nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

We want to hear from you: please tell us about your experience of the online community.

Taking LA to Tribunal regarding school

kel01

Hi, is anyone/has anyone been in the situation where your appealing school named on an EHCP. Completed mediation, now about to appeal.
school named on EHCP can Only offer an “Assessment Placement”. I’ve met with the school and they, themselves don’t think it’s a suitable provision to meet our child’s needs.
The only class they have where my child’s learning needs can be met, we’ve been advised the other learners in the class are non verbal. My child won’t comprehend “Why” the other children aren’t able to communicate with him.
I sincerely hope this is ok, it’s very difficult to write this but if we are going to get any feed back I have to type it as we’ve been told.
Thank you from one very desperate Mummy

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

kel01

I’m new to this group and can see 12 views, does anyone whose read my post have any experience of what I posted?? Thank u 🤞

Ross_Alumni

Hello @kel01

Wishing you a warm welcome to the community, I'm glad to see you join us and thanks for explaining what you are going through. This is a very supportive and welcoming place so I'm sure you'll enjoy taking part.

I have moved your discussion over to our Education category, and tagged it with our EHCP tag, both of which will put your thread into a section with other related discussions. I would recommend browsing the pages I linked above to see if you come across any other discussions that you can take information from.

I have little knowledge in this area myself, but I hope that other members will be able to offer their support and advice to you. Have you considered contacting IPSEA (the Independent Provider of Special Educational Advice) to see if they can do anything to help?

I will also tag in @L_Volunteer, who might have something to add once she logs in, most likely early next week.

kel01

Hi Ross, many thanks for your reply. I’ve been trying to contact IPSEA for an apt for weeks, no slots available. I also tried got weeks prior to mediation, no luck 🙈
I have had advice from an Education advocacy and been told I have an extremely good case with all my evidence, reports, and outcome if mediation, however, the cost would be at least £4000
i need to lodge my appeal before by the 9th of Feb.

Ross_Alumni

Hi @kel01 and thanks for getting back to me.

Sorry to hear that you haven't been able to get an appointment with IPSEA, they must be extremely busy at this time.

£4000 is a lot to afford, I'm not sure whether there would be any support available from anywhere to fund that.

cornishmummy

kel01 said:

Hi Ross, many thanks for your reply. I’ve been trying to contact IPSEA for an apt for weeks, no slots available. I also tried got weeks prior to mediation, no luck 🙈
I have had advice from an Education advocacy and been told I have an extremely good case with all my evidence, reports, and outcome if mediation, however, the cost would be at least £4000
i need to lodge my appeal before by the 9th of Feb.

Please have confidence in your self . You can lodge and handle the appeal your self .

If not and your on a low in come Comcast the civil law centre and they will see if you’re eligible for a legal aid solicitor or if income to high contact SENDIASS for your local area . Always happy to help we are just in process off getting my daughters Expedited as tribunal a year a way .

L_Volunteer

Hey @kel01. Thank you for reaching out to us. I appreciate the courage it can take to reach out, especially when you are new and finding things tough.

You are right, your child cannot attend a school who do not think it would be able to meet your child’s needs. I hear this is particularly around your child’s social needs. Am I hearing this right? I just want to make sure I hear you as clearly as I can.

It sounds really difficult that there are no slots available with IPSEA. The most obvious thing I want to ask is have you managed to contact your local authority? This contact may be particularly useful if you have evidence from the school that says they cannot meet your child’s needs. They can help you to appeal this decision.

Most importantly, I can hear you would like support with funding mediation. I would encourage you to talk to your local authority. Your local authority should have sent you a letter giving their decision about the EHC plan. This includes how to contact a mediation service. Therefore, they are best placed to support you with costs / help you to find a free/cost-efficient mediation service.

Nevertheless, the Government highlights that “you do not have to consider mediation if your appeal is only about which school or other institution you or your child should attend (Section I of the EHC plan).

I hope this at least semi-helps. Please don’t hesitate to let us know if there’s anything we can do to support you further or if you would just like a listening ear