LA Just Agreed to Assess

[Sharon.S]

Hi this is the first time i have posted so please bear with me if i go on lol, My son is 11 and has a diagnosis of ASD since 2008 although he is more Aspergers, I placed him in a secondary school in September outside my LA as after looking at schools in my own area i and my son felt this school was more caring and suitable, The SENCO in his school is very supportive and said he needs full time support (a Statement)for many reasons so i applyed to my LA, they refused so i put an appeal in and a week before the final date they have backed down and agreed to Assess,

I now have an Ed psych goin in at the end of the month and a doctor's health assessment to attend, i am worried that if i am lucky and get a Statement can they force me to send him to another school so they can keep the funding in there LA,

Thanks hope i havn't babbled too much : )

[Kathryn]

Welcome to the forum, and it's great to start off with a piece of good news!

 

Well done for winning the first battle. The next battle of course is to actually get the statement. Assuming that you do, the LA can decide to name a different school, however if you express a preference for the current maintained mainstream school there are limited grounds on which they can refuse. As he is already at your preferred school, and as any additional help would have to be funded wherever he was, I'm guessing that they would not have strong reasons to refuse. Pupils with and without statements can and do freely attend mainstream schools outside their own LA's - this is perfectly normal.I'm not familiar with the finer points of funding but presumably there is a mechanism for moving money between LA's, especially if they border on each other and frequently receive each others' pupils, as in many London boroughs for example.

 

K x

[Sharon.S]

Welcome to the forum, and it's great to start off with a piece of good news!

 

Well done for winning the first battle. The next battle of course is to actually get the statement. Assuming that you do, the LA can decide to name a different school, however if you express a preference for the current maintained mainstream school there are limited grounds on which they can refuse. As he is already at your preferred school, and as any additional help would have to be funded wherever he was, I'm guessing that they would not have strong reasons to refuse. Pupils with and without statements can and do freely attend mainstream schools outside their own LA's - this is perfectly normal.I'm not familiar with the finer points of funding but presumably there is a mechanism for moving money between LA's, especially if they border on each other and frequently receive each others' pupils, as in many London boroughs for example.

 

K x

 

Thank you Kathryn for your reply, there really isn't a reason other than they want to keep the money in there own LA, I waited for him to start the secondary school before i applied because i thought the placement would be more secure and hopefully it will be, I wouldn't have got the support from his primary school senco either because he already had an assistant in the class when needed so fingers crossed im sure i will be back on here again with a progress report, with a bit of luck good news, : ) x