How did you choose a school? And have you had any problems with the school?

[Maryadvicenow]

Hello. I work for a law and rights charity called Advicenow. I'm trying to produce a guide for parents of disabled children about how to choose a school, and what rights they will have when they are there (and how to enforce them when that is not what happens). I'd really like to speak to mums who have been in this position to find out about the things they found confusing or unhelpful, problems they encountered, things they wanted information about but couldn't find, and anything else that would tell me what I should try and include in this guide to make it as helpful as possible.

If you have any thoughts that could help me please post them below - or email me at
[email protected]

I'm also looking for people who might be willing to give comments on a draft of the guide - drop me a line if you might be interested.

Many thanks

ps. The guide will be free, and we'll be trying to get it to as many parents with children with disabilites or health conditions as possible.

Hi

My daughter has physical and educational needs. She has always attended mainstream schools. The problem arose when I chose a secondary school for her. The local schools were not in my view suitable for her and I wanted her to attend a decent school. So the school I chose was not in my catchment area. They said no, firstly because quote "we are a high achieving school". This infuriated me, that a secretary could be so biased about a disabled child. I said "So, are all the children in your area of a high iq? Are none of them special needs?". I appealed and I got a letter from the school - at the last minute refusing her entry. I then phoned the education department a couple of minuted later and was told Yes, she can attend. Basically, the education department over-ruled them at the last minute and they had to accept her. Some schools are disrespectful in their biased view of special needs children, they don't like the paper work a statement involves and they hate the fact that the child will probably struggle and not produce those all important league table boosting grades.
If the teachers & office staff cannot respect & embrace a child with special needs, how are they expected to teach their pupils to do this.
They put her in the bottom sets which were very disruptive classes and left them to it. I found that they almost gave up on them.

Many thanks Swater - that's really helpful! Funny how many people say that things changed after you make an appeal...
If you might be willing to tell me a bit more or comment on our suggested guide, please use the 'contact poster' option at the top.