Hi,
FYI ITS A LONG ONE...
I am posting in the hope that someone can help as I see the waiting times for a response from the Education Rights Service is (understandably) very long at present.
My son is 9 years old, non verbal, diagnosed ASC and ADHD. In 2020 we fought our LA to fund an independent special school and won - it was agreed on his EHCP that he needed to be in an SEN setting and there wasn't provision in our area so we found an amazing school in the next town and the LA couldn't find anything else.
Now whilst the school started out great, it was newly purpose built and has alot of resources such as hydrotherapy pool, sensory room, trampoline room, every class has an outdoor area etc etc as time has gone on the staff turnover has became an issue. The TAs and teachers move around frequently, without warning or introduction and most of the time I have never met the person I am handing my son over to each morning. The daily handover emails have stopped which would tell us much needed info such as toileting, diet etc. When we visited the school originally a big selling point for us was that they had on site SLT and OT (the nhs provision in our area, like most, is very limited and he was lucky to get a visit twice a year and had never seen an OT). He hasn't had an OT review in over a year now, they no longer work on site and SLT is few and far between - again they're now not based full time at the school (both of which we where never informed of btw).
Whilst I'm sure all of the staff are 'trained' in working with SEN children and do keep them safe I'm pretty sure most of his time is spent 'playing' and accessing the facilities - which he definitely needs but his ehcp targets in my opinion haven't changed much in 3 years, he is getting older now and I think needs a consistent 121 teacher to ensure he is being educated and making the progress we know he has the capability of (because he does a lot more at home but we are told that is because in school it is louder and more distractions and that he does better when working 121 in a quiet area but this can't be done continuously).
Also as he is getting older I feel self care and life skills need to be worked on, on a more individual basis (again the school have a great feature of an on-site flat where the children are supposed to learn these skills but he has a visit once a week to make toast!).
As time goes on I hate to say it but I feel that his needs would be best met having a SEN teacher/tutor working with him 121 at home, maybe a PA to take him out/work with him individually on his life skills and self care (both of whom would be consistent and he could build real relationships with) and us really focusing on what is best for him and his future rather than hoping that the school does what we thought they would.
The LA pays the school £70,000 a year for my son to attend and with even half of that I feel like we could absolutely arrange a much a better package for him and enhance his future. What would be the route I would need to take to discuss this with the LA? Is it a possibility that they can fund our son's education via paying an independent tutor and pa (of our choosing) either directly or allowing me to manage it? It wouldn't be home schooling as we the parents wouldn't be doing the educating and would still need professionals to do their jobs. I understand he has an SEN provision but I just don't feel like it's the best fit for him anymore. With the fact they would be saving alot of money I would hope they would at least consider it - because we all know that's what it boils down to with their budgets.
Note - I do have a direct contact at the LA who I could reach out to but I thought I had better put the feelers out here first because I don't want to get laughed at. I also do know a wonderful SEN TA who would love to work with our son as his PA - and possibly train for more qualifications in the future if needed.
I would appreciate any experience/feedback/knowledge 