choice of school for statemented children

hoxtonbabe

Hello,

I'm hoping someone can help shed some light before I end up going totally mad.

I have a son who is in year 6, so I have been looking for secondary schools, he is statemented so I know to a certain extent he is a priorty, however, we are devout catholics, and in my area there is only one catholic school which isn't very good, (although in the last 2 years the GCSE results have vastly improved and it had a good recent ofsted report) but it is also mixed and both me and my son are hoping for an all boys school.

Now my problem is that my LEA have told me I must name 2 schools in the borough as well as my choices out of borough and if I do not they will pick for me, and if they think that the local schools can meet his needs that will be the school they will name regardless of my choices, or that I would like my son to go to a catholic school

Most people have said when the time comes just appeal, but I have just heard because my appeal will be on the grounds of faith, that is not taken into consideration for statmented children if I do go ahead and appeal. I feel that with the schools I have chosen they will be the best setting for my child for religous and academic reason, so not quite sure why I am not allowed to excercise this right as I know of other parents with children without statements who have appealed an got inot the schools of their choice.

What annoys me even more is that some person sitting behind a desk who has never met me or my son has the right to say I cannot have the school of my choice EVEN IF THE SCHOOLS I HAVE CHOSEN ACCEPTS HIM

I am getting myself so worked up about this as I really do not know what to do anymore

Gingham_Ribbon

Have you asked your priest for advice? Maybe he can contact the bishop or the head of your prefered school for help? (Though it's possible he'll refuse to get involved if he doesn't want to be seen to be putting the local catholic school down.)

hoxtonbabe

hi,

not sure priest can help, the decision is made by folks at the LEA, so even if the schools accept me with or without priests help, they can still say no.

It all boils down to money, if I send my son to a school out of borough, my LEA have to pay for him, and at the rate of what the other LEA sets, and my borough being one of the poorer ones, i doubt they will want to cough up, regardless of if my son likes, wants, learns or settles into the school, all theyare intrested in is that they have a school for him, end of.

the sods.

elisamoose

hoxtonbabe wrote: »

hi,

not sure priest can help, the decision is made by folks at the LEA, so even if the schools accept me with or without priests help, they can still say no.

It all boils down to money, if I send my son to a school out of borough, my LEA have to pay for him, and at the rate of what the other LEA sets, and my borough being one of the poorer ones, i doubt they will want to cough up, regardless of if my son likes, wants, learns or settles into the school, all theyare intrested in is that they have a school for him, end of.

the sods.

Go and see the SENCO at his current school and get him or her to help you.Also the LA should have a secondary transition advisor who can help you. As far as I know , only one school can be named on a statement and it is usually in the home LA unless his needs can only be met out of area.

hoxtonbabe

senco doesnt know too much about the process when out of borough, my case worker is being crafty as I asked him something and he slipped up, he basically said the LEA will name an in borough school on the statement then quickly corrected himself by saying or your choice if i get a place as he has known from the off that I do not want to send my son to a school in my borough.

I have a feeling i will have to up sticks to get him in a half decent school, something ive always hoped not to do, but i just think its madness that they expect me to send him to a school that is either an academy (so not yet fully established as the oldest one in my area is 4 years old and they have not even sat any gcse's for me to get a rough idea) or a failing school...yes, send the boy who has difficulty with learning to a school that is failing the brigher students at the best of times.

My son needs a school that is firm and has firm set boudaries and rules in order for him to do well, and the schools I have chosen are firm and quite strict, this doesnt phase my son as he is quite excited about going to big school and with the exception of one that hes still not 100% sure about he likes them all (He wont be so excited when he sees how much homework he will be getting..teehee) but the LEA do not seem to understand this or consider it a factor to his learning

Nicki

I'm not sure I understand this. Are you saying that other catholic families in your LEA have been able to get into the better out of borough school on appeal? That sounds unlikely to me.

AFAIK (having a child with a statement myself) the LEA will only pay for out of borough education if they cannot meet your child's educational needs in borough. Therefore they will look for the best school for that in your LEA. If the catholic school can meet his needs and will take him, then of course he will go there. If the catholic school rejects him, then they will look for another school in the LEA first. Only if there is nothing appropriate in the LEA will they look outside, at which point you may succeed in getting into the better catholic school.

I'm not sure though why the fact that you are a devout catholic means your SEN child has to go to a catholic school. Surely you can meet his religious and spiritual needs by church, sunday school and home instruction and let his educational needs be met at school? There are some catholic children at my DDs school (which is a special school), as well as protestants, jewish and muslim children, and none to the best of my knowledge has moved away from their religion just because it is a non-denominational school!

hoxtonbabe

It's not a case of "better" catholic school, regardless of faith or not, all areas have good and bad, however i simply I wish for my child to go to a catholic school with atleast reasonable grades and reputation (which i think any parent would want) I am not expecting the state equivilent of Eton but atleast somewhere where there isn't a higher chance of him getting stabbed, and if there was a reasonable one in my area then I would gladly send him, and I wouldnt be in this position now but there isn't.

Yes, I could send him along to the 1 local good school, it has even had positive write ups in the guardian and Times, and he would more than likely get in, but as a catholic I have every right to wish for my son to go to a catholic school, I would never dream or saying to another parent "why does your child have to go to a catholic/jewish/islamic school" if that is their religion at the end of the day that is their choice and makes perfect sense to me.

My cousin who is Cof E lives in the same borough as me, her children go to a school in another borough, and not even a neighbouring one and got in on appeal, so yes it can happen.

poet123

I am Catholic,and a SEN school Governor, (I am telling you this so that you know that I can appreciate where you are coming from in relation to religion)and I am lucky in the respect that my kids have gone to a good catholic school of choice.

However, if it had been a choice(as it seems to be in your case) of a good school which met the academic and social needs of my child(particularly if they had special needs)and a Catholic one, then I would choose the good school. I agree it should not be necessary to make the choice but.....

The issue is that, yes, you may get in on appeal, but to go down the route of making an appeal to SENDIST is long winded, and would imo be unsettling for your child. The uncertainty is not good. So I suppose what I am saying is that it is important to decide your priority, and the effect of a protracted appeal on your child.

Obviously the ideal would be an out of area highly graded RC school,but the LEA has finite resources and will fight you,on the grounds of transport costs,their opinion that his needs can be met in borough etc. At the end of it all. even if you win, your son will be schooled out of area and away from current friends,and isolated by distance from friends he will make at the school.

It is not an easy decision to make I know,butyou need to be realistic about the process and the outcome. Good luck!!

Nicki

hoxtonbabe wrote: »

It's not a case of "better" catholic school, regardless of faith or not, all areas have good and bad, however i simply I wish for my child to go to a catholic school with atleast reasonable grades and reputation (which i think any parent would want) I am not expecting the state equivilent of Eton but atleast somewhere where there isn't a higher chance of him getting stabbed, and if there was a reasonable one in my area then I would gladly send him, and I wouldnt be in this position now but there isn't.

Yes, I could send him along to the 1 local good school, it has even had positive write ups in the guardian and Times, and he would more than likely get in, but as a catholic I have every right to wish for my son to go to a catholic school, I would never dream or saying to another parent "why does your child have to go to a catholic/jewish/islamic school" if that is their religion at the end of the day that is their choice and makes perfect sense to me.

My cousin who is Cof E lives in the same borough as me, her children go to a school in another borough, and not even a neighbouring one and got in on appeal, so yes it can happen.

Sorry I didn't mean to offend.

All I was trying to say (and it doesn't matter what religion we're talking about, it just happens here to be catholic) was that if the parents of non-SEN children in your LEA have the choice of either sending their children to the one poor catholic school or to a better but non-catholic school in borough, then it will be the same for your son.

The fact that he has SEN is only relevant in that if there isn't a school in the borough who can meet those needs, then you have a better case for persuading the LEA to fund out of borough.

As a parent of a SEN child myself, I'd be really nervous about not naming a good local school for my child (if it existed) and instead plumping for an out of borough school solely on the grounds of faith, because if your appeal fails, you may find that the best local school no longer has a place for your child because it is full, or because it has taken on another SEN child in that year group whose needs conflict with your child's, and you end up with a "just ok" rather than a good place. My personal view (and it is a personal one) is that you can teach the religious values in the home irrespective of whether the school is a religious one or not, but that you can't easily correct the fact that the school isn't the correct environment for the SEN child during the day, by anything you do at home.

As for not wanting him to go to somewhere with less than reasonable grades, or where there's a chance of being stabbed, I don't think there's a parent in the country who chooses that for their child. And yet, some children do end up in those schools nonetheless. Which is another good reason to think carefully about whether you want to rule out the more acceptable local schools and gamble on an out of borough placement, when that kind of school might be all that is left should your gamble not pay off.

morganb

If you can prove that the school of your choice can meet his needs, and you need to be speaking to THEIR Senco, then I am confident in saying that Statemented children are allocated places FIRST, before application forms are looked at.

I know this because I have helped my neighbour apply for an Out Of County place for Secondary School for her Statemented son, and she has already had confirmation of a place for September 2009. She didn't go through the application process but we wrote a letter to the school and to County, which the (current) primary school endorsed.

silvercar

You need to look at the admissions policy of the school you want your child to go to. Meet with the school if necessary. If that school can meet your childs needs and able to offer him a place then, as you've put it first on your list, it should mean you get the place. The fact it is out of area shouldn't effect the decision to offer you a place.

Where you will lose out is on transport. If there is a school within 3 miles that the LEA sees as appropriate and you have decided to go to one further afield, you won't get the council to provide transport.

Different areas have different policies regarding faith schools transport, but if there is a nearer catholic school than the one you have chosen, I can't see you getting transport.