i am devestated Amellee has been refused her placement at the school i applied for , i was assured she would have a place due to her statement ...received the letter yesterday saying that due to so many applications and us not living in catchment area there is no place ...we have been going for 6 months for visits to get her used to it for septemeber when she starts...i am so upset and not even sure where to start regarding appeal as everyone is on bloody holiday ....are they allowed to refuse at the last min like this ??

Hi i'm sure your very fed up at the moment , yes they can refuse if there is to many children , they would look at all the children needs that were put forward to the school and if there has been a lot this year they will pick the children that need it the most . Is there any other schools near you that wouldnt suit your daughter ? Best to ring when they are all back , sorry to hear your daughter didnt get in but i hope something better comes up for her xx

Had been told that she was guaranteed placement because of statement...apparently they have cut government funding for special needs ed in our area so are spreading the funding around the schools, they have placed her in the school in my town but its crap, amellee is the only special needs child going into reception n the only one in the whole school so there fore i feel she has been put there to " spread the funding"...i am so angry 4 special needs children in my area have been refused mainstream school placement and 1 of our main special needs school that specialises in autisum is being closed...equal rights my ass !!! sorry im ranting on a bit lol x x x

Hi there

You must be so angry & upset, this is just unbelieveable that they can do this to you! It's awful.
From what it says on your profile I am assuming that the Devon Parent Partnership will cover where you live. If don't know about Parent Partnership, they are there to advise on all aspects of SEN and may be able to help you with this so please contact them for advice on what to do next. This link is to the Devon group & will give you contact details, etc.
http://www.parentpartnershipdevon.org.uk/

The Advisory Centre for Education can also help: http://www.ace-ed.org.uk/

While there is an appeal system in place, if you were applying for your daughter to start in reception then you may hit more problems due to the legal restriction on infant class size of 30 pupils. As the school is over-subscribed then an appeal is highly unlikely to be upheld due to this class size restriction. You may have a better chance if the intake number & class sizes in the school mean that classes are smaller than 30 even if the school is over-subscribed.

Junior schools are not subject to the same restriction so if you were applying/ appealing for a junior place then it would be more likely to be successful.

I am horrified you were assured by someone (who???) that she would get her place due to her Statement, that just isn't necessarily true although a Statement can & often does help secure a place. What is so awful is that you have been visiting all this time because of what you were told! I'm surprised that the Head at the school allowed or encouraged this before a place was given although I'm sure it was with good intentions but he/she was totally wrong to do it. I can totally understand why you did the visits, especially with what you were told, I'm just gobsmacked they let you get in this awful situation. Here, nobody tells you anything or lets you visit until the SEN Panel & schools admissions have allocated all the places, although we knew for definite in January long before the general admissions letters went out.

If you are allowed to appeal then you will need to support your appeal with reasons why your daughter should be allowed to go this school, things like why it will best meet her needs, the visits & work you've already done, any professionals who can support your reasons, etc. Your Parent Partnership will advise you if you are able to appeal, on what grounds & may be able to attend the hearing with you. When I appealed for my oldest son's school place over 10 yrs ago, I asked my local councillor to represent me & we won but things were different then & there was no class size limits. It was quite intimidating & although I did a good letter, I was glad he was there to speak for me.

Please contact the Parent Partnership for advice, though they may also be on holiday this week - ours is mostly term time only. Your case officer at the LEA may be in this week, they aren't necessarily term-time only so you can always call them too to see what they say.

Good luck,

Jayne

This is the best place to rant lol really hope it works out for you and your daughter . My son is going through his statement now and i've been told there is only one school best to fit his needs but i wont find out until June so i'm hoping he gets in . Its not fair the way things work out at times , our children are still pushed to the back , thats why we fight on xx