Can the LEA send in people to assess/ observe DS without my permission?

[CantQuiteBelieveIt]

You may remember my LEA is determined to pull ds1 (7) out of his independent out of borough ABA school.

When I spoke to the case officer last week she confirmed that ds would remain at his current school until at least January, so I could relax (yeah, right) then. Or rather at least until July, as they wanted to have an interim review then, to discuss the transition, and 'make sure I was happy with it', before proper transitional moves were made during the autumn term.

I have been preparing things based on the timeline I was given.

Except this morning I received a call from the Head at ds's school to say someone from the proposed school (only a first name was given) wants to make an appointment to assess ds at school.

My EP is not going to the school til May, and I never expected them to start on their assessments 5 months before the interim review. It's incredibly worrying, and seems to be a case of moving the goalposts. Are they trying to move ds earlier? And do I have to let the assessment take place?

Any help greatly appreciated

I would want more information at this stage and why like you say are they doing it so early. By the time it gets to your interim review the information they are getting is outdated - also what are they assessing? With some assessments the tests can't be done within 6 months of each other. Is it a definite assessment or a general type of observation. I would deffo want more info before I agreed to anything and to know what the plan was.

Insist on being present.

I would want to be present. If this is a person from the school rather than LA they will need to agree that they can meet need before the LA can name them.

Could you get Indi OT or EP to assess the suitability of the LA named school? You may be able to use this to show that this is not unreasonable cost because the LA alternative would cost a similar amount and is an unknown quantity. And would involve transition. And any progress is a result of the environment.

This is poor. They should contact you and discuss it as a matter of courtesy at least, let alone obtain your consent.

Ask the head to get them to contact you to discuss before you agree to anything.

Thanks for the replies

After doing some digging I have found out the Head of SEN has suddenly ordered the Head of the unit they want to move ds to to come and observe ds at school for a couple of hours. He has already said he can meet needs (ludicrously!) after looking at ds's statement and I guess he's now being told to take a belt and braces approach and make sure he can say he has met ds too.

Legal advocate advises letting him come so we have more of an idea re what the LA's arguments will be, and says it will be helpful to have specific information to rebut. She says I should ask to meet him afterwards to discuss his findings. She ALSO says he will, without a shadow of a doubt, say he can meet needs, regardless of what he does or doesn't observe. It's all a stitch up basically.

Am now thinking I should definitely be there throughout, to do my own observation! My EP will be going to view the unit, but not until June.

God, it has been such a stressful day!! Am completely and utterly drained, and this fight has only just begun! Thought I'd be able to take a breather for a couple of months....

Could you PM me the name of the proposed school. Is it a special school?

It is entirely possible the HT of this school is wanting to gather as much evidence as they can to make a case for rejection. Some LA's have schools with more autonomy than others, and whose decision whether to accept or not is less overridden by the LA.

...HT of this school is wanting to gather as much evidence as they can to make a case for rejection.

Which is why you need to meet him to helpfully fill in the gaps that the LA will have left (like I did, and it worked a treat )