Following on from previous posts regarding my Grandson with special educational needs, the saga continues.

Still searching for Li Li

The year has continued with rounds of meetings, assessments, challenging behaviour and anxiety. The gap between Li Li and his peers continues to widen, and he is often very agitated and withdrawn when he comes home from school. In most subjects he has made no progress at all and in others he has regressed. His wary, over sensitive little head struggles to comprehend what is going on around him in the classroom.

Having met with his lovely supportive class teacher and Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) in March, they agreed that although the school had tried all avenues to help him, he would be better supported in a specialist environment.

The Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP) review was written up, our own concerns, in respect of his learning, how his mental health is affected by his surroundings and the burgeoning gap with his peers, were also documented. However the SENCO left the school at the end of term without signing the paperwork. Rude!! The support worker chased her on our behalf and finally at the end of April all the documents, together with our request for transfer to a specialist school, were submitted to East Sussex County Council (ESCC) and we kept our fingers crossed.

ESCC called for an Educational Psychologist (EP) assessment and once actioned, my daughter chased her to submit her report, which we hoped would boost our case. With ESCC having everything in their hands by the end of May, we were anticipating a response in early June. When this passed, the school support worker chased ESCC and my daughter left several messages for his ESCC case worker, all of which went unreturned. Why oh why does this all have to be so stressful? Finally in mid July, we received an email to say his case worker was on annual leave and would contact us on her return. The summer holidays were almost upon us and we were desperate for an answer before all the schools broke up. On 25th July, just as the schools closed their gates, for their six week summer break, we were advised that due to an “administrative” error our case had not been put on the system, but it had been located and would be looked at ASAP. A mere six days later, after due consideration,  we received the devastating news that once again our request had been declined. The reasoning, that they did not want to disrupt his learning by moving him for the last year of primary school, when he would have to move again the following year to secondary school.

I’m not sure what learning they felt they would be disrupting, as I have previously stated he has made no progress in the entire school year. We requested details of the appeals process, but were advised (as it transpires, incorrectly ) that we had no right to appeal.

By now we were in mid August, so decided to enjoy the remainder of the school holidays, making lovely memories, recharge our energy and resume our fight in the new school year.

In September he started Year 6. He has had an EHCP since early in Year 2. The school receive significant additional funding from this, to assist with his complex needs. However despite this he is still learning at late Year 1, early Year 2 levels!

With a new SENCO now in place, who had got to know Li Li a little, we arranged a meeting for early in October. She was shocked that our request had been declined. In her professional opinion, he is in the wrong environment and very quickly contacted ESCC, and submitted a new EHCP, strongly recommending a change in school. Sadly ESCC remain adamant that their decision is final and it is in his best interest to remain in mainstream with additional support.

We made a complaint, which was swiftly brushed aside. Our heads are throbbing, through banging them on so many brick walls, so we were making preparations to meet with our local MP. She must have been pre warned as she resigned from the cabinet, becoming an independent MP and subsequently as the General Election was called decided to stand down from politics completely.

In a final bid to help him, we contacted a charity, AMAZE, which assists parents with SEN matters, and have been advised that we should have been given an option to appeal and emailed us some legal details over the weekend. As the first term of this school year is now almost over, it is unlikely that we will now secure the move we feel he needs, however AMAZE advise that ALL SEN children should have an EHCP review in the first term of their final (transition) year at primary school and that ESCC should attend.

Amongst all this the bullying, which started in Year 5, continues. Li Li struggles to speak up and by the time he returns home finds it difficult to recollect timings of incidents. After several of these incidents were reported, by Mum, to the office, received no response, Mum spoke to the schools Safeguarding Officer. She acted incredibly quickly and arranged a meeting for us with the school Principal and Class Teacher the following day. In the meantime the Principal phoned my daughter saying she’d spoken to the alleged bully, who did not recall any of the incidents and suggested that Li Li was making it up. How dare she?

My daughter had been documenting the incidents. So armed with this, together with a copy of the schools safeguarding policy, duly highlighted in relevant parts and the complaints policy, we attended the meeting and placed these prominently on the desk. The Principal was acutely aware we were there to get this sorted and nervously started to question Li Li. His little head gets a bit muddled and he was a little wary at first, but Mums detailed notes could prompt his memory. His Class Teacher arrived and was very supportive. Li Li seemed more at ease and was able to describe the bullying, mainly name calling, but often sly pushes and nudges in passing and one punch. By the end of the meeting the Principal was convinced and assured us it would be dealt with. Li Li has promised to tell his teacher as soon as things happen. The change in his mood has been miraculous. A huge cloud, that was hanging over him has disappeared.

With that hopefully resolved, we had another meeting with SENCO and the EP (we have our own special seats in the reception area, we are there so frequently 😂) to discuss how we progress with the EHCP. They are both aghast at how we have been treated, but with AMAZE on board are happy to continue to help us. The school have had no contact from ESCC, since submitting the request in April! We are going to follow the advice of AMAZE and call for a transition review before the Christmas recess, to which AMAZE will attend and will strongly urge ESCC also to attend.

Sadly we feel we have lost the battle to move him to a specialist primary school, but we will continue to pursue whoever we need to, to ensure we get as much help for him as we possibly can in his final year.

BUT the war still rages in our attempt to secure him a place at a specialist secondary school. We are determined to secure as much additional support as possible, to ensure he acquires the skills he needs to overcome his difficulties, to pursue his dreams and have a long and fulfilling life.