Special School Admissions

SteveF

Good evening,

My son is almost five, diagnosed with Autism and Global Development Delay.

He was initially offered a space at a special school, who had arranged for him to visit and the Local Authority had contacted us to arrange his transport there.

The visit was cancelled due to coronavirus (no issue with that), but we heard nothing more so I contacted the school by email to ask what was happening. They didn’t reply but rang up to say that his place wasn’t there any more as they didn’t think they could meet his needs. There was no attempt to discuss his needs with us or his nursery (mainstream setting who have no significant issues).

Little man is non-verbal and still in nappies, nobody could reasonably conclude that a mainstream school is suitable for him. His EHCP isn’t due to be published in draft form until August 9th, but all of the professional reports for it have been available for some time.

The Local Authority have told me they are consulting with other schools but they don’t expect to hear back from them until School staff return from the holidays in September, which is clearly too late for little man. They will not tell me what they propose to do to provide him an education in the meantime, despite me reminding them more than once that they are legally obliged to do so.

Has anyone ever experienced this situation, and is there anything I can do about it?

Thanks,
Steve

chiarieds

Good evening @SteveF - & welcome to the community. I don't know if it will be helpful to you, but Scope has some info here: https://www.scope.org.uk/advice-and-support/families-with-disabled-children/education-health-and-care-plan-ehcp/

IPSEA ( https://www.ipsea.org.uk/ ) & SENDIASS ( https://www.kids.org.uk/sendiass ) both mentioned in the above could possibly be worth contacting.

Ross_Alumni

Hello @SteveF

Welcome to the community, I hope you are well. 

Sorry to hear of this situation, you clearly just want the best for your child and this inconvenience at such a crucial point in his life can't be easy to go through for you and him.

The resources provided above are good, I would definitely recommend following those links and reading the information. I hope this situation can be resolved for you as soon as possible.