The Ombudsman

[clintess]

hi ive just noticed that some of you have complained to the ombudsman.maybe some of you have read my previous posts over the year about my ds2 previous school senco.

 

i went through all the relevant challenges to complain and was recommanded by the sectretary of state for education to go the ombudsman in which i sent a letter.

the ombudsman phoned me on friday after it looking not to hopeful that id get anyway and he has confirmed i have grounds for a complaint of education neglect and that he was compiling a letter to me stateing that. i did think during the year that i was being palmed off to diffrent departments and alot of red tape but now there is light at the end of the tunnel. i sent a copy also of the report by his peaditriction stateing that he would be a sen child which she sent to various peeps including the school.

just to recap my complaint to you all

the said school in question even acknowledge that they know there was a problem before ds2 started

ds2 was there for seven months and he didnt have an iep or a school action.his new school in the same amount of time had him on school actionplus and various other sen measures that he needed.The said school in question even said on a prents evening ,they couldnt understand a word he was saying and that he was so far behind they didnt have time for him.

they had sen provisions but didnt use any for ds2 and the senco is proved to be an unqualified one but a qualified teacher of over twelve years.(mp found that out).

 

so now i hope for one i get an apology for all the stress they caused ds2 and for two either retrain this woman or replace her with one that is qualified for the remaining sen children within that school.

 

so fingers crossed you guys.

Edited July 9, 2006 by clintess

[Zemanski]

a point about sencos:

 

sencos are usually ordinary teachers, they are not required to be specifically qualified as sencos, in fact they are not even required to be qualified teachers, some are TAs (some of whom are very good at the job).

 

There is no readily availble formal way to qualify as a senco; there are professional development courses run by LEAs and other service providers but these are usually short, one or two day things, or there are special needs courses run by colleges and universities but they are not specifically for sencos in general and often these are done in a person's own time at their own expense (although some LEAs will support staff on such courses).

 

I believe strongly that there should be a formal qualification for people taking on the job of senco and that this should be properly funded and staff should be given time to do it but as there isn't, I'm afraid it is always going to be hit and miss as to whether or not you get a good senco, or a senco who is allowed by a school to do his or her job properly. (the senco post used to be senior management and so the senco was involved in school decision making but this is no longer a requirement)

 

That doesn't mean that I don't think you have a very good case, but concentrate on her failures rather than her qualifications - regardless of her qualifications she screwed up and she and the school should answer for that.

 

good luck

 

Zemanski

[clintess]

thankyou Zemanski i keep you all posted on how the complaint gets on.

[PinkSapphireAngel]

I keep wondering about going down the Ombudsman path about ds1s primary school (which he is now leavinfg as he is in year 6) as they had him on school action plus right from nursery and he had IEPs (which were more or less the same everytime)

 

We took our LEA to SENDIST and won (against refusal to assess after I applied for assessment after the school telling us "its better coming from the parents") and we will get the answer any day now as to whether or not he will finally get his statement.

 

But through the assessment the school have now apparently stated he has made "little or no progress over the last 4 YEARS"

So with him being on SA+ ALL THAT TIME surely the SCHOOL should have done more, like apply for statutory assessmen themselves?

[clintess]

if you are going to go down that path you only have within a year to do it from your first complaint to the school.There are certain things they cannot investigate.

they can investigate

maladministration by or on behalf of the council.

you have been caused injustice by the maladministration

you have given the council chace to look into it and reply to you.

 

they cant investigate

something you knew about more than 12 mths before you wrote to us or councillor

something you could appeal about to a tribunal or gov minster or court

something you have already appealed to a tribunal or gov minster or have taken to court against the council

personnel matters

the internal manement of schools and colleges(including conduct,teaching,discipline) but can look at some aspects of the provision required by a childs statement of sen.

 

maladministration might mean:

the council made a mistake

took to long to do something

did not follow its own rules or the law

broke its promises

treated you unfairly

gave you wrong information

did not make a decision in the right way ie did not follow the right procedures when making a decision

did not consider all relevent information

wrongly considered irrelvent information.

injustice:

did not get the service or benifit you were entitled to or there was a delay before you got it

suffered financial loss

were put to alot of avoidable expense,trouble or inconvience or suffered avoidable uncertainty or stress.

if the injustice was slight then it may not be investigatedor if the council has taken or willing to take satisfactory action to resolve it.

 

 

when they investigate we may:

may need to get information from the council

examine the councils files

meet you and council offcers or other people

 

we have legal power to get evidence from council and other people.

the result after investigation may be:

apoligise to you

pay you compensation

take action or make a decision that it should of done before

improve the procedures so similar problems do not reoccur

how long does it take:

it could take months to collect enough information to reach a fair decision but you will be kept informed.

 

hope that helps any of you guys thinking of going that route that was out the leaflet the ombudsman sent me.

[UltraMum]

Clintess - thanks for that info - it's route we may have to consider and it really helps to know what they can and can't look at.

[clintess]

anything to help.