hey ho - off to tribunal we go

[bochead]

Bleurgh!

Totally bonkers these LA bods, as I was quite happy just paying for everything myself (saw it as the price of peace), but I cannot sign off on a final statement that only contains 5 lines of part 4 and NOTHING for parts 1,2,3,5 & 6. It would leave DS in a really sticky situation re exam entry in future.

New LA have effectively withdrawn DS's statement so it's off to tribunal we go as despite my best efforts to avoid it they've left me with no wriggle room for sensible negotiations. I'm going to ask for his online school fees to be paid + the therapies in his existing statement. Works out cheaper than the mainstream option they pushed last term, so hopefully will have a strong case.

I'm utterly fed up with the whole dysfunctional educational system. Mostly cos its so counterproductive, time consuming and wasteful.

Moan over, normal service can now resume .

If it's the latter silliness, worth fighting to get some paid-for outside learning (incorporating communication & socialisation) onto the statement.

Holiday sessions at a Forest school? like this one or another one

Star, it looked like quite a particularly complicated case.
But my mouth did hang open.

You'll like this paragraph 30 of this though

Yes. Could paragraph 30 be used as case law?

What you doing trawling through these things anyway?

Just interested

I intend to fight for:-

LA funded OT, SALT and ABA support to replace the LA funded OT, SALT & ASD outreach on his old statement. Online school instead of mainstream, (as special schools do life skills here not 3 science GCSE's iyswim). So essentially keeping most aspects of his old LA statement, totally identical to that won at a previous Tribunal just 2 years ago, and just swapping online school for mainstream in part 4 to take him through primary to secondary transition nice and smoothly.

The new LA have made no suggestions at all about where might be appropriate for secondary other than telling me verbally he doesn't meet the criteria for their secondary HFA unit. Assuming that it takes as long to get a tribunal date as it did last time, he'll be in year 6 by the time his case goes before the panel so secondary transition plans will be relevant to their judgement methinks? Does anyone know if Tribunals in year 6 cover secondary school choices or are they only valid till the end of that year?

I'm open to changing things up at 14+ with flexi schooling etc, but he badly needs a few years of stability and continuity after all the historical upsets he's had. He's a long way from having healed from last year's events yet, and his mental health has to be a priority.

I think anything from year 5 onwards has to look towards secondary. Cos annual review in year 5 is meant to include the switch of schools in part 4 by mutual agreement.

Lots of the colleges do alternative provision for years 10 and 11. And then special needs cookery etc from 16-19y.

So if you can point out one of them as the 'aim' then you look less like a lentil weaving hardcore home educator. Or someone who'll turn round and trick them into an indie residential placement. Doesn't hurt to fit expectations: a caring SEN parent naively chasing a vain hope of GCSEs but whose real aspirations are minimal.

Does he do music? Could you see if the county music service could offer him the usual lessons (the rarer instruments are usually at a weekly session in a centre somewhere miles from any bus routes)

Anything non-school-y which gets you out of the entirely home-ed/not our problem box.

Anyone in London? Was looking for somewhere else but seems a shame to waste this

I used to pay for guitar lessons at school to help his auditory issues as he couldn't do mainstream music lessons due to sensory issues, & Akido + swimming cos he couldn't do mainstream PE due to . . . . . crap teaching actually but you get the drift. I haven't been able to do this as a homeschooler as funds have been diverted to the core issues of the 3R's, OT, & language resources.

Oh I'm on a roll, especially as my old school mates have just clued me into this development www.weyecademy.com/index.php/news-events/53-news-item-1

The first state funded online freeschool - woo hoo! I want him to stay at the one he's at NOW because

a/ This doesn't open till 2015 and I want continuity and stability where he is already + don't want him to be a guinea pig.
b/ Sadly I'm in Wales, not England.

However it blows any LA arguments about online schools not being equivalent to mainstream brick schools out of the water rather doesn't it? Just makes them look like provincial backwater luddites if they object to an online school for the sake of it to Tribunal doesn't it. SN law for England & Wales stays aligned at present.

Worth noting for anyone in England as you'll be able to express a parental preference for this school in the same way as you would a brick school. I thought of Claw2 and inappropriately employed instantly when I saw it!

Been looking at 14+ provision as the online school will let him to do science GCSE's in year 9 or 10 which will free up space in his timetable for something practical and social (eg a btec in DT or catering at an FE college perhaps?).

I want him to be mainstream at 16+ as the world of work is mainstream iyswim - to be honest this is why I'm angry at the LA's stunt.

I think, as you said, this lot are just a bit useless.
Wonder if it's worth putting your appeal together ready to send it.

And then calling them to say, look, can we have a meeting first, and see if we can agree a sensible statement and avoid the confrontational route.

They may simply not know what to write in a home-ed statement, and be hoping it will all just go away. If you've got a working-document type draft all ready for the tribunal negotiations, they might bypass the daft arguments-for-the-sake-of-it stage. And if not, won't hurt to have got the easy preliminary issues out of the way and it's always useful to have a recent example of being an uber-reasonable, negotiating sort of parent.

The EP is coming over tomorrow to "monitor his detailed curriculum" - fook if I know what that means as the online school dictates his curriculum, not me and she's been too lazy to contact them.

I've already called requesting a meeting as you suggest, but will chase it up as I know she sat on the "panel" that rejected my request for home ed.

I think I do need to type up a draft statement to use just as you suggest, I won't have it ready by tomorrow (as I'd want someone from IPSEA to cast their eyes over it before inadvertently stitching myself up) but I could suggest it perhaps?

'Monitor his detailed curriculum' to a devious mind means she's gonna do an pretend ofsted-mini-visit on you. To see if you're giving all the statemented recommendations.

And if (someone thinks, or wants to think) you're not providing sufficient proof of complying with the statement, 'kindly' offering to remove them so you won't get into trouble for being a 'requires improvement' home-edder.

Asking an EP to consider recommending the new free online free school would be one way to defuse any issues with home-edding. Your tribunal then becomes a simple matter of choosing between two similar part 4 options.

You aren't home edding. You're using a well-accepted alternative provision provider for access to the national curriculum, and adding some pushy-parent homework to make up for previous schooling issues

You'd like access to professional therapists and their resources, and would love to come along to any training sessions they lay on for local mainstream or special schools. Your DS would perhaps like to work towards accessing local extended schools provision like heck he would yadda yadda, keep a toe in system cos he's definitely heading back into it as soon as possible.

Unfortunately so far you're having to make do with DIY therapy stuff since no arrangements have been made. How can she help to remedy this

Education otherwise than at school via a qualified online provider X would be my first alteration to part 4 rather than homeschooled.

What does "homeschooled" actually mean in concrete terms? Statements should be specific and measurable.

Easy peasy

Daily opportunity sessions to generalise online learning to real life praxis by actively using new knowledge and skills in a suitable community resource. All online gains to be practiced in each weekly/ fortnightly/ monthly Real life cycle.

Visit to library (mon, literacy),
shops (tue, numeracy),
park (weds, PE),
Posh cafe in garden centre (thurs, PSHE, food tech & cdt)
Any local museum, art gallery, church or antique shop (fri, history/geography/art/RE/anything left out).

They did attempt a mini-ofsted visit on me. But I'm not in charge of schemes of work etc, his online school is, so could only provide samples of his work. Lovely lady from a SN charity sat in on the meeting so they couldn't push me too far.

Made your point about how his school provides the education and I just support that, same as any other parent with a child IN school. I took your advice & said I just do a little extra on the homework front due to his needs, and history of school failure as a typically "pushy" Mum. They were surprised to hear that the online school are aware of and using his old LA statement + private therapy reports from this year to inform their teaching (WHY?).

Upshot is that the "at home ambush" has left them needing to get off their arses and actually get in touch with his online school. As his online school is independent, aligns with the NC & is perfectly legal, I don't think they'll get too far tbh. I did point out that they need to define the parameters/criteria for their monitoring if they want to insist on a termly home visit.

I expect to hear the "socialisation" argument in the next round. (YAWN).

Start the socialisation round early.
Little email describing everything you're doing to that end.
Social skills: where he was, is now, wants to be...
Asking for her advice and suitable resources to scaffold him getting to the next level. Does she recommend you try & go to this (email them first to ask if suitable if he clearly has asd but diagnostic process was rubbish has complex needs

Moondog - language for thinking - luvving that lady .

I've been tracking his progress all year but purposely kept it back this go round, to use in the next one.

On a more serious note, am working on social activities with a goal of not having to shadow him/stay on site as I badly need to see a dentist.

Childminder?

Gets to mix with other dc, but in a nice house with a garden, properly supervised, cooked tea, and a range of ages.

You might even get respite funding for it...

He does a few organised social activities both homeschool groups and council run tbh. That's ticked off the list.

Don't meet the poxy unpublished criteria for respite & never have, probably never will. Too much risk of my using it for something productive like going to the dentist or buying a bra that fits probably.

at my tribunal yesterday - daughter who is in year 5 also - the panel raised secondary placement a lot as current school only has 24 kids in it so the level of help she gets now she wont get any of when she hits secondary without a statement - the panel raised it not me so I do think it probably reasonable to look at secondary and as said further up post, in year 5 transition annual review it would be raised and we are now heading toward the end of year 5 and you will probably now get your hearing when he is in year 6.

I don't think they are thinking beyond the fact that online school is beyond their own comfort zone, let alone secondary transition just yet. They've said he doesn't meet the criteria for their HFA unit (with only 5 spaces per year they are probably already earmarked) & are stuck on mainstream.

I think the key reason I'm not too bothered about Tribunal this time round is that they are not providing any NHS therapies or funding for online school fees at the moment, so if I lose I just keep doing what I'm doing now, and return to Tribunal as we approach exam entry stage later on for 14 +.

Having spent the best part of a school year this way, I can't now for the life of me see how they could get a court to force him back into mainstream school after all this time, at least not without offering a substantially bigger package than the zero support from the NHS, Education or Social Care than they are currently giving him.

That's why I don't really get the intent of yesterday's attempted mini-Ofsted. We'll do fook all for the child ourselves for the best part of a school year, and then we'll come & criticise all your attempts to help him in the face of our intransigence just isn't an approach I can see impressing a Tribunal panel tbh. I know I wouldn't wanna be the SN officer answering questions anyway.