Can't attend named school

[Exhaustedmum2]

Child was defered school start from september but is now compulsory school age and should have started this term.

Child was issued ehcp middle of November, LA said she needed mainstream with specialist center and finalised with just type to meet deadline. We put an appeal in for b,f and I, as we think it's quite clear a specialist school is needed. La then consulted 3 mainstreams while 'they consulted with bases' all 3 said can't meet need, La named one anyway. They then sent 2 base consults afterwards, a month after ehcp was finalised. I spoke to one base and they agreed specialist was needed and told me they were going to say they couldn't meet need, the other base said it was full and the SENco never got back to me. Consults were due last week and the LA is due to respond to the appeal any day now.

The named school do not want to take my child, the absolutely can't meet any of the EHCP. The LA have told them to use the ehcp funding to hire AP to come in 3 hours a day, the school said the funding doesn't cover that and apparently the La told them they would get back to them after Christmas holidays. They have not had any contact and school aren't chasing. So now my child has been unable to attend the first two weeks and there's no clear timeline to start let alone recieve full time.

I have chased and chased Caseworker, we can't collect child at lunch time due to transport issues, the school is not suitable at all, I have asked for the consultation responses as soon as they are recieved and also for clarification what the next step is if they say no. But we are being ignored.

We have just been accepted for legal aid and the solicitor needs up to 4 weeks to look at our case and decide if they're going to take it.

What can I do? Do I put a complaint in, will it help at all? I know that really the appeal is the only thing I can do but our hearing isn't until next year. I do believe the LA is holding out for the consultations/appeal response before they contact me and the school but this is having a huge effect on my children, child with ehcp is incredibley disregulated and sleep has worsened as have meltdowns and behaviour. My other children are also affected because they feel it's unfair they still have to go to school when one doesn't. Which is having a huge effect there too.

You can request an expedited hearing on the basis DC is not attending school.

It is irrelevant that the named school do not want to take DC. The school must not be wholly independent since they have been named against their will, so they can be named even if they object. The school can, in theory, challenge this e.g. via way of JR or in some cases via asking the Secretary of State for a determination. However, in the vast, vast majority of cases, schools don’t do this because they know the bar is incredibly high. More than just that SS is required in their opinion. And they must still admit in the meantime. If you want DC to attend, including full-time if you want, they can.

If however DC cannot attend, the LA is ultimately responsible for ensuring DC receive a suitable, full-time education and anything detailed, specified and quantified in F. Don’t let them fob you off by saying the school is responsible. If your requests for AP have been ignored, you need a pre-action letter. If that doesn’t work, you can progress to JR proceedings. The timescales of the normal complaints process means it takes too long for it to be a suitable remedy.

Thank you.

The LA are saying this is all temporary while they look for a base but God knows how long temporary is to them. It's not an independent school at all, it just can't provide any of her EHCP. I thought you couldn't do a JR whilst in appeal or have I imagined that? I think they have just settled on not chasing the LA at all because even the LA admitted they weren't suitable.

Is my best best just to wait the 4 weeks for the legal aid solicitor to look at my case or can I ask them to do the letter seperately? I just feel like we are getting nowhere. I hope the next week brings something when they respond to appeal.

You can’t go down the JR route for anything related to the appeal, but that isn’t what JR would be about. A JR would be about failure to provide provision under section 19 of the Education Act 1996 (and if there is anything detailed, specified and quantified in F that isn’t being provided, breach of section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014).

The firm taking on your case for appeal may not be able to take on your case for a pre-action letter (which is in your name) and subsequently JR proceedings (which would be in DC’s name). I would ask now. You may need to look elsewhere.