Still no school for T

[Cariad]

I've C&P ed this from an email to ipsea to save typing it out again but we have exhausted almost everything. 3 months and counting since he hasn't had a school and NOTHING out there.

 

We are trying to find help for our autistic son Toby (d.o.b. 29/12/95) who we have currently had to withdraw from his school due to physical and sexual assault. It looks like he is not going to be able to go to a school for the foreseeable future as Cardiff LEA are unable to find a school that can help him. At this point we have no idea what to do next to help Toby or who we can turn to for help. I know you probably get many e-mails, so I’ve tried to keep this as brief as I can, this information is by no means complete but it has the main points :

 

 

 

* LEA sent us a statement naming a school that we believed to be inappropriate for Toby

* Request for change of school to an appropriate school denied by LEA

* We successfully argued at SEN Tribunal that the named school was inappropriate. Unfortunately the Tribunal couldn’t name the school we wanted due to it not having capacity for even one more child, so Tribunal was adjourned to a later date so we could look for other schools

* LEA told us that they would name H******** School (an Action for Children school that deals with children with ASD and also children with behavioural problems on a day and boarding basis) on condition that we withdrew our appeal. We did so, and Toby started attending H******** at a cost of over £50,000 per year to the LEA. The school we wanted would probably not have cost the LEA anything.

* After an initial good start at the school Toby suffered many physical assaults and was assigned a one-to-one support worker to shadow him in school for his own safety. At this point we had asked for an early review as we thought the school was no longer appropriate for him, but suspended our request to allow some changes the school had made time to bed in. At this time, Social Services Child & Disability team were about to issue a notice on the school under section 47 of the children’s act.

* Toby went on a school trip to France during which he was sexually assaulted by one of the other children (who was at H******** for behavioural problems rather than disability). Although a teacher had sat outside the door until the children appeared asleep, they were essentially unmonitored during the night. The sexual assault is currently being investigated by the police, and the school carried out an internal investigation, which we were not happy with. Action for Children have now arranged for an independent investigation to take place.

* At this point we permanently withdrew Toby from H******** as we found them incapable of keeping Toby safe from harm. In the meantime, the child who sexually assaulted Toby has been allowed to return to school and now boards there with other children. We have heard unofficially that this is because H******** believe that there is no realistic chance of conviction due to Toby’s disabilities and his ability to be cross examined.

* Since this time, Cardiff LEA has not been able to find Toby another school, all schools being classed as full. We found a school today that was appropriate and told us they had places, but when Cardiff LEA contacted the LEA for the school they were told the school was full.

* At present, Cardiff LEA provide a small amount of home tutoring as they are unable to provide a school for him. We have no idea how long this is likely to go on for, and we think the whole situation is proving damaging for Toby.

Edited May 22, 2009 by Kathryn

[Pippin]

Hi Cariad, you really are going through ######, aren't you! I cant believe what the school have done to you all, never mind the LEA. Have you involved any polititians in this yet? MP, AM, MEP or councillors??? (or all of them??) I know the police case has your hands tied in many ways but polititians are often quite useful in shifting immovable objects. It seems the only thing to do in these cases is to be a loud pain in the bum to all concerned and keep yelling. Make it so they'll do anything to get you off their backs. God, I wish it wasnt like this!! Ask them to look at the units in Swansea, One has boarding facilities and does take loads of kids from out of the area. It's only just over an hour commute anyway (My Dad did it for 7 years when we lived in Cardiff (- and that was before the M4 was there). Good luck, and let us know how things are going.

 

Pippin

[bid]

Have you considered an independent residential special school for AS/HFA?

 

I know this would probably mean your son would be quite a distance away. My son went to a Priory school in Somerset from Hertfordshire (3 hour-odd journey) but it did work OK for us.

 

You could look at schools run by the Priory Group and the Cambian Group.

 

Best wishes, this sounds like a complete nightmare

 

Bid <'>

[Cariad]

Thanks for your replies but I don't want him to go residential after his last experience on the French trip. also I want him close and don't see why I have to send him away as the LEA are so incompetent

[Kazzen161]

>>Since this time, Cardiff LEA has not been able to find Toby another school, all schools being classed as full. We found a school today that was appropriate and told us they had places, but when Cardiff LEA contacted the LEA for the school they were told the school was full.

* At present, Cardiff LEA provide a small amount of home tutoring as they are unable to provide a school for him. We have no idea how long this is likely to go on for, and we think the whole situation is proving damaging for Toby. >>

 

Several points:

1) Even if a LA school is full, a Tribunal can force them to take another child (up to a certain percentage over PAN), so it might be worth going to to Tribunal.

2) You should call the school back and ask if it is full or not. If it says it has a place, get them to put it in writing.

2a) Your LA has no power over the other LAs school to force them to take him, but a Tribunal could name that school.

3) You need to be pushing the LA to provide full-time equivalent tutoring/VLE while your child is out of school, otherwise they will be in no hurry to find him another school.

4) The LA cannot name another school if there are no suitable (non-residential) schools with places. They cannot be reprimanded for not supplying a school place that does not exist. You need to do your own research, especially of independent schools. If there are none within commutable distance, it may be that you will need to consider residential schools if your child is to get an education. I understand how you feel, but do go and visit some. They vary a lot. There were two that I would not have let my son stay at, several that he would have been OK at but not enjoyed, and one that was just right for him.