I am having trouble finding a good school- what's the method?

[kafkesque]

DS2 ASD plus now reams of other diagnoses. I know about the DoE and OFSTED. How do I work out the closest best school? Do I have to pay to access the Independent information?

CC have palmed me off with OFSTED 3, £14,ooo a year school. No way, if he is to be moved, has to match what he is at or better or I shall play the disability rights card. Do they think I am stupid? probably am!

Can anybody help?

Don't rule out a school just on their OFSTED, if it is a special school in any way they may automatically struggle because of the specialist nature of what they do. Do visit and find out what they would do for your child and what their facilities and staff are like.

Firstly, if I remember who you are rightly, you've come so far already.

Secondly, your second paragraph has confused me a little. A '£14,000 per year school' doesn't sound like 'palming off' to me. DD1's funding is probably around £10k per year and she's at a special school.

OFSTED 3 is neither here nor there. I took my DD2 out of an 'OFSTED 1' school because it was not meeting her needs and put her in an 'OFSTED 2' school which will. The OFSTED rating has no bearing on their suitability to meet your DS's needs.

Your 'disability rights' card is useless in that respect. There is no right to a 'better' education because of a disability, only a right to a 'suitable' and 'adequate' education. If the school offered can meet his need, then it is 'suitable' and 'adequate' and therefore they've met their obligation.

Having said that, if you are talking about a child with a Statement, then you have the right to name the school you prefer and unless it is shown to be unsuitable, etc., then they must name it.

You need to separate the wood from the trees here. What does your DS need, what is being offered, and if there is a gap, what would be needed to fill it?

Most independent special schools can be found online. Many have their own websites and most of the rest can be found through third party sites.

If you are offered options which you feel are unsuitable, then you need to be able to explain how a school doesn't meet your DS's needs eg classes are too large, no suitable peer group, inappropriate curriculum. OFSTED ratings aren't in the criteria, but if a report, say, pointed out that there was a lot of low level disruption and noise in classrooms and you have reports that state that your DS needs quiet and calm in order to remain calm, himself, then you can use those specific contents to help explain the unsuitability of the place.

Hi Thank-you so much

I am really going to struggle because subjective I just can't do and it is hard and fast statistics that will satisfy my curiosity. Can you recommend any good websites please. I am a more black and white type person.

I will be able to tell though when I visit I think.

There are no good websites, kaf. There is no hidden code. You need to go to each setting which you feel 'may' meet needs and talk to the SENCO, the HT, etc., about your DS.

Out of interest, what is it about the proposed school that you feel is unsuitable, other than its totally meaningless OFSTED?

Googling ASD school you county or special school your county often throws up some good results - do the same for neighbouring counties. Generic searches such as special schools or ASD schools may also weed out results. It's about being thorough and seeing what you can find.

Anything that looks remotely relevant, email or phone with an outline of your DS's circumstances. They'll probably invite you for a visit.

There's quite a good, though not exhaustive search tool here, btw - the NASS website www.nasschools.org.uk/school_locations.aspx

it's worth searching for BESD as well as ASD schools, as a lot cross over but are only registered in one category. The school we're trying DS1 out with is registered as a BESD school, since that tends to be the main barrier to mainstream education for their pupils, who mostly have AS, ASD, ADHD, Dyspraxia etc, with no significant learning difficulties.

www.nasschools.org.uk/school_locations.aspx

I feel they are trying to “palm me off” because he has a MS school placement which is worth £21000 (that is £17,000 full time 1:1 LSA plus £4000 school place) in an OFSTED 2 setting.

All the professionals involved have said the school are doing a good job. It’s just that the school don’t want him there because he is costing them too much. That’s the impression I get. So I do think they are meeting his needs and that it is 'suitable' and 'adequate' and therefore they've met their obligation. I wonder if they are going to drag their heels now and not be so enthusiastic to teach him as it is making a huge hole in their budget. They talk about money at every meeting which makes me go on a massive guilt trip. Should I tell them the money has nothing to do with me and to leave me out of it? The money side of things is even written in the TAF notes.

Does this mean his grades are going to slip until the placement is no longer suitable and he will have to be moved?.... This is why if we are pushed out I want to make sure he is in a better situation than he is now. I think with all his diagnoses it will have to be a “best fit” school that will be able to accommodate him.

This is definitely us “but if a report, say, pointed out that there was a lot of low level disruption and noise in classrooms and you have reports that state that your DS needs quiet and calm in order to remain calm, himself, then you can use those specific contents to help explain the unsuitability of the place.” The proposed school which I visited was the opposite and had children which needed more stimulation and needed a higher level of arousal so there was loud music in classrooms with a disco atmosphere and I could see one boy coming out of his shell because of it. Our DS would totally shut down in that atmosphere so he is better off where he is at the moment with his white noise generators to mask the noise.

Thank-you for all the good advice so far.

What will happen if he does not make progress sooner or later? I am wondering that because I fear they will try to push DS out of current MS school.

The thing is if he cannot make sufficient progress in a setting with 100% 1:1 LSA time I cannot see that he would make progress with a SS with substantially less 1:1 LSA time. It's the nature of his disability he needs the 1:1 LSA time.

As far as LEA is concerned they fund a school that meets the needs. There is no obligation to fund the best school and you have no "right"to ask for the best school! As I was told you aren't,t allowed to ask for rolls Royces . What you have to do is find a school that you think meets his needs and you consider to be the right school then find all the arguments you can as to why this school is the only one to meets his needs and why any other school the lea think he should go to won't work.
He does have a right to mainstream education so you can fight for this. Talk to people like sossen and parents for inclusion if this is what you really think is best for your son.
Sometimes it helps to come up with a really expensive placement at an independent as and tell them this is the only school to meet his needs in order for them to back down.
Do the current school think they can meet his needs. If they don't want him. Do you reallemly want him to go somewhere where he is not wanted and will you be able to realistically work with them

Just read one of your more recent posts. Things like a noisy classroom environment can certainly be used to say a school is unsuitable especially if you have professional reports to back this up. A suitable peer group is also valid.

Are you happy with the mainstream he is at with support? If so then there is no obligation to move him. Unless they can give you a valid reason to move him (and funding at mainstream isn't one) then you should be able to request he stays put.

When we were looking for DD I rang around a few schools locally and asked to speak to the SENCo. It was easy to eliminate quite a few of them based on their attitude over the phone. You know when your child is not going to be welcome, no matter what else is done well in the school. We then went to visit schools on the "possible" list and got a feel from them. It was also very easy for us to know where she wouldn't be suited well, some of which sounded good on the phone, looked great on paper but the reality of the environment and feel of the place once there was entirely different. When we found the right place, it felt like the right place. She is thriving there now.