i survived the meeting with the LA

[bjkmummy]

why do these meetings never go as we think they will?

was me, dh , sen officer and class teacher/senco - head of ill

school came with a new IEP - shes not achieved 2 out of the last 3 targets so they are continuing./ the target she did achieve the teacher said is at a level you would expect a reception/yr1 child to achieve - shes year 5

teacher handed over a programme of help she is given in school. and that's about it really - sen officer droned on and on about nothing - even the class teacher rolled her eyes. class teacher confirmed that under their LA policy as shes not 6 years behind she wont be statemented and on that basis school wouldn't apply or be calling in an EP or even specialist teacher for advice. sen officer confirmed their policy same so thats why daughter doesn t meet the criteria.

sen officer very interested to know about my dyslexia teacher and what she does with the school. school said dyslexia teacher was amazing and spends over and above time with my daughter than an hour and she is very impressed with her. sen officer asked what the dyslexia teacher was doing with her - I just kept giving vague answers as felt she was fishing

we just kept repeating we want a full assessment for all her needs. sen officer asked if we felt the dyslexia report hadn't identified all of her needs already? I said yes it had but there were other barriers to her learning

she made a comment about my daughter being cognitively able? she tried to infer that as school doing so much and I have no chance in hell of getting her assessed I should just give up.

we then left and the sen officer lingered behind. after school the class teacher told me the sen officer had asked her to go as a witness to tribunal = teacher said she will go but will say the same as today. the teacher didn't stab us in the back, we were polite and said we had no issue with the school.

I also at the beginning of the meeting handed over my daughters views which she was a bit taken aback with and made some comment she was going to ask the school to do them - I just cheerily said - no need, already done and all in her very own handwriting!

re her progress school said she had made some progress in handwriting especially in the recent piece of work where she had been kept in at school but then said it was not consistent and she couldn't grade her on one piece of work. she also said progress made in other subjects which is fine as I expect her to make some progress - I will be okay as long as its not accelerated and the teacher did say that although there was progess it was at her current rate still -

no one seemed to pick up on the fact that she is still falling behind her peers and I wasn't going to mention it - I will get her next lot of NC levels next month which means I can use them towards showing her progress to tribunal

I don't know - I don't know if I have handled this right - I always go to pieces at these meetings. class teacher/senco seemed genuine and knowledgable - she is dyslexic herself and told me her parents also had to fight for her but then she has offered no real extra support, LA didn't really demand it and just think we are idiots I guess for appealing as far as they are concerned shes doing fine

the la now have until next Thursday to respond to the tribunal

the sen officer made a big deal about how her last school hadn't put her on the sen register and this school only placed her on it in nov so there hadn't been enough time to see if the interventions were working - the school put interventions in a year ago and after 6 months said they had failed so really we are a year in with interventions.

You were awesome bjk

You played a blinder!

On to the next stage

Keep, yes that was me singing along with BJK! Star is brilliant with lyrics

That is also another quote BJK every school knows a child with exactly the same difficulties as your child or even more 'severe' and they don't have a statement. My ds wasn't 'severe' enough according to previous SENCO to need a statement or support.

6 years behind - what a joke! Can't believe they tried to get you to believe that old chestnut.

Yes towie , if I had a pound for every time the LA and school said 'it's all in the best interests of your child' I could have self-funded the provision myself!

I did find it hard to suppress a smile at tribunal when the judge said to the school staff that what they had done was 'not in the child's best interests' .

Star brilliant lyrics!!!

My experience is that everyone wants to talk about Rolls Royces.....

And then about poor deprived vulnerable children who need resources more than your child being made worse off because of YOU!

the LA sent me their sen policy with a letter the other day - on the last page it goes on about how they will as a priority make sure they have teacher qualified to teach children with dyslexia - in the letter it states that the LA have not single teacher qualified to teach kids with dyslexia ie none have a specialist qualification.

im going to write another letter today about the absolute shambles of how they handled her case going to 'panel' - it went before they had any information from me or from school and the panel outcome sheet makes some cynical to reference there being no evidence from school , it was then later placed before a second diferent panel - not a sen one just cos some of the members of the sen panel were at the meeting but no notes of what was said. they have sent me a 200 page sen policy document which contains their process for panel which they have not followed at all

I suppose at least they have given you an indictor of what they regard as 'severe' ie 6 years behind, so you can trash it!

Ds was just never 'severe enough' with no definition of what 'severe enough' actually meant.

I have never seen anything in SEN COP or the Law, which states a child has to be 6 years behind or 'severe enough' to meet criteria. Maybe they could give you a copy of that policy!

the teacher was adamant - her opening line was 'as she is not more than 6 years behind as per our LA policy@ and then she said it a few more times as well for good measure - sen officer made reference to their criteria which they know I have a copy of as if I would n ow just roll over as I have seen the policy so they are of course not lying to me as its in the policy in black and white - oh silly me so of course I will back down now - not!

the class teacher will merrily say it again I guess unless of course LA do get a barrister again and she is warned off - then I would ask a direct question to her. both sets of policies - both school LA and home LA i will submit as evidence

They do say silly things.

When I was challenging the contents of the statement the LA person AND PP told me that I really should not because all the provision in it could easily be given without a statement so ds was lucky to have got one at all.

Figure out the logic in that one

Oh, yes, Starlight we have mention of Rolls Royces in the papers we've been sent. I don't give a shit about a Rolls Royce. I'd settle for a clapped out, rusty Ford Cortina if it enabled DS1 to learn without ending up a ranting, ticcing wreck every evening.

The Rolls Royce thing is often successful at putting parents on the defensive but you should reply:

Look, If my child needs a Rolls Royce Service in order to have an equal access to his education as his peers then of course that is what I expect. That would be his legal entitlement.

It was a standard response that I was fully expecting - met with little more than eye rolls. LA don't have any Ford Cortinas, anyhow, and his current speedboat is useless on dry land.

6 years behind!!! surely that could mean a 7 year old starting junior school would have to be functioning as a 1 year old baby before they got any help?

Quite, ilove. DS2 wouldn't qualify under those criteria. He needs and has a completely individualised timetable, ffs!

just been on line to check it and need to print it out then realised don't have enough paper - she has to be a 1a or below at year 6 to get a statement - this same 'criteria' also means she would be eligible for a school place at that level. she is currently now in year 5 and is 2A - she is also old in her year as she missed year 6 by a few days. she is cognitively able so in reality she should be about 2 whole levels above.

what makes me mad is that my 2 other sons who also wouldn't meet the criteria both have statements - I looked at the criteria re autism and I would be fighting to get both of them statemented under this criteria.

mind you at the beginning of the policy it also states that children are individuals so policy not set in stone and yet the school are sticking to it and teacher open stating that no way at all the LA would entertain a statement for her in their LA - the application has gone in to our home LA which is different but they also have refused as you know and are chirping about their 'criteria' which is also the same as the schools LA policy

I think your tribunal will be an enjoyable day out. Just to see their faces when they realise policies carry no weight at tribunal, it's all about the law.

We get the rolls Royce too, and the 'equitable' phrase gets banded around a lot. At one AR the sen officer argued DS rate of progress was too good,they didn't have to provide the best only an adequate education. I asked her given DS was still years behind and the gap was getting bigger how much less progress did she think was appropriate?

Because most sen kids are making one sub level of p scales progress per year, DS several levels with ABA was apparently the Rolls Royce of progress. Sadly it would never in a million years occur to her the inequity was that the other kids were stuck in the beat up, unsafe, reliant robin going round in circles and getting nowhere.

yes on the school page they have published their sen policy which they are also not following as well - its appeared as the are converting to academy in april - will print that off as well. at the moment ive not gone for the school jugular but just appeared sympathetic to their policy - im letting them dig themselves into hole and playing dumb that I know nothing about the law - don't know whether the sen officer is going to fall for my sudden lack of knowledge of the law but then she is so stupid she has probably erased the last tribunal from her memory.

at the meeting teacher handed over a sheet of paper with a table on it showing all the interventions over the week. the document was titled 'intervention table' and I kid you not - the sen officer actually turned to her and asked her whereabouts in the class the intervention table was placed. the teacher had to quite condescendly explain the table was the visual table on the piece of paper not an actual physical table

If you get someone on the other side requesting to observe for training purposes, then please let me come too.

I will write a play about it. It will be a comedy.

I might even attempt a song.

ROFL at intervention table.

Does it have straps?

... and a laser, like in Golfinger?

It probably has a space for smiley face stickers and a little pot to put carrot sticks in.

I had that last time when they wanted the solicitor to observe but i said no way as LA had barrister as well. stupid woman kept asking and I nearly wet myself on the phone conference when the judge told her to poke off. im expecting it again but im still gonna say no as im not being party to training LA solicitors to screw parents over. that said would mean more voices for a group singalong of 'pass the funding'

Intervention table, that's so funny. I hope you have written your own minutes . Sadly you will have to restrain yourself from cc'ing 10 of her colleagues incase they realise what a liability she is.

Lol @ Intervention table

PP told me 'Rolls Royce provision' was the provision in indi reports, you know the quantified and specific kind! and that I should forget all about these recommendations and be 'realistic' and focus only on what LA professionals recommended, you know the vague kind! Im guessing that is the 'rusty Skoda provision' and PP is like a car sales person, trying to talk you into buying the Skoda!

well as far as im concerned and the provision the LA professionals are recommending I must have an invisible car as im getting absolutely nothing - just a referral to an NHS OT has been an absolute farce - w months in now and still the referral hasn't even been sent in - thank god she is seeing an independent one in a few weeks. im trying not to over think why this NHS referral seems to be going the scenic route to get done but when I spoke to the person who did the referral last time (its gone missing from them to the actual NHS as it was faxed through) but she did ask me today how my statementing application was going......

anyway shes redone the referral again and also referred her for a hearing test as well