Ho Ho Hopeless

Thought I’d do an update on the never ending school/EHCP saga that I wrote about in my last post. I left on ‘will they say yes or no to my proposed EOTAS package?’ (worlds worst cliffhanger I know) 

I’ve done a few posts about school but the main one that tells the whole background story is here

 https://thepdaway.blogspot.com/2022/04/school-refusal.html

But if you’d rather dive straight into this post then I’ll start with a recap.

An EHCP was granted in 2022. No school place available until the following year so he spent a year at home with one hour a week MindJam as an Alternative Provision. I didn’t complain or make a fuss because Little C needed time to recover from the mainstream experience and we had other concerns back than that we prioritised over his education. 

So then we attempted reintegration at the new setting in September 2023 but this didn’t work out.  Little C had already developed major phobia over anything school or learning related and we tried to work through this but it wasn’t to be. The school were (still are) amazing. I wonder if he’d gone straight there from mainstream, if things may have been different.

So September 2024 started the fourth school year of no education, no Alternative Provision this time, nothing. We have weekly welfare visits from school - we have had these for three years now. Little C hates the visits. Having someone from school coming round each week is difficult for him and he doesn’t know why they keep coming. Sometimes he won’t speak or sometimes won’t come to the door.

Early this year we started the ball rolling (rolling, very slowly!) to look at getting an EOTAS package. I rambled on about this in my last post. 

So this brings us to this week. Little C’s case has been heard at the infamous Local Authority SEN ‘Panel’ for the second time this month. 

The outcome was ….wait for it ….

For Little C to stay on roll at the school with a reintegration plan back into the classroom! What?! I hear you say ….are they looking at the right case? A little sweetener (and I say that sarcastically) was that some provisions can be considered if the school agree to them.

This was a leap backwards from the previous panel decision two weeks before in which they wanted school to manage the package and oversee the provisions and EHCP outcomes. Again it would be up to school whether they would fund the provisions - which aren't all on the ‘approved provisions’ list because they are quite PDA specific.  Oh and the weekly welfare visits would have to continue as well. School said, quite rightly, that it was unmanageable and unrealistic for them to be able to do this.

The overriding theme seems to be that the Local Authority want Little C to be registered at a school. Even if he’s not attending. Probably because it looks better for their failing targets. The area I live in is Tameside - if you know, you know! 

I’m tempted to give up on this and just deregister him from school so he’d be classed as being homeschooled. But then we can’t afford to pay for the provisions ourselves and homeschooling brings a whole other load of hassle from the Local Authority. But it’s more than that, I want Little C to have options available to him when he’s able to access more. There’s so much out there, he’s just not ready for it yet. But in 2-3 years he might be, and without the EHCP he wouldn’t have those opportunities. So I won’t give it up easily. 

This is so stressful and the constant battle takes so much of my mental energy away from other things. I wish he could go to school - and be happy there with friends and school discos and Christmas jumper day. But he can’t. So just give him what he can do surely! 

So genuinely, if anyone has any advice, please, drop me a message. I’m all ears. The battle will continue in 2025. In the meantime I’ve got presents to wrap and mince pies to eat. 

So wishing you all a very happy Christmas and I’ll catch you all in the New Year