What rights do I have to insist on a particular ms school?

[Flocci]

We are trying to pick a school for dd who has cp but will definitely go to ms school with a statement - details still being finalised.

Here we have a system of picking your top 3 choices and then seeing which will offer you a place based on their criteria eg religion / proximity. We have found 2 schools that we love and are set up for disabled kids and reckon we have a good chance to get a place, but we don't live close by so there is a bit of a risk we might not get in if they are oversubscribed.

Our closest school will give us a place based on their criteria and we like it as a school so would be happy to have it as a third choice. BUT it is on 2 levels and has steps here there and everywhere and no adaptations at all. I imagine that ramps over the steps and handrails in the toilets would be fairly straightforward to put in but as far as the upper floor goes it would only work with a lift or chairlift.

SO - do we have any right to say that they must make it open to dd as she has the same right to go there as any other child? Is there any law covering this? Can our LEA just say well, no, there are plenty of other schools with places and better facilities so just go to one of those instead?

I can't seem to get a straight answer from anyone here - i won't necessarily dig my heels in over this but I need to know if I have any rights or if I should be focussing on finding a different school to put down as choice number 3.

Any advice? Is there a set law over this or is it just up to each LEA to sort out as they think is appropriate?

TIA

If you look at the 'criteria' set out by your local lea and schools (ime) children with sen have a high priority for places at a local school preferred by parental choice as it means the lea in question will avoid having to provide transport...check out the ipsea website as i believe that if you get the school named in part 4 of the statement and it doesn't have the quote parental preference then in theory the lea should be providing transport...
but if you would be more than happy to just get your dd in your first choice school and transport not an issue then choose this....but do remember that if you have younger children it may be more difficult to get them in if they are only a sibling out of catchment, this is my situation for 2008!!
ps: if this is your first statement then please do get a recognised body to read it through and check it is written correctly as the lea will try and duck and dive their responsibilities.
please do shout if you need any assistance xx
and good luck xx

My son's statement wasn't yet through when we applied for parimary places, and we were applying out of catchment. I wrote a big spiel on the application form about reasons why I wanted him there, but we were turned down.

However, we then went to appeal, and my biggest point was, look, he'll soon be statemented and we will name this school in his statement, so then you'll HAVE to let him in, so why not let him in now; then at least you'll get no surprises later.

We won the appeal, and they duly placed the name of the school in the statement.

Ironically, we then moved into the catchment area!

Flocci

I'd try and get ahold of IPSEA if you can - their web address is www.ipsea.org.uk. They have a helpline number; although nearly always busy (due to the sheer volume of calls they get) keep trying.

I think you have more than one issue going on here:

• all schools should be accessible to pupils they accept; hence if your closest school accepts her they will have to adapt by the time she arrives. I think that's disability discrimination law and you might be advised by the DRC.
• from a statementing pov, you can't insist on the school that is best for your child. You can only insist on a school that provides adequately for your child. So if facilities are inadequate, you can insist she goes elsewhere and if only one school has adequate facilities then you can insist on that one. I think the statementing process overrides the normal process of picking schools though I don't know what happens if by the time the statement is finalised the chosen school is full: usually it's timed so the statements are fixed before this.
• then there's the transport/practicalities of the thing which are down to the degree of politics and common sense operating in your LEA and if you have a sensible case officer or some other contact who knows the ropes they could advise the best way to play the system so that it is to their advantage to send her where you want her to go.

Thanks for all the pointers but I still feel we are going round in circles a bit.

Transport isn't an issue as I will drive anywhere necessary.

Where you say that if a school accepts a childthen they have to make sure that it is accessible ...... well the point is, can they turn us down in the first place because they know they are not currently geared up for us, and would have to make big changes to make themselves accessible?

I still think the prob is that although we can ask for a particular school as part of the statementing process I have a fear that if that school isn't well set up and there are others which are then the LEA can say that we should choose a different one.

It feels like discrimination - this is our closest school but we can't go there purely because it isn't accessible without major changes, so potentially we will have to go further afield to a school we don't like because it is set up better.

I will try IPSEA and try and find out if our local school can be made to accept her and make necessary changes or if we will just have to pink the nearest one which is already accessible.