Secondary Schools and Home Schooling and ASD

angie_baby

Hi All,

DS will be going to secondary school in September, he is also ASD. The school i wished DS to go to has said no and i was told by an SEN worker at my LA that she had appealed but by the look of the letter that was refused and he has been offered a place at a school with an ASD unit which is just under 10 miles away.

I do not want my DS attending this unit, he is very mild ASD (he does have a full time statement though) and the unit school is too far away for him to travel by himself. It will also mean he will have to stop his after school activities.

So really the question is, can i appeal again? Chose another school closer to home?

Or does anyone have advice on home schooling KS3?

Thanks, hope this makes sense im typing on my phone

gregg1

angie_baby wrote: »

Hi All,

DS will be going to secondary school in September, he is also ASD. The school i wished DS to go to has said no and i was told by an SEN worker at my LA that she had appealed but by the look of the letter that was refused and he has been offered a place at a school with an ASD unit which is just under 10 miles away.

I do not want my DS attending this unit, he is very mild ASD (he does have a full time statement though) and the unit school is too far away for him to travel by himself. It will also mean he will have to stop his after school activities.

So really the question is, can i appeal again? Chose another school closer to home?

Or does anyone have advice on home schooling KS3?

Thanks, hope this makes sense im typing on my phone

I was under the impression that a child with SEN was given their first choice and were at the top of the list for places at their chosen school (but maybe someone else can confirm or refute that as I may be wrong).

shirlgirl2004

If your child attends a special school then you will require permission to home educate.

If you choose to home educate (home schooling is an American term) then you will be responsible for your child's education. The LEA will not be responsible for any SEN provision. You have to provide an education suited to his "age, ability and aptitude and to any special educational needs the child may have".

If he is capable and you wish him to take exams then HE children normally take IGCSEs. They normally manage to complete them a lot faster than schooled children. You can do the study from books yourselves or you can enroll on an online course at your expense. As a rough guide £500 per subject plus exam costs. There is a lot of help and information out there if you wish to go down this route.

angie_baby

shirlgirl2004 wrote: »

If your child attends a special school then you will require permission to home educate.

If you choose to home educate (home schooling is an American term) then you will be responsible for your child's education. The LEA will not be responsible for any SEN provision. You have to provide an education suited to his "age, ability and aptitude and to any special educational needs the child may have".

If he is capable and you wish him to take exams then HE children normally take IGCSEs. They normally manage to complete them a lot faster than schooled children. You can do the study from books yourselves or you can enroll on an online course at your expense. As a rough guide £500 per subject plus exam costs. There is a lot of help and information out there if you wish to go down this route.

Thank you, DS attends mainstream school at the moment but if we do go back to home educate then I will have yearly checkups from my LA SEN.

I'm hoping I won't have to go down this route but it is better than what we have been given so far.

angie_baby

gregg1 wrote: »

I was under the impression that a child with SEN was given their first choice and were at the top of the list for places at their chosen school (but maybe someone else can confirm or refute that as I may be wrong).

I thought so too?

thegirlintheattic

Only if the school is named on their statement.

Otherwise it goes down to normal admission which may or may not include SEN preference.

emg

They can also turn down statemented children if they dont believe they can meet their needs.

poet123

The school needs to be named on the statement. You will need to get the statement changed to show the school of your choice and then they cannot refuse admission unless they can prove it would fall under certain and very specific conditions. It is rare for a school to win on this issue, quite rare for them to get the LEA to back such a move actually.

quinechinoise

Can't help with the school appeal stuff. But I do know that a friend of mine is homeschooling a large family - the older kids have ASD and the eldest is mid teens, so, yes you can successfully homeschool a mild ASD teen.

If the travel is a serious issue, I'd definitely reject that school place (unless you can do anything with travel arrangements e.g. school bus pick up from home). Is there anything you could do to improve on travel issues?

Do you know if any of the nearer schools would be likely to have places later on in the year? I hear there's such as thing as... mid-year? in-year? applications for non-standard entry dates. Could you keep looking for a closer school place and apply every term till you get one? (You could then homeschool until you get a suitable place, rather than risk the 20 mile round trip.)

Frith

Is it just the travel that is the issue with the school or are there other problems?

My son travels 30 miles to his unit and the County Council provide a taxi to get to the minibus, then minibus for the last 20 miles. There is an escort on the bus, but not in the taxi.

angie_baby

emg wrote: »

They can also turn down statemented children if they dont believe they can meet their needs.

This is what the chosen school have said, but to be honest DS needs to be in mainstream school and not a unit. Whats quite funny is the chosen schools motto is All Can Achieve.

I dont mind if DS doesnt go to this school but he must go to another mainstream school closer to home, i have at least 5 others that are closer.