EHCP - Mainstream or Independent Specialist Secondary School

[DonEntomologist]

Hello Everyone, thank you all in advance for reading my post and for your supportive response to follow.

I have a 9 year old son who is in year 5 and has a diagnosis of High Functioning ASD - Asperger Syndrome, he also has motor difficulties and sensory issues. He is very intelligent but has fallen behind a year academically after he was taken out of school for a year as a result of severe bullying he endured from other kids. He has an EHCP and I am now very confused as to the best school for him for secondary. He struggles socially and can easily become a victim to bullying and so mainstream worries me for this reason, that he may not cope there. Other issue with a mainstream school is that they may not have the provision enough to help a child like my son and children with SEN usually just struggle in these mainstream school with inadequate support. I have seen this very good independent special school that meets all the needs of my son but I heard that going for Independent specialist school for HF ASD kids is really hard and will involve a long legal battle with the LA for funding and I can't afford the legal costs and also no time for it as he is due to start year 7 in Sept 2021. I am willing to relocate if it means we get the best school but not sure which one...Any advice? This is causing me sleepless nights and my anxiety is through the roof these days over it.

Thank you for reading

Just bumping this for you and we hope that folk are along soon with useful advice and support.

Best of luck.

Hi,

Independent schools are a difficult one no matter what a child's needs are. To go from mainstream to independent specialist provision is exceptionally difficult, not impossible but difficult. The costs involved are huge and ultimately that is what the local authority are concerned about. My son goes to a specialist independent school but this was only after a failed special school placement and the need for specialist support which was not available anywhere else.

The main thing you will have to prove is why can your sons needs be met at the independent school and not at a mainstream/special local authority school.

The local authority has to prove that the placement is within reasonable public expenditure guidelines.

I don't know the details of your son's needs and you definitely need some specialist advice. It may be difficult to obtain currently with recent events. I would contact ipsea, sos sen or your local send iass for support and advice.

If you really do want to proceed you will have to call a review of your sons ehcp and ask for this school to be named. If the local authority say no you can take them to tribunal. You do not need a solicitor to do this. You can represent this yourself or get someone from a charity to help you.

Have you looked at any specialist units/schools which are local authority run?

Is he currently in school? Does his ehcp currently reflect his needs or does it need amendments? Has he seen an educational psychologist?

A specialist school is really only a viable option if there are behavioural problems (by this I include self-harming, school refusal or harming property or others). Because of the cost you are unlikely to get it on the grounds of poor academic performance alone. There also has to be no provision within the LA that can meet needs - in our LA for instance there were schools that could meet academic needs or schools that could meet behavioural needs but not both so they reluctantly funded specialist independent schools for the ds's.

The main caveat I would say to this is that you have to be very, very careful with your selection of an independent, specialist school. It seems to me that a lot call themselves specialist but with not real specialist knowledge or training.

ds1's special school were very good for him but from what he says had mixed success with his fellow pupils (school is now closed anyway). ds2's was not at all good for him (maybe they were OK for other pupils but not for him) and we ended up withdrawing him.

In both a lot of the teachers and teaching assistants (and even head teachers) came from mainstream backgrounds and had a huge learning curve when it came to dealing with pupils with an ASC. A small class size helps but if you have a small class size where every child needs a 1:1 and is at a different academic level it can still end up noisy. Mixing sensory avoiders with sensory seekers can also bring a lot of problems (as we experienced with ds1 in his first term). Another problem is that few offer the same sort of academic opportunities that you would expect in a mainstream school.

This is not to say a specialist school is not a good option for some children - as I said this route was very good for ds1 - who has now returned to mainstream for sixth form - but you do have to look very critically to make sure they can meet the needs of your child.

I totally agree with oneineight especially It seems to me that a lot call themselves specialist but with not real specialist knowledge or training this is totally the experience we had. It was not a good one and we found the school seemed to be focused on the glossy marketing ad securing the fees much more than the children. It seemed to be an attitude of the more diverse the needs the bigger the price tag and you ended up with children that needed much more specialist understanding, care and support than they could realistically offer. My sons 1:1 TA was really lovely but minimum wage and no qualifications whatsoever. They charged the LA £70 per hour for her!!! she was as bitter as me about it!! My son struggled because he stood less of a chance of making friends at this school than he would at mainstream because the other kids struggled more than him. Like the pp, I think these schools can and do work for many but do your research and speak to the parents of the kids already there as these schools are marketing and sales machines and slick at it and they can prey on your desperation if you’re not objective.
In respect of your original question I got DS in with a bit of a squabble but I didn’t get legal help (I couldn’t afford it!!) so it is possible if you really feel it’s the best option, you just need to prove it.

My DS is at an independent specialist school and it's been the making of him.
He has no academic difficulties but by Year 5 was school refusing and ended up needing to be carried in by Senior staff when he did go.
He'd always masked at school up to that point but the stress got to him and he couldn't mask any longer.
There were no suitable schools in our LA as they are all for profound learning disabilities so he goes out of county.
He never would have coped at mainstream secondary due to anxiety and sensory issues and a great hatred of people!

So yes, it is possible and worth the fight.

Hi OP,

Finding a suitable school can be so difficult.

My son is at an independent special school and it really has been the best placement we could have hoped for. Contrary to what a pp says, there are no behavioural issues and there is no requirement for behavioural needs for a specialist placement.

There are different types of independent school and your rights to a place (and therefore how much of a fight it will be) will depend on this. I work in SEND education law so feel free to PM me if you would like me to check the details of your chosen school or give some more info.

Regarding the legal fight, it would be via the SEND Tribunal which is free so no need to worry about costs. The only potential costs would be if you chose to pay an advocate or solicitor but this really isn’t necessary. If your son is in year 5 now you have plenty of time to do an appeal to the tribunal.

Hope that helps

Do look at all the local mainstreams, too, or talk to their Sencos. Some will have an excellent anti-bullying ethos that actually accepts all kids, some will tell you frankly not to send your child anywhere near. Also there may be schools with a specialist unit for Sen or ASD, where even if your kid doesn't qualify for a dedicated space, they will have access to support, breakout spaces, etc.

Agree that a small independent could be good but also might not be, aside from having to convince the LA it's the only option.

Hi SENDeducation, can I PM you ? As I am struggling to get some information.