exclusion after exclusion

[tammielloyd]

My son goes to mainstream and has exclusion after exclusion, so I have just removed him until next week when I have a meeting to see about where to go next... He has a statement and goes 1 day a week to a supprt centre for aspergers children. I am now going to fight to get him a full time place, however there are no places. I would love him to go to a Priory school at Farleigh college in frome, does anyone know how hard it is to get in ? and what its like?

[Sally44]

I have heard about it, but have no personal experience.

 

What you need is evidence of lack of progress, deterioration, or the school being unable to meet his needs.

 

Then you seek an emergency review of the Statement [if the Annual Review is not near] - but bear in mind that the LA may try to remove things at any review.

 

Do you have a copy of the SEN Code of Practice? That details what the school and LA should do at each stage of SEN.

 

It also details the areas of SEN which are academic, speech and communication [including social interaction, emotional and behavioural, sensory and physical.

 

You prove lack of progress/deterioration via not meeting therapy and IEP targets and school reports.

Exclusions must be recorded so you have evidence of them. Have school done that?

 

www.ace-ed.org.uk has alot of advice about SEN and exclusions.

 

To attempt to get your child into Farleigh you are going to have to get independent reports to appeal the amended Statement [which the LA may or may not amend after the emergency review]. And you have to time when you get any independent reports so that they are the most up to date ones carried out just before the actual Appeal. If you do them too early the LA and NHS can re-assess and report amazing progress - which would ruin your case.

 

You would most likely need those same professionals to attend the Tribunal as expert witnesses. And if you don't use a solicitor you need to prepare your case yourself with help from charities such as www.ipsea.org.uk or www.network81.org

 

It isn't easy, but it is possible. We won our Appeal and my son attends an independent ASD specific school which is part of the SENAD group. Priory schools are supposed to be good too.

 

He would need to spend a trial period at Farleigh, and they would need to offer him a place and say he was suitable and they had a peer group for him.

 

Don't keep him off school. You need him in for him to be excluded. You need to ask your GP for a referal to ClinPsych and CAHMS for them to be involved too.

 

What have school done about the situation. Have they sought advice from the EP or autism advisory teacher. Have they arranged a meeting in school with you and other professionals?

 

How old is your son?

 

Has there been an increase in the number of exclusions, or has it always been like this?

Edited May 24, 2012 by Sally44

[Kazzen161]

The LA will only fund an adequate education for your son - not the best education. Depending on what other provision your LA has to offer will affect how hard it would be to get Farleigh. Independent specialist schools are considerably more expensive that LA special schools/units, so they are bound to offer those first. It may be that if you talk about having to look at independent specialist schools, a place will suddenly be found for him at the support centre!

[Sally44]

I know that my LA holds back some 'emergency' places in certain placements for the very occasion of parents going to Tribunal for independent placements.

 

So if you have been told it is full, ask for that in writing, and ask how many places there are currently which are filled.

 

We had our first Tribunal in 2009. We had been told the autism unit was full and that my son was not suitable for this unit as the school felt he would regress there.

 

So he was placed mainstream with additional support which was termed 'enhanced resource'. We tried that for years 3 and 4. In year 5 he became physically and mentally ill and was out of school for about a year.

 

That was when we went back to Tribunal. We knew that the LA could not offer us anything additional to what he currently received. They could not suddenly offer a place in the autism unit when they had said previously he would regress there. So they had really tied their own hands.

 

What you may find, as Kazzen says, is that by appealing and asking for Farleigh, you are suddenly offered a place in the support centre.

 

BUT the support centre must be ASD specific. Must contain teachers with a relevent ASD qualification. Must be a suitable peer group etc. IF he would be the ONLY child in the centre full time, you could argue that that was not inclusion and that he needed to be in a school where he was within the class in a similar peer group. I expect that Farleigh would have class sizes of around 8 pupils? You really need evidence that your son cannot access a mainstream class size of 30+ kids, or the environment, or the teaching approaches etc.

 

As Kazzen says, the law only says that a satisfactory or adequate education must be provided. However the placement and peer group does have to be suitable for the child's academic, speech and language, social communication, emotional literacy, and sensory processing needs. If his current placement cannot provide that either mainstream or in the support unit, then your parental choice maybe that Farleigh is the ONLY placement that can meet all his needs.

 

SEND Panels do have to go with the parental choice of placement UNLESS the LA says it is not a good use of their resources [ie. they can provide the same thing cheaper in one of their schools], or if placing the child at the parental choice of school would be to the detriment of the other pupils.

 

So your task is to prove that the school/LA cannot provide for his needs at his current placement.