not sure what to do about this

[jenk1]

have just found out that dd who goes to nursery has not been going in the daycare bit in the morning (the part that we pay for) but has been spending all day in the education part cos she "needs that little bit extra"

now we have not given permission for her to go into education all day and we are at tribunal in 2 weeks which makes this seem very dodgy.

so they are saying she doesnt need extra help or an asessment but unbeknown to us she has been getting extra help for a few weeks and we havent known about it.

dh phoned the nursery this morning to say we can no longer afford to pay the private daycare bit cos he has lost his job and that she will just have to go in the education, he asked can she go in the morning as it will be harder to get her in the afternoon and the lady said there are no places available for the morning.

10 mins later the head teacher phones, oh we,ll squeeze her in in the morning, most children work better in the morning.

what the heck is going on?

i guess first of all clarify whether DD is going in the "education" bit all day or just mornings with the new arrangement. And then get to the bottom of exactly what extra help DD has been needing and how long she has had it for, t o back up your tribunal. Have nursery previously said they don't think she needs statementing then?

yes nursery dont agree that she needs statementing and their senco is the lea witness.

but why have we been charged if dd has been receiving extra help in education, cos we have been paying for a private day care placement and not an education one, and where is her IEP?

jenk1

Have you contacted IPSEA or SOS;SEN?. Am sure that they could give you advice on such matters.

For what its worth it all sounds highly fishy.

On what grounds does nursery say she does not need statementing?.

have emailed my ipsea rep thats been helping me with the tribunal and am waiting to hear back from her.

they say that yes she does need support coming into nursery and acknowledge that she gets upset at routine change, but that she,s fine in all other aspects which is a complete lie.

the lea ed psych refuses to accept that she shows evidence of an asd, despte the CDC doing an in depth asessment and saying she does and our own psych saying he thinks she is PDD-NOS.

she has language delay but they dont acknowledge that, but our psych does.

tribunal is on 20th may, their ed psych is their witness and hasnt asessed her since may 2007.
so unless she plans on going in beforehand which she should advise us on i dont know what she,s going to say.

cant get hold of ipsea, it says the mailbox is full or something.
just cant get my head around what they have been doing, blatantly lying, saying she doesnt require extra help and then giving it to her without telling or asking for our permission.

it could play in your favour re: tribunal and actually strengthen your case. Obviously they are going about it in a v dodgy way but it's evidence that the nursery thinks her needs cannot be met in the setting. Could you try to get something in writing from the Head - e-mail, e.g. to confirm what days/times your DD has been in education (complain about the fees and ask why you have been paying for a service you haven't received). As TC said, you are entitled to more info.

And, I'm sure you know this but don't let anyone from the LEA in to assess your DD in the run up to the Tribunal. You don't have to not agree, just keep your daughter at home on the premise that she's ill or something.

just drafted a letter to give to the head in the morning, asking why

dd has been going into education for a full day.

why we have not been advised or asked for our permission.

what extra help have they been giving her

why have they been charging us for a private daycare place

if they think she needs additional help then this should be funded either by a statement or directly from the lea.

going to give her the letter tomorrow, and send that and her reply to the tribunal as late evidence, just hope the president will accept it.

they,ve really shot themselves in the foot here.

also,am wondering why they suddenly managed to find a place for her in the morning when the admin lady (who sorts out places) said there wasnt any.

also twice in the past when the ed psych has been in they,ve "forgotten" to let us know she was going in, she hasnt phoned us or written to us confirming and the nursery "lost" the ed psych,s report last year then found it down the back of the filing cabinet.

dodgy very dodgy.

i should have pulled her out long before now but they,ve really helped her with her speech.

dh took a letter in this morning for the headteacher so will wait and see what happens now.

thinking about this, i think the headteacher has been told from above to give dd extra help because:

the ed psych hasnt been in to seeher for nearly a year and its obvious that dd has learning difficulties

they dont want the ed psychs report for the asessment (presuming they will pull out like all the other tribunals the day before) to state that she,s going to need quite a bit of help.

they know we back up everything with our private psych and his asessments got ds into his independent school last year.

right dh took the letter into nursery.

got a message on answerphone saying due to prior commitments they are unable to respond in writing, but that they,d like us to agree to meet with them.

which we will, BUT we want a written response as well.