Request for statutory assessment

[Athena]

The school have offered to request a statutory assessment of DD; I would rather apply myself then at least I KNOW that they application has been sent off and I can be "pro-active" in relation to chasing it up, making sure that the LEA stick to the deadlines, e.t.c

 

BUT would it be more likely to succeed if the request is made by the school?

 

Any advice/experiences of the school applying would be very welcome!

 

A

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[chris54]

If you apply then the school will still need to be involved.

It is really a case of how much you trust the school to get on with the proses of applying.

Once the application has gone in you will be contacted by the AL so you will know how it is going.

We let the school send in the application, the senco was working on the paperwork in her own time to get it done before she went off on maternity leave. The new senco also seems to work into the evening, she has phoned us at 7pm to make appointment to come into the school.

 

The school sent us a copy of all the paperwork that was sent in, (Not all of it because some of it was what we had sent to the school in the first place).You also have an opportunity to make a parents contribution at this stage.On the form there is a half page for that. I ended up typing up 2 pages which were attached.

We had a meeting with the EP to talk about what she will be putting in her report, she will send us a copy to give us a chance to discus it.

 

I also ended adding more pages to the form that the council sent me as there was not enough room to put all I wanted to.

 

Cant tell you yet what the outcome is as we are only halfway through it at the moment.

 

And don't forget to photo copy every thing you send in and never send in any of your own original paperwork, reports etc. only ever send copies. Keep the originals nice and safe. I always take a spare copy of anything relevant with me when I go to see people as more often that not they will have ever forgotten theirs or never got it in the first place.

 

Good luck.

[Kathryn]

Generally speaking I think the LA take the application more seriously if the school initiate the process, although the process is exactly the same. It would be interesting to see if there is any difference in success rate but I don't know if there are any statistics on this.

 

I agree with chris that it depends on the individual circumstances, and whether the school is cooperative and likely to get on with it in a reasonable timescale. Many parents initiate the process because they get fed up waiting! The ideal situation is a school application backed up by a parent's report so that you are jointly involved in the process.

 

You can still chase things up yourself even if the school has applied, and if the request is turned down, you will have the right of appeal whether you applied or not.

 

K x

[Athena]

Thank you for your advice chris54 and Kathryn - I will let the school apply and keep an eye on the LEA to make sure that they stick to the deadlines!

 

As I will still have the right of appeal, then I am happy for the school to apply. I am just a bit of a control freak, and our school SENCO only works part-time, so doesn't have a lot of time, but I can see the logic of an application from the school being more favorably considered.

 

Chris54 - good luck, do let us know how you get on!

 

A

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[westie]

In my case I asked for assessment for my son, because at time I applied he was not actually at school, he also did not have a diagnosis of anything other than "emotional and behavioural difficulties" but I had been forced to withdraw him from one nursery, and had just took him out of another before he was also asked to leave that one as well (aggressive behaviour, biting) and I had a lovely early years special needs teacher who had seen him at playgroup and tried to give them advice and support. She told me I could ask for this assessment myself, and sent an email to LEA in support and including my last email to her stating my desperation and asking her some specific questions about schooling and next steps. They agreed pretty quickly an assessment was needed due to his EBD and he did get a statement which has been maintained since. As to "quality" of statement.. - well I think I did not realise how loosely it was worded and think when his statement is changed at end of year I am going to look into it all more thorougly and see if it can be a little more specific in terms of the help and support he needs and will receive.

 

[Sally44]

I was told the opposite, that requests by parents are taken more seriously than those by school. But, whoever sets the process in motion, it still means that everyone has to send in their reports and opinions, including the parents. The form they send to you to fill in does help you cover all the areas of concern. The most important is getting all your sons needs down on paper by the professionals that see him. You will receive copies of those reports. If you don't feel that they have done enough assessments, or have not gone into enough detail, then you have the right to get independent reports. Also speak with the NAS.org as they can give you alot of help and advice through their education helpline and their tribunal service.

[Athena]

The school have asked me to write a letter in support of their application for a statutory assessment.

 

I presume that I need to list the reasons why DD needs an assessment, e.g lack of progress at school, often on her own at playtime all her problems.

 

Do I also need to fill out the detailed parental contribution infomation, e.g what she was like as a baby, when we first thought something was wrong. E.c.t.

 

Just not sure how much detail I need to go into at this stage, but I am bearing in mind that I will go to appeal if the request to assess is refused.

 

Thanks!

 

A

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