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Questions [3]

Questions they have asked

  • Can my son's school mark his private speech and language therapy sessions as "unauthorised" absence?

    1) My son was diagnosed postnatally with a rare neurological condition that affects fewer than one in a million children born in the UK each year. He is currently under the care of the Neurology department at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), where he will continue to have regular check-ups and MRI scans every six months throughout his childhood.

    2) In 2022, his condition deteriorated, and after a series of urgent and invasive interventions at GOSH, his clinical team referred him for Speech and Language Therapy (SaLT) in January 2023.

    3) We later discovered that the school (an Academy) had opted out of the NHS-provided SaLT services. Additionally, the school's SaLT, who was employed through a third-party provider, went on maternity leave, leaving the school without any SaLT cover.

    4) By July 2023, we, as his parents, felt it was crucial to privately commission SaLT services to ensure our son received the necessary support. Given the complexity of his rare condition and significant developmental delays, we decided to continue weekly private SaLT sessions alongside the therapy he receives(only started in January 2024) through his Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCP) at school.

    5) Since 2023, when my son began attending private SaLT sessions, his school attendance for these appointments have been marked as "authorised," as they were recognised as medical appointments.

    6) However, as of this morning, we have been informed that moving forward, his attendance for these sessions will be marked as "unauthorised" and this will be reflected in his annual report.
    The school's policy defines authorised absence as:
    • When a child is absent, because of illness, and an acceptable explanation has been received
    • Religious Observance (as defined in the exemptions list)
    • Where a child has had a fixed term exclusion from school
    • Medical/dental appointments. As above, appointments should be made outside of school hours.
    wherever possible and the minimum amount of time should be taken.
    • Exceptional circumstances (unavoidable absence)
    • Any prolonged absence may trigger an unannounced home visit by the attendance/safeguarding team

    7) Our son enjoys his private SaLT sessions. We have previously inquired about alternative time slots outside of school hours, but none were available.
    The school is effectively forcing us to discontinue his private therapy, despite being the very reason we had to seek it in the first place.

    8) As I understand, in Bromley v Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (1999), it was determined that where speech and language therapy is necessary for the child to access and benefit from education, it should be treated as an educational provision, even if the therapy is delivered by health professionals.
    At the same time under the Children and Families Act 2014, SLT is recognised as both a medical provision and an educational provision.

    Gordon M.

    20 Sep 2024

  • Are the proposed 'timelines' by the SENCo in line with the correct Annual review process?

    We applied for our son's EHC plan last year and following the coproduction meeting in January, the SENCo submitted details for additional funding.
    The request for funding went to panel, got approved and the final amended EHC Plan was issued on 28/02/2024.

    The SENCo recently sent the following email:

    [XX]'s annual review is due this term.

    As [XX] is in Year 2 (which is a Key stage transition to Year 3 Key Stage 2), his EHCP is due to be reviewed. As part of this process, we request an Educational Psychologist to assess and set new targets. Can you please return the consent form, if you agree to the EP visit. Otherwise the EP will not see him. We will do an annual review without the EP assessment.

    So you are aware of the timeline- it is listed below

    Timeline

    Parent sends in EP consent
    EP visits and assess child in school
    SENCo sets date for annual review and EP meeting for parents to attend
    EP meets with parents and SENCo - hold Annual review as part of this meeting (teacher and LSA attends this meeting) Typically lasts 1-1.5 hours
    SENCo amends EHCP paperwork and sends to parents
    SENCo sends revised EHCP paperwork to borough to update EHCP


    Could you please advise on the following:

    1. The SENCo seems to believe that the annual review is based on term(academic year) and not calendar(i.e months). Is there any reference to 'term' in the legislation?

    2. We believe the annual review is not due until February(this is the timeframe we (parents) are working toward). The SENCO seems to be rushing to have the meeting to catch us unprepared. How can we push back on this?

    3. The timeline described below seems to muddle several separate processes into one. Shouldn't the EP assessment be done separately ahead of the annual review? We would expect the findings from the EP assessment to be used to update the needs and targets in the EHCP, is this correct?

    4. The SENCo's email seems to suggest that the EP is accountable for assessing and setting new targets. Our son has OT, SLT and Physio; does this mean the EP sets targets for all of these?

    5. The SENCo suggests that she will amend the targets and interventions in our son's EHCP and then issue it to the LA to be rubber-stamped. Shouldn't the LA SEND team be part of the annual review and process of updating the EHCP?

    6. We have heard from many parents that the SENCo seeks to remove as many interventions(without clear evidence of progress) as possible from children's EHCPs at annual reviews. Is that common and why? How can we protect ourselves against this?

    7. Should we be arranging for other professional assessments (SLT, OT, Physio etc) to feed into the updated needs and targets?

    Gordon M.

    10 Nov 2024

  • Can anything be done to prevent my son's school from misusing its authority?

    Several children in my son's class have reported that the teacher has repeatedly punished the entire class by making them stand outside the classroom and restricting their breaktime play as a consequence of the misbehaviour of a few children during lessons.

    Breaktimes serve as important movement breaks that help calm hyperactive children, enhance cardiovascular health, and improve oxygen intake.

    It appears that the school does not record/log these incidents or communicate the details to parents. In our case, my son, who is autistic and experiences emotional dysregulation (though he does not misbehave in class), did not inform us about what happened. This is likely because he did not understand why he was made to stand outside the classroom during breaktime.

    Apart from EHCPs, are there any other mechanisms to prevent the school from misusing its authority?

    Gordon M.

    06 Jan 2025

Answers [0]

Questions they have answered