Naming the school in a statement of SEN...?

[MinnieMalone]

What's the deal? What if you aren't happy with the school your child's at? Can you name any school you want? I don't understand how it all works!

Schools get extra funding when a child is statemented in order to provide teaching assistants and whatever else is required for the child to progress at school. If you are unhappy with the school, I believe you would have to go through the council and try to get your DC in another school.

I understood a bit differently. If it is a first statement, the LA should ask you which school you want named before it is finalised. If you name a maintained mainstream school, the LA should agree to your request as long as the school is suitable for your child's age, aptitude and SEN. The school can refuse to accept your child only on the grounds that it would be detrimental to the other pupils in the school if they admitted your child, but it would be down to them to show that they can't make reasonable adjustments. I'm not sure of the arrangements though, if you already have a statement and want a different school named after it has been finalised.

Yes, you can write to the LA and ask for the school named in Part 4 to be changed to any that you want.

Having said that, the LA can ignore our request.

If you wanted another mainstream school then the LA would have to consult that school to see if they could provide the level of support stated in the Statement. If they could then they should change it - however, if that school was further away from your home than your child's existing school and if the LA thought the existing school could equally as well suport your child's needs, then it becomes a matter of parental preference and you may not get all transport costs to the 2nd school paid.

If you named an SN school or independant school then you would have to show that a) the current school could not adequately support your child's needs - so a change of school was required and that the school you want could adrquately support those needs - you can't just change to a school that could better support - as long as support is adequate that's all that matters.

Confusing

yes wetaugust is right, if you want to change schools your biggest hurdle will be showing that the current school is not meeting needs, and since the school is giving all the educational assessments it is incredible hard to prove this. you also can't ask for an independent school against the local sn school unless you have grounds that current school, and no other local school can meet needs. your best bet is to look in part 3 of the statement and see if they are failing and whether you have strong evidence to support this then you can ask for an amended statement; and prove the issues and ask for a change of named school.
good luck

You can request an independent unit but the LA will probably argue that it is an inefficient use of resources if the support at primary can meet her needs. It would be down to you to show that either the primary+support could not meet her needs (so she would have to go to a unit), or that the cost of primary+support is less than the cost of a place at the independent unit.

If you have an independent EP, they could visit the school and unit and make recommendations as to whether either of them could meet your DD's needs.

Bdaonion

similiar problem here with ds as nearest unit which is in next lea feel without extra finding can not meet ds needs in county ones are full and feel that ds is to severe for there units

I now pushing for a private sen school called Ican on Surrey which is for dc with sli

am arguing that if speech resource unit feel ds to severe for them and since we alreDy tried ms and it failed everyone agreed on that am hoping panel will agree when goes before but the realist in me expects this to go to tribunal