Hi, wondering if anyone might be able to give me any insight or advice. My little boy (Year 1) has an EHCP which was finalised in March and it has been agreed for some time we need to move him to a special school. His EHCP was finalised in March and this triggered his case being sent to a SEND Ops panel which recommended a school to us. At Easter, we received a call from SEND Ops to ask if we would want to pursue this and we confirmed we would. The same day the new school got in touch and arranged a home visit with us.
The home visit went really well - they even brought a welcome pack for my son, were telling him and us lots of details about the school and we talked about aiming for a September start (albeit it staggered as they don't start newer pupils until a couple weeks into term to allow existing pupils to settle). They also said about inviting him to summer events so he could meet the other children. We then arranged for my husband and I to visit the school with a view to bring our son the next time
We visited the school (late April) and all went well again. Again, the conversation was very positive - the school is primarily residential but we were asking for a day place. They confirmed verbally they felt he was a good fit for the school and we specifically asked if we should/could talk to him about the move being definite. They said yes it was just a case of letting us know for sure that it was day rather than residential we wanted. We said we'd think this over. We shortly called back and confirmed this and had a v brief call with our contact who said in light of the day place she just needed to talk to the headteacher about what class he would fall into and that she would come back to us re a visit. We didn;t hear anything within a week and so my husband chased up by phone - she confirmed 'all very positive' but that he would need to go through another panel (sounded like an internal one) as it was now being processed as a day place - this was 4 weeks ago. My husband asked if we would hear from her or SEND ops and she said her.
In meantime I dropped SEND Ops Coordinator an email to let them know an update. didn't hear back. They had mentioned that they had named his current school on EHCP so they could benefit from funding but in an email confirmed the goal was still to secure a september start and this could be changed in time for the move.
Another 2 weeks went by - no word from school. Since then its been radio silence all around and we now have 3.5 weeks left of term to get this all sorted with no official confirmation of place. we've called SEND Ops multiple times waiting the 5 days as theyve asked and nothing. I even escalated to a manager - nothing. Husband has rang new school about 3 times and left a message but no call back. I chased SEND Ops coordinator again and received na out of office alternative contact so messaged her and she said a 1 liner that she couldn't ascertain status of case so she would contact the 'gatekeeper' at the school and come back to us urgently. Again. no response
This is SO frustrating and creating anxiety for all of us, msot of all my son. We've had plenty of time to get this right and to move things along and inefficiency has held us back at every turn. There seems to be no sense of urgency and I find it very strange no one at all has returned calls. It makes me wonder when they were planning to contact us if at all and whether they are essentially 'ghositng' us.
I assume it is now far too late to hope that this will come through for September but any tips, advice, opinion very welcome