Is anyone having any problems with school transport arrangement, now that there special needs child is going on to secondary school in Sept 2011. I have been allocated the school of my choose for my special needs son that suffers from Cerebral pasy/left hemiplegia and bilateral hip dysplasia and his in a wheelchair.

The Local authority wants me to sign my child statement to agree to this, which I don't agree. The school I have selected is only half hour drive my our home, it not hours away.

Not sure what direction to take at the moment. Little stressed.

I have been in touch with Parent and Partnership and they just said don't sign no paper work from the local authority and too wait until February when the decision are finally made.

Has anyone been through this before. My son has always had transport provided. Its not has if I could even walk with him to the bus step and get on the bus with him because he can't even walk well.

Would love to hear from anyone out there.

i know there is talk about taking transport away from over 16's but As far as i know if you live over 2 miles from the school you are entitled to transport to take them to school, matts school was 10 miles away and took over an hour to get there after picking up all the other children so distance shouldnt be an issue as long as its in the council area as if its over the border its sorting out which council should supply it
corinne

Thanks for you reply. My son is 10. The area of the school is in the council area for where I live. In the letter they sent me saying I can have to school of my first choose for my son, they stated below the letter because the school is of my choose for my son and they feel schools are near that are appropriate school for him. These people are no idea what would suite my son. My son has special needs and really he doesn't like school, so he keeps telling me, my sons passion in life is music and he loves playing the drums which he as been playing from the age of 4. I have found a school that can cover all my sons needs and allow him to develop his music nicely. LA has quoted paragraphy 8.87 of the SEN code of practice and section 20 of the secondary transfer booklet 2011, but I haven't got a copy of that booklet to read what they are talking about. Parent and Partnership told me the transport is between the arrangement of the new school and the old school, right now I just feel like LA is putting pressure on me and at this point I don't know what my rights are.

http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/_doc/3724/S...actice.pdf
8:87 is this
Transport costs for children with statements
8:87 The parents’ preferred school might be further away from the child’s home than another
school that can meet the child’s special educational needs. In such a case, it might be
open to the LEA to name the nearer school if that would be compatible with the efficient
use of the LEA’s resources. It would also be open to the LEA to name the school
preferred by the child’s parents on condition that the parents agreed to meet all or part
of the transport costs.
8:88 The school named in a child’s statement must be capable of meeting the child’s special
educational needs. LEAs should not, therefore, promulgate general transport policies that
seek to limit the schools for which parents of children with statements may express a
preference if free transport is to be provided.
8:89 Transport should only be recorded in the statement in Part 6 in exceptional cases where
the child has particular transport needs. In most cases LEAs will have clear general
policies relating to transport for children with special educational needs that should be
made available to parents.62 Such policies would need to set out those transport
arrangements which are over and above those required by section 509 of the Education
Act 1996.
8:90 Where the LEA names a residential provision at some distance from the parents’ home
and the local authority, the LEA should provide transport or travel assistance; the latter
might be reimbursement of public transport costs, petrol costs or provision of a travel
pass.
the SEN code of practice looks to be different in each area so if you put that in google then the area you are in it should give you an online copy of that too.

have you viewed the schools that the LEA have suggested are suitable for your son? If you have and can show why the school you have chosen is better for your son it would help in your argument that they should provide transport. we had similar argument about matt going to special needs further ed as the one they wanted him to go didnt allow 1:1 and the students could come and go as they wanted which wasnt safe for matt, he ended up going there but only after they put in better safety measures and he has a 1:1 but if they hadnt agreed to this the LEA were going to send him to a college that was out of area and that would have included transport as well as there is only one f/e in stoke on trent so not a lot of choices so glad that matt loves it where he is
corinne

Thank for this detail. Had a good read. I feel so fed up today just worrying about everything.

When I spoke to LA on friday after they phoned me to ask me why I havent signed the document to sign over the rights to transport for my son, I did ask them just to be nosey what school they had in mind for my son because I am not following their rules, they turned around and said on the phone they haven't got a school in mind just yet.

When we were given the listing of school to look around mid summer last year, I made it my duty to looking around all the schools around my area and not one of them suited my son ability. I don't just want my son to be in a special needs school to just get lost and not be able to express his talent in direction all being well in which he will take up when he leave school. This school that he is looking forward to going to in Sep, does just that.

I live in Birmingham and the school I want my son to go to is in Birmingham half an hour drive away. I really don't know what LA problem really is. They gives us schools to select what schools we would like our children to attend too and at the end of the day they set rules along the way to stress us out even more. My son has 2 hips out of joints
and can hardly walk, I guess that is not good enough reason for him to have transport.

I will start making my list of why my son should have transport, to get ready for the battle. Everything we require for our SN child we have to fight for. I am so fed up at the moment. At the moment I don't even know who to trust to go to for help. So I thank you for your help so far.

I am so happy I have been selected the school I want my child to go too, but yet still I can't be 100% happy because of the game playing with transport. Its sad really because if he wasn't disabled we would gladly take the bus to school every day.