How SEND tribunal defined meeting vs not meeting needs?

[cakesandtea]

I am posting for the first time, so sorry if it is long.

We are at tribunal for DS with ASD and average ability going to secondary in September. The mainstream school of course say they can meet the needs. We believe this is not at all the case, but among other things this is down to defining what is progress and what is to meet the needs vs not to meet them.

Truth is they don't need to meet the needs because with the flightpath and all that they can just explain away slow progress by ability. As they cynically said at the visit, they "make their targets in numbers", statistics that is, and without any provisions additional to their standard package my DS will just fall on the wrong side of statistics, but that is tough for DS and OK for them. This will wreck DS chances in life and destroy his sense of self.

Could you please share your experiences / ideas as to how meeting the needs is defined and how to pin the school that they cannot meet the needs?

If you're not already appealing against section B and F, you need to. Ideally you need provision in section F which the mainstream school can't meet, or can only meet in a way that will make the placement more expensive.

It's so difficult. On paper the school probably say that they will do x, y & z provision. However in our experience some services don't run or aren't pitched at the right level for our DS.

I don't have any words of wisdom really, but your question has made me think that you want to get the school to answer specifics about Eg in our school they have said that there is a social skills group running, but noone seems to have accessed it for years - ie it doesn't really exist - although it may have done in the past..... So I would be looking to get facts from them on how many children currently access the type of provision your DS needs; how often has x provision run in the past 5 years and for how many children in each of those years? how effective was it? were the children in the group similar pen profiles to your DS. How many children like your DS have they had on role in the past few years and how have they fared?

That's also another thing I have seen on these boards. People write to the different schools and ask the teacher for the pen profiles of the SEN children in their setting. It allows you to see where your DS might fit best into which cohort. Eg I'm looking at a specialist provision in mainstream for DS at secondary. It fits a lot of his profile BUT he will be working at very different academic levels to most of the others admitted to that unit..... It's not a definitive picture but it will help to build the case for or against a setting for the judge.

No idea if that's all sensible but it is how I would have a go at it! Best of luck

Thank you very much for your answers. These are very pointed comments.

One of the aspects I need to address is how to demonstrate / differentiate inadequate provisions / inadequate progress where the school itself defines the targets on the flightpath and explains away slow progress by ability. Any insight on the technicalities of how to pin the school down on capping the potential progress by putting in low sets and rationing provisions to just make the minimal progress?

Anyone dealt with flightpath and setting based on SATs, which reflect historical lack of provisions?

It would be useful if you could give more details. You don't want the mainstream secondary named by the LA - what sort of setting are you after?

I understood it is more about how the school meets his needs to achieve the "best possible educational outcomes" defined in the CAF Act. So it's as much about showing how one place will work, as how the other place will not suit. You will have to do both.

Can you explain what reasons the LA have given for not allocating your preferred choice? Parent choice is very powerful and the onus should be on them to show how their suggestion is going to deliver....

Can you say what provision you think will be unsatisfactory? It would be easier to suggest things knowing a few more specifics...

However in general... if you are at tribunal stage presumably you have an EP report? This should include the results of ability/memory/IQ tests etc which will give an indication of your DC's performance for benchmarking. If it is a mainstream school they have to achieve 2 levels of progress per year to meet their targets or it affects their Ofsted results (I think?). So their flight-path can be personalised to a degree, but they are still stuck with their 2 levels..... If you can demonstrate that they don't expect him to make as much progress, when another setting says he can, then surely they are admitting they can't cater to his needs?

It's a really good question and schools know they can get away with it. It's probably not much use to your case, but I made sure that I taught Ds to his potential in several areas to establish what he is capable of. This is primary so more straightforward than secondary. Is there any way you could get a tutor in one area and document/collect data as evidence.