dyslexia - secondary school - does this sound right?

[bjkmummy]

or should I run a mile?

daughter in year 5 - due to be assessed for dyslexia at the end of the month - current school put her at about 4 years behind.

as dh works shifts ive taken the opportunity to look at secondaires this year as he was around - next year when she hits year 6 he may not be around.

1st school is not the nearest - she would need to get the bus. a good school with a good sen reputation, quite an old building etc but I liked it. spoke at length to their sen team who said she would get support in English maths etc without a statement - better if we could get a statement obviously but had a good attitude and wanted her - like the fact the sen part of the school was open so we could see it.

2nd school tonight - nearest school , 5 min walk all of her friends in the neighbourhood will go to this school. very glossy school - brand new building, an academy which is over subscribed with people travelling miles to get to it. its also linked the a primary which I pulled her out of recently as became more like a business than a school, the senco is the principals wife and rumour has it shes not even a qualified teacher. went this evening and spoke to the senco. their sen dept was shut so she was found in the library - without a statement she would get no help whatsoever and in her words 'she will sink or swim. if she sinks then we would in the jan start the statement process. she has to be above level 3 to get into the school. there would be absolutely no support for her without a statement' due to the open planness of the school some of the classes can hold up to 80 kids at a time.

my instinct tells me to run like hell away from this school but this is the school I alsways hoped she would go to. interesting the senco gave me a leaflet about their designated specialist provison - my sons current statement names a special school as long as I transport him - if I refuse then he would go to this college in the dsp. the leaflet handed to me tonight states clearly that a child with asd cannot go to the dsp so basically the school - I am now going to argue at his next annual review in a few weeks time that part 4 is amended to name his current special school only and remove the default college as its clear if I stopped transporting him the college wont accept him anyway.

sorry that was more long winded than I thought - now ive wrote it all down its clearer now in my mind what I need to do

second school would not even enter my mind, senco is being as blunt as you can get. You would kick yourself if you sent her there, and it turned out to be a 5 year battle, as you knew that they would be pains from the off

If I was you, I would be very careful about the transport issue with your DS. If you refuse to transport him, despite the other school refusing to take him, you might trigger the LA naming somewhere else because you've gone back on your agreement to transport. Even if the LA agreed to name the SS on you DS's Statement, they would probably insist on you providing the transport and this agreement being put onto the Statement. You might win, but it might trigger a new battle and a new Tribunal.

With your DD, I would not put her in the 2nd school if my life depended on it! You don't know how long your battle will take to get your DD properly supported - she may have to spend a large chunk of time totally unsupported. And the 80 children in a class would send me running as fast as I can in the opposite direction! Dyslexic children need help, support and understanding. Many need quiet and small class sizes. My severely dyslexic DS - who also has auditory processing disorder - couldn't cope in his previous m/s school where the class size was 15!

Would not even entertain the idea of this second school. Your DD will sink without trace there. (To my mind anyway an oversubscribed business style academy school is my perfect ideal of utter school awfulness). Dyslexic children need to be taught differently with a far smaller class size.

First school you mentioned sounds far more suitable overall.

I would apply for the statement now if you have not already done so and ignore any naysayers. Do not delay such an application any longer.

Re your son's statement I would talk to IPSEA about the whole transport issue. I would read the contents of the leaflet you have been given to IPSEA because it sounds like the leaflet writers could be on shaky ground legally speaking as well.

Last year IPSEA acted for parents who had been refused Academy places for their SEN children.

Parents win despite academy’s refusal to admit their statemented children

It was widely reported at the time, so google will throw up lots of articles on the case. Legally it is an interesting case because originally the First Tier Tribunal stated that they couldn't hear the case because of the funding of academies, so ordered it to be Struck Out. However, the Upper Tribunal subsequently found that the First Tier erred in law and ordered the case to be heard in the First Tier. The First Tier then found for the parents. David Woolfe's report on the case is here

I would imagine that the second school's leaflet on SEN children is unlawful.

thanks guys -re my son - I kinda agree - why rock the boat. we are happy to transport him, would walk over hot coals to get him there and he is happy and settled so will just file the leaflet away for another day should I never need to pull it out. ive also this morning had a letter saying they are calling an annual review of second sons statement - only 6 months after tribunal win and an independent school place win so think its time to pick my battles wisely.

the 2nd school has confirmed my worse fears which I already kinda knew as I looked at it for eldest son who completely melted down in there and that's when the school was empty. he went into reception where there was an empty spinning chair and I gave him permission to spin for 30 secs on it to calm him as I said my goodbye to the senco. one of the vice principals walked in and screamed at him to get of the chair. I just took his hand and walked out vowing he would never step foot in that school ever again which to date he hasn't! its also highlighted the need to get her statemented which I will do once I have had the formal assessment in a few weeks. I don't have an ieps etc but will have evidence that she is so far behind. I think I have enough to argue that they need to assess her at the very least.

the academy also said last night that to get into the school they need to be at least level 3 which is something I have not heard before but now makes sense as I overhead a mum last year at her school saying her dyslexic son has been refused by the academy so I now realise why. im just slightly sad as all in the children on our street etc go there and feel like Im dragging her away to another school where she will be isolated but I am not prepared to battle with a school who have made it clear shes not wanted - I have been there before and will never go there again. shockingly she was in the academies primary school until I moved her earlier in the year - the school basically said then good riddance to us as she obviously was pulling their sats ratings down. such a shame as before it converted it was a lovely lovely school

I have also discovered that in the next city there is a dyslexia accredited school which is a private school so that may be worth fighting for - fees are 10k a year - that battle looking a bit ahead though so will see what happends in the next few weeks.

one of the vice principals walked in and screamed at him to get of the chair. Why do so called professionals act like this! When my (NT) DD2 was in 6th form(!!!) - and therefore a young adult - a teacher screamed and went ballistic at her for wearing trousers that looked like jeans (even though they obviously weren't jeans). Why do teachers think it's alright to scream at children! I would never ever scream at a work colleague - no matter who provoked I think I might be!

With the dyslexia school, is it on the Crested list?

Yes it is on the crested list.