reading this site has revealed the true extent of my ignorance. My advice to parents is now different and I am working on changing my corner of the world. Beware of SENCOs.

I'm so sorry LuvMyBoyz. I imagine it must be a pretty stressful and difficult position to be in, not least because you're hardly going to be able to convince your colleagues/boss that this is going on very easily in order to justify your actions if you're required to.

But good people are being duped. How is it possible?

I've wondered and wondered about this. Is it because teachers are blamed so much, criticised so much by the government, journalists, for pretty much all of societies ills, that they refuse to take any 'advice' from a mere parent who is well researched and desperately trying to get their message across, as that would absolutely be the last straw that reduced their 'professionalism' and 'training' to worthlessness?

Teachers are a defensive bunch, and I absolutely understand why, but the LA is no match for a good parent/teacher team. They could be so strong together both for the issues of SEN, but for all issues in education. Between them anything is possible and they could probably steer Gove too.

Well said Star

BJK - I have never experienced a senco saying I will fail (usually comes from EPs ) but they have lied to my face and said that they support it and are all confused when you are refused. Then they do the same thing again when you make a second application.

They did not volunteer this information btw - I found it on DP application where it was clear that the sentence justifying refusal was cut and pasted from the school report.

I know it is not nice, but this is like a Poker game where you are playing for high stakes and the senco is your opposition. Her asking to see your evidence is like another player asking to see your hand. She will use it to defeat you because this makes sense according to the rules of the game.

Yes but as we all know I've been round the houses in this game and nothing shocks me anymore with the rubbish that is spouted. The only thing I rely on is the code of practice and the law. As much as LA and teachers etc try and do their best to confuse parents the law is quite clear and is mostly on our side. Sad we have to resort to the law but what else do we do?

Yes im guessing I'm going to have to show my hand when I get the report and yes she may well use it against me. The game has already started as I was promised the EP now they've backtracked. Now iep appeared yet. However despite me telling her that I've been to tribunal and won she seems to think I'm just a 'mum' who is going to accept the stuff she says. She's written a report for the assessment and the report she's wrote is damning and shows my daughter is not making progress. I don't think she realises that this report will now be used by me at a later date to show how she is being failed. I guess the teacher though I would just post it away without making a copy (or several!) :-)

Thanks. I have evidence she never seen and will not after this advice. His dla application and his teachers ot questionnaire which said he never performs to level of peers it was handwritten in front of me so no copy at school.

Right - how do I not cry? Saying ds is all round shit makes me weep. I need a virtual thing to call up when I feel the tears coming. Ideas?

ime if the school are not pushing for assessment it is necessary to partially reveal your hand to be granted assessment.

tbh though I would not wait to apply for SA until the assessment. You can always submit it later (tactically there are 6 months between applications but if you time the assessment with the refusal (assuming you get one) then you have the right to submit new evidence and make a further request without waiting 6 months.

Also as you know, the LA often refuses initial assessment but requires the school to do particular things and monitor progress - especially if the LA believes that the school is not using the full amount of the delegated SEN budget for a particular DC. Application is the best way to gather evidence.

You're not saying your ds is all round shit though.

You're saying your ds is all round being failed. It isn't the same thing.

With the right support, he is no longer 'shit'? At least not to the current level and in some areas, he is downright 'not shit at all'.

Don't ever lose your high expectations for what your child can achieve if properly supported.

If they agree to assessment and refuse a statement you have to wait 6 months before you ask again.

If they don't agree to assessment you can ask for one again, the very next day if you like, though it would be a daft request if you didn't also have a new piece of evidence to submit iyswim.

Sorry for the hijack 2

Do your crying back stage and pretend you are discussing a 'case' and not your beloved child.

If you can, take someone with you. DH can see when he needs to tag me. If not, imagine us all crammed into the room with you, offering around carrot cake, rolling our eyes and badly disguising outbursts of 'liar' or 'typical' whilst pretending to cough.

Thanks, dh has come with me in the past, it wasn't nice seeing him cry as he was told ds would never sit a gcse.

I pretend your all with me and pretend to be strong. I am so focussed on what he can't do I can not see what he can do. My life revolves his problems right now. I'm sitting at my desk on my phone as I can only think about today's meeting. It's hard think it can ever improve

My DS had (before going to a special school) a full-time statement with weekly SALT and OT delivered by those professionals and as far as I am concerned he is going to university, never mind sitting GCSEs.

Who the fuck delivered that news to you

At KS1 DS1 was above average, at KS2 below average and would have been functional skills at m/s. At Indi ss he has access to GCSEs and is choosing his options.

The EP will look at ability and attainment so that expectations about future academic progress are based on ability not past, inadequately supported achieved levels.

The senco who said he needs no statement said he won't sit gcse's

Right I'm off, wish me luck

Remember to use the word 'when' and not 'if'.

When he is sitting his maths GCSE, he'll need to be able to understand the question. What are you doing NOW to prepare him for that.

No 'if' he sits a gcse