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Question about college

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  • I have email contact with all of his teachers. The college car park is outsourced, so different times cannot be accommodated - this has been made very clear from the outset. It is likely to worsen from next year, as transport for post 16 is going to be costly, and more parents will probably decide to take and collect - but that in itself will create problems as it is such a short time scale for the car park. Staff currently collect and return students to the car park at the beginning and end of the day.

    I'm hoping that the tiredness will settle down, but obviously need to keep an eye on things.
  • Spendless
    Spendless Posts: 24,388 Forumite
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    I would think about picking him up/collecting him at normal finish/start time. This way you don't disturb his lessons but his day is shorter.
    I'd go with this idea too, at least as a starting point. He'd be home by 4.15ish, see if that makes any difference. If in a couple of weeks it hasn't contact college and then ask about him doing some shorter hours. At least that way you can say you've tried minimising his travel time and it's not made any difference.

    My 17yo son is at a FE college and I find it quite frustrating how you don't get any communication from the college. It's the exact opposite of my experience of secondary school who phoned me up about every thing they could think of!
    Do they have an email they can be contacted via?

    I have recently found that I am having much more joy with getting the SENCO to listen to my concerns about my son at school now I have given up phoning and send everything in writing via email :D
    I am really happy to hear this. I've read many of your threads and can't believe I've never thought to suggest this. I discovered places took more notice once there was a paper trail!
  • The college car park is outsourced, so different times cannot be accommodated - this has been made very clear from the outset..

    Would you be able to collect him from the buses first drop off point? This would avoid the situation at the car park and hopefully you will still make it back home well before it would take the bus to arrive at your house.

    Likewise would it be worth considering driving him in the morning to the last collection point for the bus just before college. Would that save much time?

    Hopefully the above would take just enough time out of the day to enable him to get used to the longer hours gradually rather than all at once.
  • Would you be able to collect him from the buses first drop off point? This would avoid the situation at the car park and hopefully you will still make it back home well before it would take the bus to arrive at your house.

    Likewise would it be worth considering driving him in the morning to the last collection point for the bus just before college. Would that save much time?

    Hopefully the above would take just enough time out of the day to enable him to get used to the longer hours gradually rather than all at once.

    It's worth considering, but this is part of the problem - the drop off points are so far apart. The last one before college and the first one after finishing are both on the far side of town. I don't know the address (and I'm not sure whether data protetion would come into play), but I do know that the address is almost as far across town from us as you can get - the bus driver has said the neighbourhood without giving the address. My son would be home earlier though. In the mornings, we would have to drive through all the traffic to get to the far side of town, just as everyone else is driving in the same direction, so it wouldn't really save much time as we would have to be out earlier to get to the far side of town in the first place. It's around seven miles away, urban driving with plenty of traffic lights and roundabouts - easy for me to drive, but time consuming.
  • UPDATE

    I mentioned the problem to SEN Transport, who said that they couldn't change the route (fair enough, I didn't expect them to just for one person). However, I also told them that it might help my son if he was able to use his wheelchair. SEN Transport has never allowed wheelchairs onto the minibuses, unless it is a chair in which the student has to stay in all day. In that case, it is a different bus which has the appropriate fixings. The fact that wheelchairs and Major buggies are not allowed on minibuses is clearly stated on the paperwork that parents have to complete every year. During the time that my son attended special schools (two - for different age groups), I have had to take my son's wheelchair into school for any day trips or off site visits, adn then collect it at the ned of the day.

    However, when I spoke to SEN Transport and explained the problems with exhaustion, the deputy manager couldn't understand why this rule is in place. I told her that I had spoken to the bus driver, who was willing to take my son's wheelchair on the bus and secure it away from his passengers. The deputy manager has spoken to the bus driver, and my son can now have his wheelchair to get to and from the car park into college. This means that he will be less exhausted, and hopefully will solve the problem. So, after half term, his wheelchair will be going with him.

    Also, this week, my son is being assessed for a new chair as well. The old one usually needs to be returned to wheelchair services, but if a new one is needed, I'll ask if his old one can be ued at college (they can only say no!)
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