Hectorshouse Report post Posted December 14, 2005 I know DCC must hate me (but do I care .... oh no!!!!) but my MP wrote to them and called (hence the U-turn in the transport arrangements) and today I got a copy of DCC's response to the MP, its the naffest piece of writing I've ever seen, they even wrote the MP's name by hand (anyway admin criticisms aside ) the blatant lies are unbelieveable (or perhaps not) .... Thank you for your letter of 22 November concerning Mrs XXXX and her son. My understanding is that Mrs XXXX did not accept the offer from the County Special Education Team to consult with schools in Exeter regarding admission. It was explained to Mrs XXXX that there would be no entitlement to free transport if she chose XXXX school. However, an exception to County transport policy has been made in this case and Mrs XXXX's son is being provided with transport. I should point out that the Local Authority's Inclusive Education Strategy applies to all children and that we made no distinction between types of disability. I enclose a copy of the strategy which you may find of interest. What a load of *(^&^%$$%�*(&*(& ING!!!! BULL .... what offer from the CSET? blumming news to me, and as for the transport thing irrelevant now, and we all know why they changed their minds Anyway in my usual style I emailed my MP straight back with my thoughts ... I hope you don't mind and I haven't bored you to death yet but I would like to share them here ... Dear Mr B, Firstly I would like to thank you for taking the time to pursue my queries that I raised at our meeting. Thankfully yes DCC have now supplied T with the transport to enable him to access education at XXXX in XXXX, which is a huge relief and has made both of our lives much easier and less stressful. In response to Mr XXXX's letter to you, I would like to point out that someone is blatantly misleading you, the letter states that is was Mr XXXX's understanding that Ms XXXX did not accept the offer from the CSET to consult with schools in Exeter regarding admission. This I have to sadly say is a blatant mistruth, like I said to you at our initial meeting, I visited or spoke to every SENCO in every school in Exeter, NONE felt it would be appropriate or that they would be able to meet his needs in their schools. I did not chose XXXX it was the only school that felt it 'might' be able to meet his needs. Neither was I given the opportunity to visit alternative provision (i.e. XXXX School) by the LEA because of their inclusive policy, which denied me the opportunity to seek provision in a special school had I deemed it appropriate. I am sorry to say, that DCC are misleading you and this is quite obviously them trying to cover their tracks, when faced with the discrimination that my Son was a victim of. The main purpose of my visit to you was to highlight the problems my Son had in accessing appropriate and suitable education according to his specific educational needs and disability (Asperger's Syndrome), and that his story is not unfamiliar in Devon (or in fact in many LEA's across the country). Like I said in our meeting, the lack of ASD provision within Exeter's secondary schools is startling considering the �100 million that has just been spent on the rebuild, I was also told by DCC that I should've checked what provision was available before I moved to Devon. This comment is ridiculous, Exeter is the premier town of Devon, why isn't that provision available locally to me, if I lived in the middle of Dartmoor I might've understood DCC position, but I live in Exeter. The lack of serious ASD provision in Devon is also very poor and when you consider how many children have a diagnosis of ASD this is a problem that is not going to go away it is going to get worse. I have friends who work in PRU's in Devon and they are already experiencing a serious increase in the number of children with ASD that have been let down by the system, and ending up in a PRU as a last resort, early intervention is meant to be part of The Every Child Matters campaign, but this is NOT happening in Devon. Devon has the opportunity to do something about this, but unless pressure is put on them to acknowledge ASD and the growing problem of providing for this vulnerable group of children many of them are going to be a pressure on the state for many many years to come, they are going to need the help of the Mental Health Service to overcome the emotional and behavioural problems they have because of the failure of provision being available to them, abuse and ignorance, and an inability to fully access work and become a fully contributing adult, many chidlren with ASD can be independent with the right help and support but if they are ignored or considered beyond help then there is little help for them. I have also attached the Schools Forum Documentation which highlights how Devon will be altering its SEN funding in 2006, this is very worrying as it appears from this that there will be a cease to maintain policy for children with SEN under a certain banding and an ever increasing difficulty for parents to apply for a statement, it also does not go in hand with the letter that was sent to all CEO's in all LEA's from the DfES warning them about blanket policies and refusing to assess a copy of which is also attached. This letter was taken from IPSEA's website. With regard to the schools forum, there has been no parent consultation, and as such as you are my MP I think it extremely pertinent that you be aware of this. http://www.devon.gov.uk/index/your_council...ort_sf0515.html Sorry for the reply via email, but I felt that I had to get this information to you as quickly as possible, I would be delighted to talk to you in more detail if you like to. Sorry for the long post guys ... but you can imagine my reaction when I opened the post this morning .. HHxx Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
phasmid Report post Posted December 14, 2005 ###### good response HH. I await his response with interest! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mother in Need Report post Posted December 14, 2005 Good letter, keep us updated! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LKS Report post Posted December 15, 2005 Flipping marvellous HH I think too many M.Ps are fobbed off by the LEAs because they do not really understand the ins and outs of the education system. As you know I had written to my M.P. about my concerns regarding how high incidence statements are funded, and about how my lea bundle everyone with certain conditions together.The Leas reply was that they had had many consutations with heads and that is how they preferred it. We know why don't we, because then it is up to schools how they spend this money and it is left to parents to police the statements. Good luck with this HH Ican see an appearance on 'This Morning' looming Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zemanski Report post Posted December 15, 2005 I sent that document to my RO on Monday - useful isn't it? well done Zemanski Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hectorshouse Report post Posted December 17, 2005 Working in a Pub has its benefits ... I now know a man that fix my car on the cheap and has saved me loads of ���'s lately, another person is getting me a christmas tree from where he works, I've meet a couple of very useful contacts now as far as DCC goes Found out yesterday when chatting with my boss about what I've been doing as in the Paper story etc ... and it turns out that not only does my MP frequent my Pub regulary doing the summer, but also the Director of Education also comes in and my boss knows him and next time he comes in he will point him out, also my local councillor is a regular ... I can see this being all very useful .... I bet none of these poor lovelies (except the MP that is) didn't have any idea that the person serving them was *that* pain in the ar*e mum ... HHxx Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hectorshouse Report post Posted January 6, 2006 Had a brief response from my MP yesterday, obviously just back from his xmas hols ... Dear Ms W Thank you for your email of 14th December 2005 in response to the reply to my letter that I had recieved from the Director of Education. I was interested to hear your further comments and I have again written to Dr N to ask for his further comments. As soon as I receive any further information I will contact you again. With very best wishes. ...... hmmmmm, ok ...... a bog standard reply letter, but ... atleast he has again written to the DIR, I like to see a copy of what he wrote to him, do you think that is a reasonable request? So I wait with baited breath to see how Dr N is going to respond this time HHxx Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pumpkinpie Report post Posted January 6, 2006 You could try asking especially if you dont hear anything. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
