Worried school might ask Ds to leave

[amunt]

ASD Ds started reception in September and due to his oppositional and difficult behaviour he is only in for just over an hour a day. For 3 of those a week I go in with him to try to inform staff about how to handle him- not that I have that much control. The other 2 days there is always some incident during the hour.

They applied for exceptional needs funding which was rejected and they say they don’t have the resources to offer 1to1. Staff are very nice and non judgemental, but I feel the initiative is left to me and I’m not sure how to proceed. We don’t have an EHCP, the autism outreach person hasn’t encouraged it as no money comes with it. My main concern is that they are happy to let it run until they can finally say, they can’t cope with him. Would they be able to do this?
Thanks

[iwanttoscream]

You need to start the ball rolling for an ehcp.
When is DS 5?
It's wrong for them to deny the funding, as everyone else is able to be in class except your son.
Contact ipsea, sossen for help and advise.
Hopefully others will post later with more advice than I can give you.

[honkinghaddock]

I think you need to insist on him being there full time. At the moment they (including the local authority) are not doing anything to support him and if he is there full time they will be forced to. It will also supply more evidence for an ehcp. They cannot ask him to leave unless they permanently exclude him and for that to be upheld they would have to show they have done their best to support him, which they clearly are not.

[LIZS]

Aren't they effectively excluding him , which isn't allowed. Assuming this is a state school they can't just ask you to leave, it has to be inclusive.

[KOKOagainandagain]

It sounds as if the school are not being honest with you .

If the school is not able to demonstrate that it is doing all it can (an extra 6K of resources (including 1:1) from the delegated SEN budget) the application will be rejected as a matter of course. Applications are only accepted and top-up funding provided from the LA once the school can provide evidence that it is doing all it can within the delegated budget. Common back-of-an-envelope maths-sense suggests it is not possible to spend 6K plus 4K APW on a child that is only in school for 5 hours a week.

You need to apply for an EHCP yourself ASAP.

DS needs to be in school full-time in order for the school to know what resource is necessary for him to to able to access the curriculum. Phone IPSEA for advice. imo the school is not doing all it can (EHCP) and is not making 'reasonable adjustment' (disability discrimination).

[2boysnamedR]

Ehcp does / can come with more funding. Also they don't need a ehcp to claim a extra £6000 on top of the normal £4000 for a adverage nt child. schools are expected to pay the first £10,000 and if they need more the ehcp pays for it

[c4kedout]

EHCP does come witj extra funding.

sounds like they are excluding him (illegally). do you get exclusion paperwork when you collect early? you must insist on it. I would refuse to collect him early otberwise. exclusion ppwk is part of your evidence that his needs cannot be met without ehcp.

Apply asap. it is just a letter to get the clock ticking. Ipsea have template letters on their website. just Google.

and school is messing you about!

[amunt]

Thank you all so much for concrete advice.

He's five in June. I think I have been trying too hard to avoid confrontation so early on. Staff have been very open to any ideas which might help and I have been loathe to go from this positive approach to a confrontational one, but as posters have said, sen/leadership don't seem to want to fully commit the resources.

I am also worried that if I leave him there unsupported he will alienate all the other children by his impulsive lashing out - they are really kind children who try to interact with him.

I'll definitely get the EHCP going. Thanks again.

[anya1985]

I feel you. My son has ASD too but in a mainstream school with no ehcp. He is doing quite well so far, but I really get u whenever school ring for whatever reason I feel what if they say they can't meet his needs, or he has to change school or whatever, or he regresses as you just don't know what could happen.. It's really not a nice feeling!

But definitely apply for an ehc and perhaps you can get the schools backing and they do all they can to get the correct support for him? I hope all goes well, good luck x

[GruntledOne]

You really need to push for him to be in school full time, or at the very least for him to start building up to it - e.g. by moving to two hours a day now, then half days after a few weeks, and so on. Apart from anything else, he realistically won't learn anything if he's only in for an hour a day, and it won't help his behaviour if he's effectively an outsider in the class. I suspect the school will try harder with providing support and accessing funding if it's left with no choice.

Although legally he doesn't have to be in school at his age, if every other Reception age child is in school full time they're are both discriminating against him and unlawfully excluding him.

[Youarentkiddingme]

I agree with zzzzz they arent collating evidence because none is there to collate ATM. As he is not legally required to be in school until next September it's not an issue for them to have him an hour a day, nothing to show this child who doesn't need to be there - isn't.

[JJoy342]

School definetly aren't doing as much as they could be. My DS started reception in September for 3 hours with 1-1 help, they then added an extra hour every week. When they couldn't get him 1-1 help for the last hour for one day a week, they asked if one of the teaching assistants who had no Sen training could do it as they felt that was better than him going home an hour early once a week as that would effect his routine.

Just seems like the school doesn't want to help, which is horrid. I know you don't want to get confrontational, I hate it too but your the only one in your DS's corner and you have to do what's best for him.

[GruntledOne]

The thing is, he is legally required to be in school if it is the normal practice in that area of the country for children who are 5 in the summer to start full time education the preceding September. Whilst he isn't of statutory school age, nevertheless if they refuse him full time education whilst offering it to non-disabled children they are clearly discriminating on the grounds of his disability, which is unlawful.

They also have a duty to collect evidence because they have a duty to meet his special educational needs since he is on the school roll.

[StarfrightMcFangsie]

If anyone says to you again that no money comes with an EHCP look at them horrified and inform them that you're not asking for money but a thorough assessment of need and the provision to meet that need as is your child's legal entitlement.

And download the EHCP application model letter from IPSEA and apply yourself. That way you have to be included at all stages.