School Place advice?! helpppppp

chalryspring

Hi, new here so hopefully posting this in roughly the right place.

My son has been attending an alternative provision 3 hours a day for the last two years whilst waiting for a specialist school place. This is based on a farm and is near home, hes settled and happy. The council have come back that a school has a place for him however is is 1hr away from home, I went to visit the school and it is lovely, has some animals, and he would be with peers. 

But the distance just feels so long! He's only been used to being out the house 9-12:30 for the last two years, so a full day with an hour travel each side just feels so unrealistic. There are no similar schools nearby, I just feel like its an impossible decision, and my brain hurts from thinking, such an overwhelming pressure on the decision. I guess if I refuse the place on the grounds of distance he will just continue where he is. Any advice or help appreciated, TIA

Ross_Alumni

Hello @chalryspring

Welcome to the community, it's lovely to see you join us and I hope you are well this afternoon.

Your post is absolutely in the right place, when people sign up we encourage them to make their first post in our start here and say hello category, just so that they can introduce themselves to the community and we can all say hi  

As a moderator, I can move your discussion to the appropriate section of the community from that point, so there's no need to worry. In this case I have moved your thread over to our education category, which you might like to browse for related discussions.

Have you discussed your concerns with any of the other parties involved such as the council or the school that he could go to? Also, has your son had the opportunity to say what he would prefer?

An hour is a long way, and it seems as though it would see a drastic increase in the length of his school day from leaving home to getting back, I can understand why it is making you feel torn. Perhaps he could have a trial of the new school to see how it would go? Do you think that would be possible? Additionally, I wonder whether the school would be okay with easing him in to their schedule, and enable him to do shorter days at the start and gradually build up to the full day.

SueHeath

Hi @chalryspring welcome to our great forum.
I'm no expert , just an Aunty to an autistic Nephew.
You do not say how old your son is, my nephew is now 19yrs and he has had to move to a college, which is in another are approx 45mins away from home. Transport with an escort is provided. When he started there his Mom was the same she also worried that he didn't know any of the other members, but he loves it and the journey home is a nice time for him to chill.
I sometimes think we as parents/adults etc worry more - it would be easier for him to try this placement thats my thought anyway.

poppy123456

As there’s no similar schools nearby you need to ask yourself if saying no to the school place is the right thing to do. Can he continue on such little hours for the foreseeable future?
You don’t say how old he is? My daughter has Autism and traveled to college when she was 16, which was 40 minutes each way, with traffic. Travel was provided by the local Authority in a taxi there and back. Yes, it was a long day but it was definitely worth it and the college wasn’t a specialist college. 

Children as stronger than we think they are.