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  • My child has been denied a special school, what can I do

    My son is almost 4 and will be starting school in September, they have denied special school as he is a band 7 you need to be a band 8

    He is non verbal, doesn't understand commands, barely turns his head to his name, the 2 mainstream schools I had to put down have came back to say they can't accommodate his needs, which I understand

    My son attends nursery 9 hrs a week with funding of 1 to 1

    I have explained no offence to my child but it will be like having a feral animal in the classroom, obviously this is why he needs a special school, he doesn't understand and will do his own thing, it won't be fair to him, the mainstream school or the other pupils

    It went back to panel (EHCP) to question the 2 schools

    I had time to think and got angry, I wrote an email stating why is the panel ignoring his needs, every professional person in the EHCP advised he had complex needs and why are they ignoring that he needs special school

    It has been passed on to the panel

    What can I do if they still say no

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  • I have never heard of exams being sat at home. My son has a separate quiet room - would that work?

    Can a disabled child or young person sit their examinations at home?

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  • Does a new diagnosis mean another re-assessment of EHCP?

    Does a new Dx mean another re-assessment of EHCP?

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  • Child's EHCP allegedly states ethnicity - is this needed for an ehcp in section A?

    Child's EHCP allegedly states ethnicity - is this needed for an ehcp in section A?

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  • Would ‘broad and balanced curriculum’ in section F mean my son has access to the full curriculum

    We have EOTIS Section F states for tutoring included teaching in core education curriculum. He would be in year 7, my concern here is that it’s limited to maths, English and science. He is pda and we have already identified learning needs to be around his interests the one thing he has always continued to access is computing (working towards the curriculum) and cooking. I put in a PB request for computing but “not reasonable required under section F” I will be appealing but I’m just wondering what core curriculum needs to be reworded to so he has access to the full curriculum. Additional where the EP recommendations that were tailored to my son included the use of examples, the LA have stated these are examples so cooking is mentioned twice under learning provision and again under sensory but it won’t be included as “not reasonably required under section F”

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  • If my daughter's private school prevents her from sitting any GCSEs could this be considered disability discrimination?

    My daughter is Autistic and has ADHD, she has also struggled with OCD, anxiety and depression. She has an EHCP and attends a mainstream selective private school.
    Unfortunately, due to her mental health, her attendance has been poor (under 50% in the last year.) However when she doesn't attend school, she has been working independently and with private tutors. She has made huge progress and her tutors feel that she is in a position to sit her GCSEs.

    She has significant exam related anxiety, initially preventing her from even doing practice exam questions.
    She was very anxious during her mock examinations, and was unwell during them but did attempt the mocks getting between a 5 and 1 (depending on how much of the paper she was able to attempt.) This has however increased her confidence to attempt questions and therefore sit the exams. We had an initial meeting during which my daughter explained that her plan A would be to attempt all her GCSEs if well enough, plan B would be to attempt some this year and plan C to sit none. Her school then asked her to sit a further history test as the mock (in which she achieved a 4) didn't cover all the content and she hadn't attended lesson. It was explained that she'd only be able to sit actual history GCSE if she did well in this additional test. Unfortunately, she was unable to sit the test (although she had worked hard to cover the content.) We have repeatedly explained that the uncertainty and pressure related to the thought of school stopping her sitting GCSEs has contributed to her struggling to attend. This was initially explicit, with my daughter being told that if her attendance dropped below 80% she would have to drop a GCSE - but following advice from an educational psychologist this was dropped.

    We then had an email from school stating that they were going ahead with my daughter's plan B and allowing her to only sit maths, English language, a single science (or dual science foundation level.) They said they couldn't prevent her sitting English Literature as she has completed coursework to a high standard but advised against it. We requested that she be allowed to sit Latin, English literature, maths and biology and this was provisionally accepted via email.

    We have then had a further meeting and explained that my daughter has accepted it is in her best interests to spread out her GCSEs but she needs clarity that she will be allowed to take them and she will not be withdrawn against her will. The deputy head initially said that this was not possible a they would make a risk assessment about the benefits and harms of her attempting the exams. We and my daughter pointed out the significant harms of not clarifying this, as the pressure/uncertainty would make it harder for her to attend/study. We suggested that the impact on her mental health should be determined by her mental health team and not school. At this point the SENCO explained that she'd only not be able to sit the exams if she was unwell and that there were benefits to being withdrawn rather than just not attending (as this would be classed as a fail.)

    We went on to have a further difficult discussions with unhelpful remote interventions from her EHCP coordinator. This left my daughter very upset so we concluded the meeting.

    I therefore I emailed following the meeting to follow up some things and confirm that my daughter would be allowed to sit her GCSEs unless her medical team felt she was too unwell.

    School have thanked us for our email and said they will respond in due course.

    I am very concerned about the impact this will have on my daughter. She has come to terms with the fact she can't sit all her GCSEs so has been focussing on intense practice for a smaller number of exams. She has always struggled with the additional pressure placed on her by school, with the implication she will not be able to sit the GCSEs she wants. In some ways, it was a relief when they limited her to 4 GCSEs as she felt they had no further power over her but now she feels this is not the case.

    Can her school prevent her from taking exams she has been entered for based on arbitrary risk assessments without input from her, her family or medical team?

    We are distraught that we have been paying significant amounts of money to a school which appears to actively harmed her mental health and academic prospects. (We kept her at the school as it was small, familiar and there did not appear to be any viable alternatives.)

    School have put a lot of exam adjustments in place including an individual room, rest breaks and extra time. They have not given the option to sit exams at home. The deputy headmistress said this is definitely not possible but the SENCO explained that it could be possible but she is concerned about the impact on my daughter's feelings about home.

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  • Interventions in section F - should the intervention and the assessment methods be described? Example: "Daily 1:1 mathematics booster planned by a teacher and delivered by TA. Effectiveness will be assessed in line with the National Curriculum framework and measured in year groups."

    Most interventions within reports do not mention how to measure outcomes - should schools default to the National Curriculum descriptors in such cases? I am confused how the 1:1 ordinary available provision and the EHCP provision differ? If a child received a certain ordinary available provision and then an EHCP was issued, do they continue to receive the ordinary provision? The ordinary provision was more specific and clear than the EHCP provision.

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  • Can anything be done to prevent my son's school from misusing its authority?

    Several children in my son's class have reported that the teacher has repeatedly punished the entire class by making them stand outside the classroom and restricting their breaktime play as a consequence of the misbehaviour of a few children during lessons.

    Breaktimes serve as important movement breaks that help calm hyperactive children, enhance cardiovascular health, and improve oxygen intake.

    It appears that the school does not record/log these incidents or communicate the details to parents. In our case, my son, who is autistic and experiences emotional dysregulation (though he does not misbehave in class), did not inform us about what happened. This is likely because he did not understand why he was made to stand outside the classroom during breaktime.

    Apart from EHCPs, are there any other mechanisms to prevent the school from misusing its authority?

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  • Who can request EOTAS?

    I work at an SEN School & we are trying to move one of our pupils onto EOTAS, as we cannot meet need within school or the local area. The local authority are stating only they can request EOTAS and not the school. I want to know if this is true or not? & if it is not, if there is any case law to back up this up.

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  • Do you know where I can hire a solicitor to challenge a private school admission refusal of my speech delayed child (sibling)?

    My younger daughter (3y 9mo) has Speech delay and is on the ASD pathway. I tried to get her a place in her big sisters school but they were oversubscribed. I've gone through the schools complaint procedure and their reason for denying my speech delayed daughter a place has changed at each stage of the process. They were a non-selective school but since I accused them of SEND discrimination (during the assessment: they were giving verbal instructions to my daughter) and then refusing her a spot for not following those directions. The school now claim to be academically selective. Their school policy documents state they are non-selective. My older daughter goes to the school and I would like the younger one to join her.

    They are oversubscribed this year and say they've refused other children who are more academically able than my younger daughter. At this point, the head teacher is being perfectly kind and polite but digging her heels in on the matter. I need to take things to the SEND Tribunal and I would like legal representation to look over my case in detail. There is a lot of documentation on the matter including more recently, a letter from the proprietor claiming my daughter's cognition is the reason they have not admitted her into the school and not the lack of capacity they earlier claimed. They are lying, the only reason she hasn't gotten in is because of her SEN and other factors.

    For further context, there are SEN children at the school some with worse delays than my daughter presents with. I've looked around several schools in the area, both state and private and this school is truly the best option for her. The teachers are lovely, but the head teacher is stubborn.

    I need legal representation please. It is clear that the school will not change their position except the Tribunal ask them to do so. Who do you recommend please. I cannot manage sending my girls to two different primary schools. Or where do you think I can find someone to represent me.

    Thank you.

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