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Should a school representitive attend a mediation meeting, in an appeal for refusal to asses twice
Im finding it hard to understand the process. I am appealing refusal to assess twice for an EHCP. My son yr5.
my son been on the waiting list for assessments for 3 years, so no official diagnosis.
I have sent in the appeal and all the documentation apart from the mediation letter, although had made contact within the time frame. So now appeal has not proceeded until i get that letter or have meeting.
Since - i have spoken with mediation services and agreed to have a mediation meeting with LA.
An appointment has been given. They have asked for a school representative to attend.
I now need to understand . how to respond and proceed, esp if im not happy with the school. Its all very confusing.
It would be great to be able to speak to someone about the whole process and how to proceed. -
is it true I cannot proceed with an Appeal without a mediation certificate.?
I logged an appeal for a refusal to assess twice for an EHCP. i appealed with all the documentation apart from the mediation cert, although i had requested one within the allowed time frame, it had not arrived. Now Ive been asked do i want a mediation meeting? I have agreed , but now it appears i cant do both have an mediation meeting and Appeal to a trbunal. So what do i do ?
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Transport cost - when proving the TFL carer transport assistance, should LA calculate it as a cost to its budget or it comes off the TFL's budget? "A TfL Oyster card or Travelcard for a parent, carer or responsible adult to go with the child between home and school."
When comparing the cost of two placements, should carer's travelcard be calculated as a cost to the LA? Applications for a carer travelcard are made via the LA transport team however do the funds come from the LA budget?
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I would like to know if the LA, rather than the school, should lead when the grounds for asking for an emergency EHCP review involve a safeguarding issue in school.
My child has a neuro-degenerative disease and has been physically restrained without any consideration of the potential to harm him. The LADO is investigating, but the LA is delegating the EHCP review to the school. Is it the case that the LA should take the lead where safeguarding part of the reason for an EHCP review?
Joe Buckham
22 Apr 2025
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We were advised that our online school was EOTAS and left section I blank, we have a personal budget for school. Was this wrong?
We have had our EHCP for a year and are in the process of annual review. Might it be wise to add the virtual school to section I now?
Angie Lee-Foster
18 Apr 2025
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We are in the final stages of EHCP. We have requested EOTAS (to pay for online school) and a personal budget. The LA have said "County Independent panel have reviewed your request for EOTAS and personal budget to fund Kings Inter High, further information is required before EOTAS can be considered. We will be contacting F...... high school to establish if they are able to support funding Kings Inter High as E. remains on their school roll. We will also be issuing consultations to independent settings to establish suitability; these consultations will be shared with you before they are issued." My question is does the LA pay for EOTAS - why are they asking the school? The LA tried to unroll her from mainstream but we said they could not do this until they have provided alternative provision - and we request EOTAS - were we wrong to do so?
My daughter is happy at online school. She has tried two mainstream schools and cannot manage. She will not attend school in person and the EP report is fairly conclusive with this regard.
Angie Lee-Foster
17 Jan 2024
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My child has been denied a special school, what can I do
My son is almost 4 and will be starting school in September, they have denied special school as he is a band 7 you need to be a band 8
He is non verbal, doesn't understand commands, barely turns his head to his name, the 2 mainstream schools I had to put down have came back to say they can't accommodate his needs, which I understand
My son attends nursery 9 hrs a week with funding of 1 to 1
I have explained no offence to my child but it will be like having a feral animal in the classroom, obviously this is why he needs a special school, he doesn't understand and will do his own thing, it won't be fair to him, the mainstream school or the other pupils
It went back to panel (EHCP) to question the 2 schools
I had time to think and got angry, I wrote an email stating why is the panel ignoring his needs, every professional person in the EHCP advised he had complex needs and why are they ignoring that he needs special school
It has been passed on to the panel
What can I do if they still say noJen Harrison
13 Apr 2025
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Naming a CIC in Section I
My daughter has severe SEMH needs and we’ve identified a CIC which delivers alternative provision for children with SEMH, however they only offer part time hours 15 hours over 2.5 days. The LA are saying as the organisation is not a school, they cannot name it. The organisation have said that they have other kids who attend with EHCPs and this is funded through a personal budget. The other 10 hours to make up full time provision we are considering another provider which isn’t a school but an alternative provision provider. We’re anxious to know whether we can have named in section I of my daughter’s EHCP the CIC and also if we can also have named the other provider for the other 10 hours?
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Can I request the EP as an expert witness in my EHCP appeal, or could this backfire?
Our Educational Psychologist (a 2nd-year trainee) wrote a vague Section F provision with many examples rather than specific, quantified provisions. I have emailed three times requesting that it be made legally compliant, but the response I received stated:
"EP reports are written with the intention of enabling education staff to plan and deliver a personalised curriculum within a school or other educational setting. The additional examples that are included within advice help educators to incorporate recommendations/approaches into their lesson planning without limiting their creativity and flexibility, allowing staff to interpret the essence of the recommendation and plan to best effect."
I assume this aligns with LA policy, but my concern is that the vagueness makes the provision unenforceable. My son has an EOTAS package (recently agreed in final/nothing in place), and the LA is only organising tuition for the core curriculum. This means the examples listed in the EP report linking learning to interest (especially computing, which he accesses privately and consistently) are not included in his provision.
I agree with the essence of what she has written within F but due to the lack of detail I am appealing Sections B and F, and I’m wondering whether I should request the EP as an expert witness to clarify her recommendations—or whether this could backfire if she aligns with the LA's stance. -
Would ‘broad and balanced curriculum’ in section F mean my son has access to the full curriculum
We have EOTIS Section F states for tutoring included teaching in core education curriculum. He would be in year 7, my concern here is that it’s limited to maths, English and science. He is pda and we have already identified learning needs to be around his interests the one thing he has always continued to access is computing (working towards the curriculum) and cooking. I put in a PB request for computing but “not reasonable required under section F” I will be appealing but I’m just wondering what core curriculum needs to be reworded to so he has access to the full curriculum. Additional where the EP recommendations that were tailored to my son included the use of examples, the LA have stated these are examples so cooking is mentioned twice under learning provision and again under sensory but it won’t be included as “not reasonably required under section F”