Well my LA have done it again - they never fail to disappoint

[bjkmummy]

response to tribunal due today. no sign of it by email or post.

4.30pm dh checked the post box - I even joked to him we should make a nice cuppa in the caravan on the drive and sit and wait for the LA to come running down the garden path.

DH then checked the post box at 5pm and yep they have been and hand delivered it - not even a knock on the door bless them to say hello.

so they are going for mainstream secondary but cant tell me which one. all witnesses are TBC as they don't know obviously which school they are going for.

they have redone the statement into a working document and they have now offered us 25 hours of TA support, 5 hours of specialist teaching, 2 hours of autism outreach teaching and the salt and OT ( well kind off as they've missed bits out)

they wont agree to indie school as its a boarding school and no evidence she needs a waking curriculum and that her needs can be met in a mainstream school.

they will get the costs done and then let us know at some point

so I have no idea with just under 2 months to go which school they are going for, which school they are consulting, who their witnesses are.

the WD is a photocopy = not electronic so quite how they expect me to do it I have no idea........

and to think this time last year they were busy telling us she was absolutely fine and her needs could be met within the school budget - oh how times have changed

its like they have chucked most of the provision in the reports at us and then we will concede - they've missed out the bit about small class sizes as she can have a few small group lessons and then she will be absolutely fine to cope in a large mainstream school. if only it was that simple

they keep bleating about all the reports we have had done as well.

apart from 3 lots of statements that's all there really is there

It's ridiculous that they can't name a mainstream school. Well, in away it obviously isn't, but if they are saying that your dd's needs can be met in any mainstream school then there' son reason on the face of it why they can't just name your nearest school. The truth of course is likely to be they they haven't persuaded any mainstream school to offer a place. I would suggest you do a Data Protection Act request for copies of all the LA's correspondence with schools since the last tribunal.

It might also be worth filing an application that they name a school by, say, mid May (if that gives you enough time before the hearing). You could make the point I mentioned about how it should be simple for them to name a school, and in particular you could say that you need time to investigate whatever the school is and for your expert to visit the school thereafter.

its madness as at the last hearing now 3 months ago the judge told the LA to start the process of talking to use about secondary school and he made it clear that if that hearing had gone ahead he wanted to hear how a school was going to make provision for a child who cannot cope with noise in a teeny tiny school never mind a huge secondary mainstream school.

we had a meeting a month ago with the LA and today they send the minutes with none of the recommendation being done and quote me and DH as saying we would not be getting more reports which we absolutely did not say - the LA EP said they would be getting no more reports done and me and dh sat there and said nothing as we knew we were getting more reports done so now I need to challenge the content of the minutes as well

What not on a Saturday?

Well, you can request an order from the Tribunal that they name the school by as soon as you can get away with as your experts need to see it and advise as to whether or not it can meet dc's needs (this is really to underline that your experts are actually independent).

And of course correct the minute - if necessary with reference to your own handwritten notes, and ask that either a fresh minute be issued or at the very least your letter of correction be kept with all copies.

Residential will be a stretch - sime of the chairs come up with nonsense about how continuity can be provided by after school clubs and and social services and other such guff.

But if you are after small classes then it will be nigh impossible for a mainstream school to pull it off absent opening a unit between now and then

Fingers crossed

one of the schools does have a unit but she doesn't meet the criteria for the unit plus the school produced a glossy leaflet stating children with asd shouldn't come to their school especially if they have sensory issues!!!

residential is only because there is no local dyslexia schools - if I could get her to a day school I would. its a mon - fri placement so she would be home every weekend. every report we have says she needs a specialist dyslexia school.

the amount of stuff they have now put in is commendable and clearly a last minute attempt to get us withdraw but she simply wont cope in a large mainstream school.

the unit at the school also apparently in sept are shoving the sen kids out of their purpose built unit up into a classroom upstairs which has no natural daylight (the people who used the room before moved out due to the room being deemed not suitable under health and safety) by placing these kids upstairs then of course the will never be seen

they haven't costed everything they have offered so don't think they realise just how much this will cost and what they have left out is interesting as well - lots of the recommendations which would mean a specialist school oddly enough!

Did the directions that the tribunal issued when the appeal was registered include a direction that the LA file details of costs of their proposed placement? If so, I suggest you apply for an order that they file the costs immediately and that if they don't they be debarred.

no I don't think it does icimoi but will double check it and read what they say.

it did order they send an electronic version of the WD and they have failed to do that and just sent me a paper copy instead so need to ask for that this morning.

Waking day curriculum was not an argument that we used in tribunal. In truth, the fact that he was boarding had practical advantages in terms of the development of skills of personal independence and reduced sensory transition loads. (Emotionally, it didn't work. ime if needs are still not being met and the DC do not have the 'release' that home provides, the pressure of being 'front stage' all week can become intolerable).

However, if you argue that the only school that you were able to find that is able to meet need just happens to be located too far away for DD to be a day pupil, then the boarding costs are paid as a matter of course. I can't remember whether this was in the old sencop or the guide for dummies but both FS and the judge at hearing took this to be the case. Transport tends to be less of an issue as the cost of transporting day pupils on 10 hour and a quarter journeys per week is less than transporting OOC pupils to and from a school 2 1/2 hours away once each week.

I filed asked tribunal to rule that the LA had to name a school so that parents and my experts could visit to assess its suitability. After all, once you have had the opportunity to visit and ask pertinent questions, you and your experts might all think the LA option is marvellous and that you can save yourself the 'bother' of going to hearing .

I think I do need to force the LA placement question - the timeline they showed me but never gave us at the meeting a month ago (they said they were going to go away and condense the timeline and send it to us but never did and have in fact stuck to the old timeline by the look of things) was that they would name a school 2 weeks before the intended hearing!!!!

they have this morning without asking emailed the electronic WD as think they realised they need to do that and I got a grovelling apology

Totally agree with keep ongoing - my DS goes to an indie sen school (very severe numeracy/literacy issues) he does go daily but there are a number of weekly boarders funded by various local authorities. One parent said that it's cheaper for the LA to fund the weekly residential than the taxi ride but like all these things it's all about cost cost cost. I guess this is what you need to get out of them - how much everything costs, plus your right to parental preference and most importantly the right setting for your dc