please can someone come and talk to me about appealing a statement/tribunals etc?!?!

[meerkatsandkookaburras]

were in a strange position, though maybe quite common?! i have stupidly agreed to the proposed statement which i now know is completely inadequate as doesnt offer my son much support at all!! the la are wanting to statement him to a special school im not entirely happy with though to be fair ive seen worse. the only other school in the county other than this one they want to statement him to is the one i saw that was much worse, in fact i truely hated it!!! so if we went to appeal/tribunal over place we would have to not only prove that the one they want is totally not suitable but also fight for an independant one i think, unless in the meantime a place does happen to appear at a school elsewhere in the county. we really need the transport long term though are prepared to tranport him for a while til things are sorted etc as hes only little - he will be almost 5 when he hopefully starts in september!

so my questions are:

if we appeal contents of statement but decide to stick with the school they want to name, will he still go there while appeal etc is happening, or is it likely to be done by september??

will appealling just contents of statement make things difficult with school, la, or transport issues in long term??

how much realistically does it cost to go to tribunal if we need extra evidence who do we need it off and what sort of prices??

what are chances of getting an independant school from tribunal or could we be cutting nose off to spite our face so to speak and end up saying a school were not that sure about is not right but getting the only other one with a place at the moment which is 100 times worse in our eyes!!

am i stupid to consider tribunal etc when school they want him to go to isnt totally bad but not great either will i regret it???

i know these are all odd questions a you dont know the ins and outs of everything involved but any opinions may help us decide what to do were so stuck!!! hope that all makes sense!

so my questions are:

if we appeal contents of statement but decide to stick with the school they want to name, will he still go there while appeal etc is happening, or is it likely to be done by september??

*
Tribunal will not hear your case before Sept. there is a waiting list and Tribunal does not sit during summer holidays. Also, you'll need time to pepare your case, get reports from your expert witnesses etc.

The tribunal will probably expect you to have actually tried the school the LA are suggesting before you say it cannot meet his needs - unless you are absolutely sure it cannot.

will appealling just contents of statement make things difficult with school, la, or transport issues in long term??

If you won you would be at a different school so feelings of LA's suggested school are immaterial. If you lost i doubt the current school would hold it against you .
The LA should pay transport costs to the nearest suitable school. If that school's in the independant sector you may find that transport costs are included in the school fees.

how much realistically does it cost to go to tribunal if we need extra evidence who do we need it off and what sort of prices??

**

The cost of actually initiating the appeal is very small. The costs thereafter will dependant on how much you do yourself and how much hired help you find you need. Some evidenece you will already have but you may want additional probably private evidence in the way of reports which you would need to pay for. An Ed Pysch report can be approx £300 - £800 for the assessment + £500 for each day the Ed Pysch is called to Tribunal + travelling expenses.

Same with any other private witnesses you may need to consult pre-Tribunal.

You may also want a solicitor to represent you at the hearing - ours was £3000 in total.

But many parents do it at virtually no cost by doing it with IPSEA / SOS SEN / DIY support.

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what are chances of getting an independant school from tribunal or could we be cutting nose off to spite our face so to speak and end up saying a school were not that sure about is not right but getting the only other one with a place at the moment which is 100 times worse in our eyes!!

**

At Tribunal you must prove that the school the LA is suggesting cannot meet your child's needs whereas the school (independant) that you want can meet your child's needs.

You cannot argue for an independant school simply because it is better than the LA's. It must be because the LA's choice is not suitable.

If the LA has no suitable maintained school to offer you then if you win your case you'll get the independant school.

am i stupid to consider tribunal etc when school they want him to go to isnt totally bad but not great either will i regret it???

*

You're not stupid but if the school the LA is suggesting can actually meet his needs you'll be very unlikley to win at Tribunal.

i Best wishes

thankyou so much, i think really then we have to send him there i guess and then when they dont meet his needs, which i guess there is a chance they may do, we can then look to tribunal/appeal for different placement! though i think either way we need to appeal the statement as its useless but i guess in the meantime he can still be at the placement and seeing how it goes if they dont change the statement before september! its so hard knowing what to do for the best isnt it, i dont understand why in the whole county only 2 schools have any places whatsoever!!maybe i am just very nieve in all this and thought the la would be more caring!!!

thanks so much for your help, so much to think about!!

jenny

we were just quoted £8,500 for solicitor advice and reports etc - it is easier to prove a school can't meet needs before they attend - if you are not happy i would go for it now as the school will show that it can meet his needs if the lea are that way inclined.

What are your reasons for thinking that the LA special school won't meet your son's needs? If you are going to use an Ed Psych, you may have to ask them to visit the school and assess whether they think it can meet your son's needs. It's also worth addressing your concerns directly with the school to see how they would address the issues that you're worried about.

I think it could be damaging to send a child to a school that's inappropriate, only to let them fail. I'm sure that LAs prefer to do this though as it saves them money by delaying the naming of another placement. Has your son visited the school? What was his response to the environment?

Are there other LA special schools that you think would be appropriate but don't have places? Sometimes if the LA realises that they would have to fund an independent placement, they'll 'somehow' find spaces in a full school after all.