What happens after Tribunal Hearing?

[KOKOagainandagain]

The LA conceded on the day with DS1 plus he was out of school and placed in a new ss after hearing so I don't know what to expect.

I know the LA has 5 weeks to issue an amended - presumably to take account of time to put in an appeal if desired - but what do the school actually do when placement is not appealed?

Since the Hearing on the 8th December and the ruling issued on 16th there has been no communication with the school. The HT refuses to even acknowledge presence and if it were not from the looks of death from teachers that have had no contact with DS2 as he only joined the school in year 4, I could begin to think that I had imagined the whole thing.

The ruling specifies communication with parents - daily report back in home/school book and weekly meeting. When should this start to happen? Should it already be happening or can the school wait for the amended statement or do they then have another additional 2 months before they have to put the provision in place?

Well done!

I was remembering back to the Hearing today and considering how much time was spent with the SENCO talking about the school and other DC and the LA taking about the cuts to funding and the fact that parents were not permitted to give evidence and thinking - hold on a minute - this Hearing is about DS2 - not the school, other DC, the LA, funding etc - and whilst everybody else here is an employee and funded by the tax payer to collect evidence and be there, with legal representation, I, uniquely, am personally funded as parental advocate for a disabled child.

I want SENDIST tribunals to be heard in a real court for various reasons. The 'system' was never fit for purpose which explains why so many cases won at Hearing. But what if the 'system' does not improve and the same 'cases' are brought to Tribunal but no longer win? There is no case law that prevents this from being the case - unless parents have evidence/want to/have permission to pursue appeal to the upper tribunal. Maybe we should start a petition with change.org? (not advertising)

yes i think there is a huge risk tribunals will be swayed by politics and cuts into making different decisions than they might a few years ago
Even more so now they don't have lay members

What do you mean about tribunals not having lay members, Agnes? AFAIK they do, though they can have two person tribunals (i.e. judge plus specialist member) for some appeals.

Judges are coming down harder on parents. Hearing recently of a child who had provision removed for no reason at ehcp transfer and the judge started off on the LA side.

By the end the judge changed her mind and actually got angry as the la had no reason to withdraw, no reports etc but still went ahead with the hearing with no case to do so. Do why should the judge get shitty with parents? But they started off that way. Why?

I think it just depends on the individual judge - some do have a bit of a bias one way or the other, and some maybe like to appear to be taking a very critical attitude to the appeal so that the LA won't whinge about bias.

I have frequently been told on here that experience of other LA's would suggest that my LA is a bastard (albeit incompetent) and that the school will never change (if only I could move him to a better school).

To be clear the HT and the SENCO made telephone calls and sent emails to try and block my son from joining the school and when forced to take him continued to make phone calls and send emails claiming 'bad parents' and 'no SEN'. We were forced to go to Tribunal because the existing statement was too wooly - we weren't asking for more in total but for clarification. Guess what, the Tribunal ruling is not only wooly but changes the conventional meaning of the english language - 'dedicated' no longer means 'exclusively allocated to' but now means 'priority access to'. So 'dedicated LSA' means priority access to the class TA (at the discretion of the school).

What did I go to Tribunal for? All a load of expensive bollocks. But there is no better alternative to be found elsewhere (there is no elsewhere).

Don't be too forgiving of judges - I was shocked that the Judge at my recent tribunal made numerous comments that reduce to

'your child is autistic - what do you expect?'

and

'this is a mainstream school - what do you expect?'

and

'unfortunately we have to accept that lots of autistic children have problems with attention - what do you expect?'

and

'unfortunately lots of autistic children are bullied - but the Senco thought he was having fun when he had dirt put down his trousers and stones thrown at him - what do you expect?'

and to the SENCO

'you are entitled to think that DS2 has no needs and it is unfortunate that the parents now know this"

and I have so many more ...

That's disgusting keep.

How can you have asd and no needs ffs? If you had no needs surely a child would warrant a Dx.

I don't think my judge at last appeal applied the law. I couldn't be arsed to appeal again.

That's why I'm so sure I'm not appealing again. I have put serious consideration into whether he get a better education if I put him into care. How sad is that?

I was told today that he might have ADHD too and I should seek a Dx via his pead. Not sure I will get it.

Do my ds has asd, Gdd, chromosome disorder, possible ADHD, non verbal, No ehcp and no gaurantee of a special school.

If I'm a nurotic crappy parent then he's better off in foster care. Costing the tax payer more but with a priory for a better education.

Until eight years ago when 6.5 years ago when ds2 started showing problems I was a intelligent graduate with a cooperate job. I still am all that but I primarily a shit lying parent with a mental health issues.

Makes me want to jump off a bridge some days. It is totally and utterly crap.

Sounds like your judge was a plonker, Keep. Out of sheer curiosity, who was it? Could you PM if you don't want to put the name on here?

2boys - keep the faith in your DC. Love and caring will always trump academics. Mental health is for life. (DS1 has had no education for a year (zilch, nada, won't do home ed, won't engage with tutor - I am flying without wings )) I am also writing up my PhD thesis so I have to laugh in the face of stress (but not manically)

I know you do and will continue to do this whatever arses you encounter

Your DC are really lucky to have you

Gruntled, I'm going to DM you our judges initials