Statement appeal tribunal next week

teabag29

Hi, some of you may have followed my story to get my dd some help. My dd is 14 in yr 9 in mainstream school, she has a catalogue of special needs and is on shool action plus. So far she has been diagnosed with pda (which is on the autistic spectrum), sendory profiling disorder, adhd and possible dyslexia (ep says its highly likely and re-assessing today to confirm) and significant learning difficulties. Camhs have said she has general development delay and anxiety, she functions around age 6-7 (likes role play, dolls and still believes in santa). She has a reading age of 7.4 yrs and spelling of 8.4 yrs. Her levels vary between 3c-5a but that is debatable (her levels from reports are all over the place and seem made up for e.g october 2011 engish 3a november 2011 english 4a.....hardly likely), the levels are up and down throughout and so there is a question mark over the relity of them, her reading level has actually gone down 4 mths since she started secondary 2.5 yrs ago plus some of the levels dont match that of a child with a reading age of 7.4 yrs).

Basically her school has let her down repeatedly since she started there, didnt put her on sen register for 6 mths even though she was on it at primary, lots of bullying but they deny it, refusing to get ep involved or any professionals so i had to refer dd myself, also refered her to camhs myself and initiated the caf process. As soon as a professional gets involved school seem supportive but pull back once the professional is out of the picture. Dd anxiety has been getting worse and she tried suicide in september. She was placed in a mental health unit for 1 mth then hospital school till january where she thrived. This is where she was given the diagnosis for adhd. She has told every professional going how bad school life is for her (work too hard, cant make friends or keep them, teachers not understanding, bullying etc) and that is why she tried suicide. She went back to school in january as they threatened me with education welfare but i put in a transfer form for new school.....the current school did not support the move and ripped up the form (which they are not allowed to do) and when i went internally she was refused by the new school due to the current one not supporting the move.

I appealed for a statement for her and tribunal is on Tuesday. dd anxiety is getting very high again and she last week started self harming on her arm. School spotted it and did not even ring me, I rang the following day to be told they already knew and she was complaining of bullying, they said theyd get to the bottom of it and get back to me....no call came.

She gets 12 hrs support (5 hrs extra english instead of doing french, better reading partnership, 5 hrs small group support) but even though it sounds good on paper it doesnt happen e.g the small group support is a group of 16, she only gets the odd reading session as staff are either off or bell goes, she has no IEP or any 1:1 support and since all her diagnosis (which were made mid last year and january this year for adhd) no extra support has been put in place, no key worker or behaviour support nothing. She has been referred for various courses such as managing emotions, anti bullying etc but didnt make much difference tbh. Its a large school with a high level of sen and dd gets lost in the system.

School dont support statement as they say shes making progress.... this is rubbish in my opinion. They say her levels are too high to get a statement but they are not taking into account her high emotional needs, she is a very complex child and they did not suspect her of having any disorders at all so they really dont understand her. Local authority are using senco and ep as witnesses, ep recommendations havent even been met e.g she cannot read in her head and ep report said she should have extra time and be able to read out loud but when she does teachers tell her off. The teachers havent even acknowledged the pda diagnosis as it was paid for by myself not nhs.

My witnesses were camhs and pyscologist from the enc in notts who diagnosed her but low n behold camhs cant make the tribunal and arent very helpful and enc are not able to attend the appeal either so now i have no witnesses. I am dreading Tuesday especially with no witnesses. Parent partnership are supporting me but they have warned me that although the panel are independant they still work for the local authority and not to get my hopes up. School are adament i wont get a statement for dd and i stand no chance. As usual when something is coming up school get someone involved at the last minute to make it look as though they are supporting dd and so today she is having her 2nd assessment with the ep....I highly doubt she would have seen him had it not been for the tribunal next week.
Anyone been through this process and actually won? Not feeling so confident

building_with_lego

I don't have any advice but I've followed your story. I think you are amazing and inspirational in your struggle for the help your daughter needs, and I wish you every success at the tribunal.

mucklebones

I would have to say that if school are not able to support her needs without a statement there is no guarantee they will do so with one. I think it will be quite difficult to get a statement without the school on your side.

From all you have said about the school and I am sure someone has asked you before is another school not an option?

There are four schools close to me that my daughter could have gone to, but I thoroughly looked into all of them previously and what I found was that 3 out the 4 schools were not at all geared up for children with additional needs. They could not tell me how they could support my daughter but the one that we chose for her now is just amazing. Some schools just are not good at supporting SEN.

My daughter had her statement before she went into school, but it did have to go back to panel. Thankfully it did not go as far as a tribunal. A lot of the decision is based on the way the people supporting the statement actually word their appendix. Like the OT wrote what support she needed the first time but did not include specific times of how long this would take and how often, she presumed the panel would know what a sensory diet was and how it was to be delivered for example. All people supporting the statement need to up their evidence or its unlikely to be successful from what I have experienced.

Wish you all the best next week. Sorry have rambled a bit.

LannieDuck

I agree with mucklebones - I think I would be looking to move schools asap.

peachyprice

OP already tried that

teabag29 wrote: »

She went back to school in january as they threatened me with education welfare but i put in a transfer form for new school.....the current school did not support the move and ripped up the form (which they are not allowed to do) and when i went internally she was refused by the new school due to the current one not supporting the move.

LannieDuck

peachyprice wrote: »

OP already tried that

Agreed, but I think it's an avenue to re-explore. Are there other schools in the area? Could the LA not get more involved? It sounds as if the OP has quite a portfolio of evidence to demonstrate that the current school is failing to adequately support her child's needs, so a request to move the child to another school would seem to be justified.

Also, it sounds as if the OP has developed a lot of experience dealing with bureaucracy... and maybe the possibility of a new school is an area that they haven't explored in quite as much depth? (Or maybe we only got a summary and they've actually fully explored the possibility...?)

Edit: Incidentally, I can't imagine that it's a requirement for the old school to support a move, given that the whole reason for requiring the move is the failings of the current school. I would definitely speak to the LA about it.

mucklebones

Is it really that difficult to change schools if you feel your child`s educational needs are not being met?

Genuine question btw not questioning the OP here.

teabag29

Yes ive involved the LA who said theyd try their best with the other school to see why theyve turned her down and if its not good enough they'll insist but that was 2 weeks ago and despite constant calls still nothing has been sorted, seems they are allowed to turn her away if they feel she will pose behaviour problems etc.

Next nearest school is too far, I have no way of getting her there as I dont drive and have 3 other children at school plus the next nearest one is a rough school too.

Oh EP has oficially diagnosed her with Dyslexia now too.

julie03

my friend is just starting this process for her son, he has complex issues which the school wont accept so she is doing it all herself as well. xx

i have no advise either but have followed your story and wish you all the luck in the world with it

mucklebones

If it was me in your situation I would probably be looking at moving away to an area with a decent school, its life changing yes but I think I would do almost anything to see my children getting proper support.

I really dont think a statement is going to help you much at that school, I am guessing you want the statement to name the school of your choice? However I think a school can still refuse a child if they dont feel they can accommodate a childs needs or if the school is already full.

kingfisherblue

OP, have you been in touch with IPSEA? They may be able to offer more detailed advice and support.

http://www.ipsea.org.uk/

They have a tribunal helpline, which is open from 7-9pm this evening.

Good luck x