named school refusing to sign statement please help

[bensmum2]

Hi , we won our tribunal and 3 weeks ago we got the decision and the amendments to be made to parts 3 b and 4 of the working document, today the lea sent the new named school (my choice) the new statement. At hte tribunal the school said they could meet ll his OT needs out of their budget without charging any more ot the lea, Now thta they have the finla statement they are saying they only said thta because they thought he didnt need much OT and the statement asks for termly reports, a full hour a month ot and 15 minutes per day one to one ot, the school say thast excessive and they could not do that in the price they quoted pluys it would take my son out of class much more than he should be.(which i agree with) , they do have ot programs for other children and he could be part of that very easily but they say reports once a term are too much and they propose "monitoring" instead , again i agree. The lea flatly refuse to chancge it.If he had been in mainstream school he would have needed these things in place, but with the new school he would fit nicely into their already running sessions but they dont fit with the wording of the statement. A i siad the LEA say its now a legal document and has to remain in force , but the school say if it does they will say they can't meet his needs and then the lea can get their name taken off the statement causing even more problems for my son who should be in year 10, can anyone advise me please ?

[Kathryn]

Oh dear - deadlock!

 

The school said they could meet his needs as described in the statement, so on their head be it - was the school representative asleep at the hearing?? Tthey should not be backing out now - any issues should already have been thrashed out.

 

Even if the school sign the statement it does not make them legally responsible for the provision - the LEA is -and if more funding was needed presumably they would have to provide it. What's the difference in terms of ££ - have you asked the school how much extra it would cost to provide what the statement says?

 

Worth contacting your IPSEA rep and asking their advice.

 

K x

[Sally44]

This is awful to hear after everything seemed to go in your favour.

 

If the school were also at the tribunal had they received a copy of the OT report? Did the finalised Statement contain any OT provision? If their fees only include a certain amount of OT input was that made clear by them at any stage during the process.

 

From your post it says that the school said they could meet his OT needs within their fees at tribunal. I presume the final wording and level of provision was made by the Panel? Did the Panel change the level of provision at all ie. from monitoring to termly reviews. Did the school see the OT report from which I presume the recommendations were taken?

 

My initial feeling is that the school have messed this up. But equally, if the Panel are making recommendations Did they simply cut and paste the OTs recommendations into the Statement, or did they add to them.

 

As Statements are often changed at tribunal and provision is recommend over and above what is normally provided by any school (mainstream or special). How is that extra provision funded? Maybe others have had something similar, or heard of something similar.

 

I don't know what to suggest other than get some advice on this. Have you spoken with IPSEA or SEND or a solicitor? You need to know how to move forward.

 

Have you spoken with the school yourself. What is their typical level of OT provision included within their fees. I cannot see how they cannot work with this. Afterall LEAs manage to somehow fulfill Statements without fulfilling them! An hour OT a month is not alot. 15 mins a day 1:1 could be incorporated into his daily schedule within the class working with his TA. Does the 15 mins a day have to be with the OT themselves? A termly report can mean anything. An A4 piece of paper can be a report. It is as big as they want to make it. Is there any flexibility built into the Statement that can be taken advantage of eg. can they alter the OT programme?

[bensmum2]

Hi again ladies, i have provided th shcool with all his reports even my private ones as far as i can remember. The original proposed statement had no OT at all and i emailed the school (i have a copy of this ) to say we were going to get OT provision added. They never asked me about it again and as we were thrashing the statement out with changed made almost daily i didnt send them another copy. the tribunal asked them directly about OT and they said they could provide all he needed by buying it in but thta all these things coem out of the fees they charge and they re woudl be no extra charge to the lea. as we coudltn agree on parts 3b and 4 of the working document the tribunal judge went through it nd said what he thought we shoudl leave in or remove, the problem is that if B had been at mainstream he would have needed the extra OT so we had to leave it in just in case , but at the new school they have help with daily living skills and things which otherwise would have had to be provided by an OT and also they have programs already in place but they would not be one to one which his statement specifically states. The termly report states a 2 hour meeting with parents and everyone and a report which is really excessive , as the school is quite far and i cant travel on my own being disabled , my husband would have to take time off work and he has used most of his holidays during our fight with appointments and tribunals. I agree the school have messed up but they havent put anything in writing about not charging extra , but also there s enough oT already there that he could join with and i would be happy with that as it would mean he wasnt segregated again i dont like him being out of class all the time. i only found all thsi out about tea tiem sih so will speak to ipsea ace sendist etc tomorow. But the lea lady had checked her emails from home about 10 tonight and replied "it is a legal dcoument ordered by the tribunal and can not be changed !!" I thought my fight was over i have been crying for ages even when B went to bed i couldnt stop i didnt want him to see me but i just couldnt hold it in any longer.If he doesnt get into this school there is nowhere for him. He's missed so much he will never catch up .

[coolblue]

Can't advise on how to bang certain parties' heads together, bensmum, just to say that as far as education is concerned it is perfectly possible to 'catch up', even as an adult, however much you have missed. You just need the right support. Not much comfort in your situation, I know, just trying to say that not getting the right support at the right time doesn't have to scupper your life chances.

 

cb

Edited October 7, 2010 by coolblue

[Sally44]

As the Panel found in your favour and awarded this school, this means it is the only one that can meet his needs.

 

So I would get advice from IPSEA or SEND or a solicitor and get him through the doors of that school asap whilst this is sorted out, because once in it is harder for them to remove him.

 

There is case law that States that if a child goes to a special school that the Statement may not need to quantify and specify so much because the provison is already there, whereas in a mainstream school that does not have any of those things it may need to quantify and specify to a greater provision. The thing is the Statement does specify currently.

 

Is there nothing in the Statement for flexibility at all that you can use?

 

And as you say certain things were quantified incase the Panel awarded a mainstream school.

 

If the school was sent a copy of the OT report then they should have been aware of what it contained.

 

As already said, funding of the Statement is always via the LEA. So see what the difference is in terms of cost. And see what IPSEA and SEND say.

 

This situation must have arisen before.

[Sally44]

Just a further thought about the costs the independent school provided.

Did panel discuss this and agree with the fees. Was any other additional funding discussed at all to cover any extras he might need at that school?

[puffin]

This sounds like an argument about money

[bensmum2]

Hi yes its definately about money, isn't that what all SEN arguements boil down to. FANTASTIC NEWS ANYWAY GUYS SCHOOL TOLD THE LEA IF THEY INSISTED ON SO MANY MEETINGS THEY WOULD HAVE TO ATTEND THEM ALL AND I ASKED FOR A PRIVATE TUTOR UNTIL IT WAS SORTED AS THEY HAVE ALREADY ADMITTED THEY CAN'T PROVIDE ANY OTHER SCHOOL FOR HIM AMD AS HE HAS BEEN REREGISTERED WITH THE LEA SINCE SEPTEMBER THEY WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR PROVIDING AN ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION , THEY BACKED DOWN, SCHOOL SIGNED AND ACCEPTED IT AND THEY ARE GOING TO DO AN ANNUAL REVIEW IN A MONTH AND ASK FOR THE CHANGES THEN WHICH THE LEA HAVE AGREED TO CONSIDER AT THAT TIME!!! HE IS STARTING SCHOOL MONDAY 11TH tHANKS TO YOU ALL FOR YOUR AMAZING SUPPORT ONCE AGAIN. NOW WE JUST HAVE TO GET RESIDENTIAL ADDED LOL X

[Sally44]

Sense at last.....