School place day

School placement day. And another milestone where we’re absolutely nowhere I ever imagined or hoped to be. Part of the draw to our home when we bought it was that it’s within walking distance of the local primary school. I signed Alba up to preschool there before her 1st birthday, wanting to make sure she would be familiar and happy with being there before starting full time. We obviously ended up turning that place down and thus began the My Plan/EHCP and specialist school place battle.

One of my earliest memories of school is playing with my friends and pretending to be mums. We’d mimick what we had experienced with our own parents. I remember pretending to take my pretend kids to pretend shops to prepare them for starting school, doing as my own mum had done. Choosing pretend fabric to make a pretend PE bag, a pretend lunchbox for pretend packed lunches and pretend shiny patent school shoes. Even from that age I was desperate to be a mum and have my own children. Throughout life you just assume things will go the way you expect them to, the way you imagine. Never would I have expected to have a child with a rare genetic condition, preparing to send her off to an independent specialist school that could meet her physical needs as well as her educational needs. But here we are.

As you’re all aware, securing her school place has been a nightmare. It started with a My Plan, which evolved into a My Plan + and then finally onto an EHCP (education and healthcare plan). It is a legal document which sets out Albas education, health and social care needs. The process involves many professionals inputting their own knowledge and opinions of her condition, how it affects her and what that means in terms of how much support she will need in each area. She had to be observed by various professionals appointed by the LA (local authority) who also wrote up their findings and opinions. Her current EHCP still needs work but right now we have one.

Having an EHCP meant that we didn’t have to follow the school application process as everyone else does. We specified within her EHCP where we wanted her to go but really that means nothing. The LA’s deadline to find Alba a suitable school place was slap bang in the middle of February half term. They hadn’t been successful and the local specialist schools had said they couldn’t meet her needs. We were waiting on responses from independent specialists and no offers meant they put ‘Mainstream’ under the setting for 2024 start. This was obviously ridiculous.

About a month after this paperwork came through, I had a transitions meeting at our chosen school. I met the head and deputy head, along with people from the nursing team, speech and language, physio, education and occupational therapy. They asked tonnes of questions in order to write their own report to the LA to state what support Alba would need and what it would cost. These reports were compiled and sent to the LA with a formal offer of a place for Alba to start on September 2024. Job done right?! Wrong.

Just before this meeting I’d had a call from our caseworker saying Alba had been offered a place at an independent specialist school half an hour away. Our chosen school is 5 minutes down the road. I gave her a huge list of reasons why it wasn’t suitable and why our chosen school was. She asked if I was refusing the place. And this is where my knowledge from fellow parents came in. If you refuse, they’ll use it against you, say they offered a suitable place but you declined. So I politely told her I wasn’t refusing but would 100% appeal that decision. Plus we couldn’t get her there and back every day, so they’d have to provide 1 to 1 transport every day.

The transitions meeting took place and I was confident that would be the end of it. But I then had a call to say she was taking the offer to panel for discussion. Another panel, can you believe it? So they’ve already established she needs specialist provision, and a suitable school has offered a place. But it still has to go to panel. The main reason, that it all comes down to money. And I have a strong suspicion that our lack of need for transport won us this place. Last Friday I had a phone call to say it had been approved and she’s set to start at our chosen specialist school in September. I’m yet to receive the paperwork, but it’s done. For now, our fight is over.

But for thousands of kids across the country this isn’t the case. Alba’s diagnosis will have played a big part in her securing a place at a specialist school. For kids with a diagnosis of autism or ADHD, the fight can be a million times harder because it’s invisible. The system is f****d. As a parent of a disabled child or a child with complex medical needs or additional needs, life is hard enough. The paperwork, appointments, medicines, therapy trips, lack of sleep and generally dealing with your child being ‘different’ is a load I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Suitable education should be readily available to everyone. It’s honestly criminal that anyone has to fight for this, let alone families that are already carrying so much.

So today I’m sending love to anyone who needs it. If your child got into your chosen school, amazing. If you’ve won the battle for specialist provision, amazing. And if you’re still fighting that battle, I’m sending you the most love and support 🖤