EHCP advice, please: waves desperately to attract the attention of Thatsnotmycar…

[EmmatheStageRat]

My Y10 teen is registered blind and diagnosed with ADHD and autism, among several other disabilities. She is in a mainstream selective grammar school currently but I would like her to attend a specialist residential college for severely sight impaired young people post-16 (mainly because her current setting does not meet her vision impairment needs and she is struggling with independent living skills. DD only lost her sight at 11 so we are fairly new to the VI ‘world’.

I have battled my LA for an EHCP; a draft was issued last month, but, with the help of a specialist, I have requested pages of amendments (primarily because Section F was not legally compliant as it did not specify and quantify any support).

I am awaiting the full EHCP as I sent my requested amendments before half-term. I would like to know when I should start the battle of trying to secure a place at the residential college bearing in mind that DD will take her GCSEs in the summer of 2024 and would need to start her A-level course in September 2024. I fully expect to have to take my LA to tribunal in order to secure agreement to fund her sixth form place.

@Thatsnotmycar, you seem really clued up on the legal side of EHCPs etc, so I would be eternally grateful if you could give me any advice on timings of my next moves so as to ensure that DD’s education at the right setting for her (in my opinion and the opinion of her specialist teacher for the vision impaired) is not delayed or disrupted.

The LA don’t have to amend the EHCP for post 16 phase transfer until 31st March of Y11, so you can’t appeal the post 16 placement yet.

There’s a few options depending on whether you think B&F need appealing and if it is suitable for DD to remain at her current school until the end of Y11. Don’t stay put just because DD is mid GCSEs if you don’t think it’s meeting her needs. With an EHCP there’s more flexibility with respect to when to sit exams.

The first option is to accept the EHCP is what it is, sit tight until March 2024, collecting evidence for the specialist college behind the scenes and if your post 16 preference isn’t named appeal then. The downsides of this approach is DD may miss out on provision she needs between now and Sept 2024. And although phase transfer appeals are prioritised who knows what mess SENDIST will be in by 2024.

If you think DD needs a specialist setting now the second option would be to appeal BFI now for another setting. Is the specialist college post 16 only or does it have a school section? If it does and you appeal for it now, if successful it might be easier to get the college named for post 16, and the school will be able provide evidence that’s needed too. Downside is the long wait for Tribunal.

If the amendments aren’t made and B&F don’t accurately portray DD’s needs and the provision she requires the third option would be to appeal B&F now. In the hope making the EHCP as strong as possible reduces the chance you need to appeal the post 16 placement come March 2024. Obviously there’s no guarantee, and it could mean going through tribunal twice in quick succession. And the wait for hearings is currently around a year. There’s also the benefit of DD receiving the provision sooner (if Tribunal agreed).

Do you have the specialist teacher’s opinion in writing?

@Thatsnotmycar , thanks so much for replying, and in such detail; that’s very helpful information. That’s very interesting regarding the flexibility of GCSE timings for young people with EHCPs. I need to reflect on this but my gut is not to move her now; also, the Royal National College for the Blind is only post-16. There is ONE national combined school/college for the blind but I do not think it is the right setting for DD for a multitude of reasons. Also, regardless of the family issues we experience due to DD’s significant emotional and behavioural difficulties, I think that it would be detrimental to all of us to move her to a boarding college significantly far from home.

Yes, I do have the specialist teacher’s recommendation in writing but I’m aware that her support could cost her a job.

In that case I would go for option 1 or 3 depending on how good the EHCP is and how robust you feel about potentially having 2 tribunals close together. And push for social care support in the meantime.

@Thatsnotmycar , thanks again for your advice. DD is currently on a CIN Plan due to her complexities (she is adopted also). She has an Outreach Worker and we have a family SW.

The EHCP has been issued today and the LA is providing nearly £5K of additional funding on top of the notional 6K spend!

I’m wincing a little at the thought of school reading my initial EHCNA request, but it’s all true!

Do you get direct payments for a PA from social care? If you don’t push for that.

Don’t worry too much about funding as it isn’t your concern. It is section F that is important. Although £5k isn’t a huge amount of funding to be attached to it. And it is also possible to get the EHCP fully funded by the LA.

We did get offered three hours a week term time and six hours a week in school holidays from the LA Short Breaks scheme but DD did not want to engage and I was put off by all the red tape of employing someone and holiday/sick pay etc as my life is stressful enough as it is (two adopted children, both with significant needs and an elderly, widowed and housebound mother who refuses to move out of her six-bedroom house). It felt like one of those things that would end up making my life harder rather than easier. Also, DD has a long commute to and from school and a huge workload now she is in her GCSE years; I don’t know where we would actually find three hours in her/the family’s schedule to go out with a PA!

The Section F section now runs to seven sides of A4 and seems very detailed and thorough.

Happily, the introduction to Section F reads: ‘DD will need to have access to a highly nurturing setting, with a broad and balanced curriculum…The National Curriculum will need to be differentiated to a high degree to take account of her needs…’ I am hoping that this will be a key statement in my fight to secure a place for her post-16 at the Royal National College for the Blind?

*‘DD will need to have access to a highly nurturing setting, with a broad and balanced curriculum…The National Curriculum will need to be differentiated to a high degree to take account of her needs…’

This is too vague and woolly - “access to” needs removing and “to a high degree” needs defining, what is to a high degree?

Are the LA providing transport to school?

and an elderly, widowed and housebound mother who refuses to move out of her six-bedroom house).

Slightly off topic but do coke and join us in the Elderly Parents Section @EmmatheStageRat. Sounds like you could do with some support regarding your DM as well