Tribunal for not providing plan?

[Bilberry]

Pooh. We finally got our plan few weeks ago but I am already wondering if I will be needing to take them to tribunal for lack of provision. Ds is at a language unit attached to a Ms school. He LU teacher went off for an op in January and hasn't been properly covered since then. After me phoning the LA and HT there has been a teacher in half-day a week (otherwise ms CT And TAs). I didn't chase it any more as I thought it would only be a few weeks and wanted to concentrate on getting his plan without it looking too obvious why we thought this a priority. DS was back at school this week and the teacher is still not back, just a note to let us know they will tell us when she is. . He travels 45 mins each way each day to get to this unit with everything that entails. Without a specialist teacher, he would get as much support in the general SEN Unit at the local school (though we would be paying for some private SALT to get the same amount). It is as I feared; just another week, then another, and another...

Is the plan specified and quantified eg does it say 2 hrs of this 20 of that?

If not then yes you should appeal it.

If it is quantified then it is the responsibility of the LA to ensure that the provision is being provided and you would need to contact them again.

I hope someone comes along with more advice!!

Thanks, Ineed. It is not quantified on terms of hours as these are aimed to decrease over the next year or so to reintegrate him fully into ms (the model for LUs in this area). However, it does say his curriculum is to be provided on a daily basis by teachers in the LU and his ms class. There are other bits referring to his SALT being supported on a daily basis by his teachers (ms and LU). This obviously can't be happening if there is no teacher in the LU on a daily basis. There is also a question mark around what the unit actually is if there is no teacher in it! The LA agrees there should be a teacher there but aren't covering the sick leave.

Try seeing of Maxwell Gillott or someone like that will give you some advice on JR to enforce the statement.

The school should have a contingency find to cover for absences and there are agencies who can supply specialist teachers.

You can ask to see their SEN budget and speak to the SEN governor. See if thereis money left for replacing the teacher. Also, make the point that it will delay the transfer to mainstream and is not in the tax payers interest to be delaying that.

Good Luck Bil

If the plan provides for support to decrease it's unlawful anyway and you should appeal it. There's legal authority to the effect that a statement/plan shouldn't be written in such a way that provision could be taken away without the parent being able to appeal against that, and no-one knows exactly what support your DS will need in a year's time.

However, you should certainly also go to someone like Maxwell Gillott about enforcing the provision that actually is there at the moment - that's not something the tribunal can deal with.

Thank you. I am mostly happy with the plan though it says what should be provided on a daily basis in terms of support rather than hours - it took quite a bit to get to this stage. The initial plan gave support as 'individual and group work' and 'one to one support as required'. That was it, I kid you not! I don't really want to appeal the contents as I think it should be tight enough to insist on a teacher in the unit and appealing the contents wastes more time.

Unfortunately, schools round here do have great difficulty getting supply. To get a specialist supply teacher would require paying someone to travel here and temporary accommodation which is rather more that the usual supply rate they claim is all they can offer (which barely covers petrol for local teachers). They are also hoping the teacher will be back next week - but I can see that going on all term!

I will take legal advice but also start phoning the council again. They will now realise exactly why I was so insistent on a plan despite being happy with the support (up to January). Legal routes/appeals etc. all take so long!

Ok, just spoke to the school (DeputyH). They are having a meeting this afternoon where this will be discussed and the DH might be able to tell me more after this but not sure. It also came out that they knew the teacher was going to be off for 12 weeks. We weren't told this at all! Why on earth didn't they arrange proper cover then! . I made it clear that I felt the level of cover was unacceptable. It is not reasonable to have kids with SEN who have been identified as needing intensive input just being taught by unqualified staff! The level of cover would not be considered reasonable in a normal class. I said if they don't know when the teacher will be back then they need to treat it as if she won't be back at all and put proper cover in place. Feeling more now. DH said she will phone back if she finds out more this afternoon. If she doesn't, I will be phoning the HT. Oh, and the LU teacher might just be coming back part-time!

I would write back thanking them for their phone call today, document everything they told OH and who said it. I.e. Create a paper trail. You may need it.

You can cc in governors and / or sen team.

Don't get side lined into cost of cover. It is not your concern. It is their problem though.

Know you probably don't want to make waves, but don't stand by and let this happen.

Document everything and politely remind them of their responsibilities to your child.