A Recap on The School Situation

I’ve been writing blogs for years and tracked all my kids through their school years, some good, some bad. I was looking back to 2022, and how my kids were getting on at school and college.

Star had lost her college place because her ill health and was embarking on a new project. This lasted until the end of term but sadly it wasn’t an option for the following year, so Star has done nothing since then, but her health is no better either. I’ll get her health sorted first then we’ll decide on what to do.

Boo had been having problems but she attended school really well for her last term and sat all her GCSEs. She was thrilled to be offered a place at a local college. Sadly, that didn’t work out but the college are being very helpful in finding a way forward for her. I’m also worried about her health.

The Little Man was removed from school because of bullying that they just couldn’t resolve. Their attempts at making things better didn’t work but they wouldn’t take the blame. They couldn’t accept that The Little Man needed extra help. I had to start applying for his Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) myself. I couldn’t face my son being bullied every day and missing out on his learning because he was the one being blamed for the disruption. So I took him away from the school and decided to teach him at home.

The EHCP for School

Applying for an EHCP as a parent is not an easy task. Thankfully, I did have some good support. The LA turned me down. I didn’t give up and went to mediation. I was told that the only thing I could do was to appeal and so I did. My appeal was turned down, so I took the next step and started tribunal proceedings. This was all very stressful. I gathered together all of my ‘evidence’ as to why I thought my son needed extra help and filled in form after form. I had reports from previous teachers and the SEN from his last school. The day before the tribunal hearing the LA backed down and said that they would work on an EHCP for the Little Man.

Then I had to fill in another ton of forms and gather more information. The little man was visited by an educational psychologist who spent three hours in our home with him. He also had a video consultation, and I had numerous telephone calls. I found the whole process tiring and stressful. I don’t deal with these kind of situations very well and tire easily because of my illness. But I fought on and completed the process.

The draft was written up and because of the psychologists report it was stated that the Little Man would be better suited to a specialist school rather than mainstream, so I had to choose a school. I chose a local one that had good reviews. They turned him down. The reason being they couldn’t stretch his intelligence and he wouldn’t fit in a large and noisy environment like their school. So, it was decided that he should go back to mainstream school.

The school named is one I’ve tried to get him into in the past but they wouldn’t accept him. The Assessment co-ordinator was working to a deadline and told me that unless I accepted I couldn’t raise an appeal. I’m exhausted, how can I appeal, how can I do all that again?

It’s not the end though. He’s not going to be forced straight back into mainstream. He will have some intervention from an outside source that will assess his needs and how best to move forward. If they think he could cope at the school then they will help him, if they think he needs something else they can offer alternatives. But, he’s not entitled to their help until he’s on a school register.

Ever feel like it’s all swings and roundabouts. I miss those fun filled days of primary school (not that the Little Man even managed to go to primary for very long.) Nursery school, now that was ok.