Stat Assess & Secondary Admissions

[wasuup3000]

My daughter is presently being stat assessed. LEA agreed to parental request straight away-all professional reports back up my professional advice plus extra stuff that the EP has put.
However we have just got her secondary school placement through and its her 3rd choice large school, massive building-she could not cope with even standing outside it without panicking.
Her 1st choice was less than 1/2 the side with small buildings dotted about which she was keen to try.
She is presently school refusing due to her last school failing to meet her needs and has been out of school for 4 months.
We are meeting the medical education school soon with a view to them helping her with her transition to secondary.
We will probably find out shortly if a statement will be issued-would we be able to name our daughters 1st choice of sec school on the statement? A special school is also an option but she would prefer mainstream.

Hi

Unfortuntely it's the LEA whi 'anme' the school your DD will go to if she's statemented and not you, and although you can tell them what your preference is. they will place her at a school that can provide the support that will be quantified in teh statement.

You can state a preference for mainstream and the LEA should aim to accommodate her in m/s if that's your wish.

To get her into your 1st choice of mainstream you would have to get the LEA to agree that the 3rd choice they are offering could not meet her needs.

please - don't use the term 'school refusing'. That term has all the wrong connotations such as it's a choice that she's making no to go to school. LEAs will treat this as a behavioral issue. You need to state that she cannot attend schoo, or access education because she does not have a placment that currenly meets her needs.

Subtle difference I know but words are everything and the LEA will leap at any chance to 'blame' the child/parent for not attending school before they acept that they, the LEA, are not providing a suitable school placement

Best wishes

Thank you. I know about the LEA's blame game unfortunately-if I didn't have the professional support I do have then I can imagine the situation I would be in. As it was I voice recorded a visit from social services as they tried reporting back a few lies to their manager which would have painted us in a bad light otherwise. So unfortunately for them I had evidence that they were lying-have not heard anything from them since.
My daughter can not even stand outside the 3rd choice without panicking let alone enter the building. It will be interesting to see what the LEA come up with if anything.
I have noted what you have said about school refusing and will keep that handy for further notice.

"To get her into your 1st choice of mainstream you would have to get the LEA to agree that the 3rd choice they are offering could not meet her needs."

WetAugust for the first time I disagree with you!!

Chapter 8 of the SEN Code of Practice states:

"LEAs must comply with a parental
preference unless the school is unsuitable to the child?s age, ability, aptitude or
special educational needs, or the placement would be incompatible with the
efficient education of the other children with whom the child would be educated,
or with the efficient use of resources."

I interpret that to mean that wasuup3000 can name any mainstream school that is appropriate for her DC, and that unless the LA can show that it would be incompatible with the efficient education of other children, she should be granted that choice.

Regardless, if her 3rd choice school is one she couldn't cope with setting foot in, I wouldn't think it would be able to meet the specifications of the Statement anyway, Wasuup.

That sounds a bit more hopeful Lou Thanks. We are up to week 16 of this process so hopefully will have a descision either way this week on the statement. I hope so anyway already having to take the LEA to tribunal for refusing to assess my younger son (probable AS waiting for ADOS and diagnosis of significant dyspraxia). Just when you think you have one problem in hand another crops up, it seems never ending.

"I interpret that to mean that wasuup3000 can name any mainstream school that is appropriate for her DC, and that unless the LA can show that it would be incompatible with the efficient education of other children, she should be granted that choice."

Not strictly true. The mainstream school the parents want still has to be consulted as to whether they can meet the child's needs. The LEA could argue that the 1st choice school couldn't - unlikely I agree.

The governing bodies of maintained schools named on a statement cannot refuse to take a pupil because the school is full. However, before naming a school on a statement, in the case of maintained mainstream schools, the LA should consider carefully whether the admission of the child would take the school over the number fixed as the number of intended admissions for the year, which must not be less than the 'standard number' or 'approved admissions number', in other words, whether the school is already nominally full. Admitting children over this number might be incompatible with the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources; LAs would also have to ensure that they comply with the legislation on infant class sizes in relevant cases.

Admissions over the fixed number of admissions in a maintained special school may be more complex because the admissions number is expressed as a global total rather than per class or year group. In such cases, the LA should consider the number in the class to which the child would be admitted rather than the total for the whole school.

[Education Act Section 324 (5) (b) and Schedule 27 3(3) and 3 (4). Code of Practice paragraphs 1:34 ? 1:36 and 8.80 ? 8:86]

Thanks wetaugust!