We have a statement - but no school (help)

[sc13]

We managed to get a statement that (to me) looked rather good: good number of hours, lots of specifics, caseworker seems on the ball.
DS starts reception in January and has ASD.
Now, one of the schools we liked (we named 3, after visiting everything in the area) said they can't meet DS's needs because the statement provisions are not enough.
DH and the case-worker think they're trying to get even more hours from the LEA, but how likely is that to happen? Is the LEA going to give us more hours just because the school says so?
What if the other two schools also say no? Above all, what if we end up at the horrible school that asked me, when I said that DS had special needs, 'why, what is wrong with him?' and then proceeded to recommend I go somewhere else because he wouldn't fit in?
Panic panic panic - has anyone else been there, done that and come out of the other side relatively unscathed?

SC13, I am so saddened that the schools you have approached have behaved so badly. Unfortunatley, it's not uncommon for schools to say this sort of thing NOT because they don't want your DS, but because they think they can get more money out of the LA by saying they can't meet his needs. They don't seem to appreciate the affect this has on parents. I obviously don't know your DS, but it does sound like he is doing really well and I wonder of you're right about him having enough support and the schools are being unscrupulous. Have they even met him, have they been and seen him in his nursery before saying they can't meet his needs? It makes me very angry that they would do this.
As for the 1:1 not always being 1:1, this, IMHO is just a sensible approach. I am sure that you don't want your DS to be educated in a separate area for 20 hours a week. Individual support should usually occur in the context of a small group and it can be helpful if that person talks and works with other children too so that the child with SEN has a chance to achieve small things independently and is not singled-out so much. I'm sure there will be times when your DS needs and gets 1:1 time in a quiet place to concentrate on things he really needs, it's about a balance. VERY occasionally have I come across schools who misuse support given in a statement, but IME this has only happened when the child with a statement didn't need the level of support anymore and the school had conveniently decided not to mention this to the LA so they didn't have to give it back...

Good luck with all this, I am sure that once a school gets to know your DS they will be very pleased to have him with them

You need to name the school in part 4 and tell the LEA thats the one you want so that they have to finalise the statement in order to get the situation moving forward at least.

Thanks UniPsychie that's such a nice message.
Wasuup (cool name) we named 3 schools and said any of them would do - perhaps that was the mistake.
Anyway, we're going to meet the case-worker (for the first time!) next week to discuss the results of the panel.
Honestly, I don't think it took this long to decide which beach to land on in Normandy

Good Luck and let us know what happens!