Advice on getting funding for private SEN schooling

Corelli

JC9297 wrote: »

Provision like the Cambrian schools aren't really private schools like in mainstream, they just provide facilities that Local Authorities do not have themselves, so the LAs pay them to meet the needs of children with SEN which can't be met in one of their schools. Most residential special schools are not run by LAs. Ah, right. This is all new to me.

My son had a Statement in place before he even started school, he spent until 16 in autism units. He has a severe learning disabilty and autism. He had to leave at 16, we wanted him to go to a specialist residential school to help prepare him for adult life living away from us (he'll never be independent, will live in supported living).

Had to leave at 16? So have you found supported living for him yet? That doesn't sound so good as surely more input in both educational and independant living skills would have been better. We knew our son was a bit different and couldn't cope with a school when younger but as we were already home educating his sister as a matter of course that is what we did with him and his anxieties and what we later learnt are called melt downs were managed OK in a smaller fairly tolerant groups. Later he got bullied by local youngsters in the street and it all went wrong and then we got involved with CAMHS ... it all escalated and went downhill and the statement came when he was in hospital
The LA argued that a local special school could meet his needs, we said he needed a 24 hour curriculum to help him to learn daily living skills and to maximise his independence. Remember it is his educational needs they have to meet,
This bit of your answer surprises me, surely it is his whole well being that has to be cared for. Mental health issues in the case of my son and independant living skills for both our youngsters as you argued. if he can access a mainstream curriculum it will be hard to argue that their schools can't meet them. This accessing a mainstream curriculum is what we are trying to do now and tbh, I think it would be best if he could but its beginning to look like it will never work.


We went to Tribunal and were successful but it is a really stressful, time-consuming and potentially expensive thing to go through. The LA will fight tooth and nail not to pay the admittedly high fees, they hope that parents will give up before it gets as far as Tribunal. Mmmm, I didn't think the LA would happily fork out the fees I got quoted on the phone. You need to have a really strong case to argue that the LA can't meet his educational needs in county, backed up by reports from professionals. And I don't know how eager the professionals will be to support us as I would presume they have to work very closely with the LA and some would be employed by them.


If his SEN are not severe enough that he has been statemented I think it would be really difficult. I know you said your LA is pro inclusion so doesn't like to give statements, but there will be children who have them ie children attending special schools, children with profound disabilities. I must admit I was quite surprised by the poster who said their child had a statement because they were dyslexic, I think that would be quite unusual unless there were other SEN.


An organisation called IPSEA is excellent for advice and support regarding statements and tribunals.

Thanks very much for your insights and advice.

daska

I can recommend a book called Special Educational Needs Getting Started with Statements by Tania Tirraoro. It's written by a parent and aimed at parents who are starting out on the statementing route. Whilst I had a lot of support from ParentPartnership and fabulous input from IPSEA I found this book invaluable for pointing out little wrinkles that I strongly believe tipped the balance.

FYI There are two parts to the Statement: educational needs and non-educational needs - and there is often a dispute over what part various needs/provision go into and it isn't always obvious. For example, DS2 has occupational therapy listed as an educational need despite the fact that the NHS provide the OT service because his sensory problems, while medical, strongly affect his ability to learn; other councils try very hard to put this into non-educational so that it's not a legal requirement for them to provide it.

The above book provides a wealth of examples of how parents have researched and fought for the provision their child/ren need.

Good luck, it's a tough road but there is help available to get you down it.

Corelli

Thanks daska. I'm growing to appreciate this forum more and more There are some lovely thoughtful and helpful people here.

daska

There are, aren't there!

I forgot to mention that some of the examples in the book are of parents who have successfully fought for their children to be educated privately as that was the only suitable option - and won!

duchy

A quick rundown of my son's education.
Primary CoE very supportive and was statemented at age of 6 with Aspergers diagnosis

Secondary tried to get him into one of the specialist ASD units attached to local high schools but were told he was " too academically able" (never quite worked out why that should matter his difficulties were social and emotional ) .

Went to high school for 2 years with LSA support-year 8 started to fail badly -At annual review I stated I felt high school was an inappropriate placement (I could have used the bullying but chose not to) as the enviroment was too big for him to cope with.

LEA then asked where I felt was appropriate -I visited several schools and decided to aim high -expecting the LEA to knock me down. I requested placement at a private school locally with small classes (average size 10). School had no AEN provision but as the classes were so small all kids needs were treated individually and he did really well there leaving with all GCEs at A-C and moved on to further education. LEA paid all fees.

I found his needs were met without the need for a school specializing in AEN but every child is different-but maybe another route for you to consider.

Corelli

Thanks for all the information, support and personal stories. I now feel ready to go down this route - we have a review at the end of June about my boy's education. However, I got brochures and the schools all want students willing to be there. And there is nothing Ive found so far that would not mean ridiculous travelling every day so it would have to be boarding. Understandably so of course and my boy's mental state atm means he will cooperate with nothing. So it's almost back to square one. I wish we could go back to our happy days of home Education but I'm realistic enough to understand that is not an option either.