Mainstream to special 5yr old

[DPSF3]

As anyone got experience with changing from mainstream to special school , mainstream said they can't meet his needs anymore, so after six weeks holidays Iv decided to keep him at home till placement is found in special , can't put him through settling back in mainstream to then transition again .

Was hoping for a bit of feed back , I'm new on here , so hope I'm doing things right in terms of posting .

My son has just started special school after 5 duff years in mainstream (he is 9). I'm assuming you've got an EHCP? Then you need to find a school you think will meet his needs. School and the local authority SHOULD help you with this but have to say I found DS's current school through mumsnet special needs board! Trouble is most state special schools tend to be full (even if you wanted him to go to any). I've heard of people being given temporary options. Think there are certain schools/units which have this function. You need to get the local authority to agree that he needs a specialist placement. If school have said they can't meet needs this should not be too difficult. Trouble is the way to kick off this process (in my experience) is to call (doesn't matter whether you or the school do this) an emergency annual review (of the EHCP/statement). To be honest as he's no longer at the school I'm not sure where this leaves you. But if you know who your case officer is (and if you don't find out) keep hassling them to find somewhere. I did meet one mum at an open day at a special school who was in your position (5 year old at home, although he had been excluded). She was all excited about their referral to the school but then had big reservations after she'd seen it. So sorry just going back to my first point that it is good to be clued up about which school to really go for. Good luck! P.s. contact those SOSSEN and Ipsea people.

Hi thanks for the advice my son has got an EHCP , and Iv gone through all the emotions of going round special needs schools, Iv found one that I could see my son at , but how naive I'm I to think it would be that straight forward , they have said they are not in a position to offer a place at the moment because they are looking at other consultations at the moment , my sons case worker has said this could work in his favour because if there are other children around his age wanting a place then school will consider creating a new class to accommodate the children that are applying , so it's a waiting game to see what happens, god knows what I'm going to do if they say no , we will have to start the process all over again , but really could only see my son at this school out of all the other schools we saw ..

so has your case worker done the referral for this school? Is it a state or private special school? In my experience it's often difficult to get a special school to assess unless the local authority does the referral. However, some private special schools will assess and then help you through the funding issues if they think your child is suitable. Even if they don't think your child is suitable their written feedback can be useful in securing you the place he needs.

Yes everything been done just waiting for a response from school

Just an update my son has got a place in the school we wanted , after a few transition days he should start full time in November 😬

Congratulations! Really pleased with my son's new special school so far. The other day someone asked how his new school was and he said 'it's great'.

That’s great news , so pleased for your son and u !! . Hopefully my son and I will be saying that soon . 1 less thing for u both not to stress out about x.