SCN0259

Written evidence from Parental Submission 173

• Assessment of and support for children and young people with SEND
• The level and distribution of funding for SEND provision
• The roles of and co-operation between education, health and social care sectors

Local Offer / person-centred planning:

1.         Last year, my 15 year old daughter, with learning difficulties and attending a special school, completed an application form for a college course thinking it was a practice application as part of her PSHE curriculum.  I knew nothing about it until her EHCP transition review, and consequent acceptance on to an Entry level course.  She was offered no careers advice or post-16 guidance, but fed into local FE college during year 11 through taster mornings each Friday.  As she is on the autistic spectrum she wants to please her teachers and not make a fuss. I feel this vulnerability has at best undermined her confidence to make her own choices, and at worst allows staff to behave coercively.  A year later, she is studying a course which she is not particularly interested in and is taking another course next year with a supported internship in horticulture - again not a subject she is keen on.  She wants to stay at a familiar local college, it's just that the courses they feel she can access do not interest her.  I cannot see any longevity in preparation for adulthood by the LA following this route as it is unlikely she will be fully engaged or committed to working in an area which she is not invested in.

2.         For me, her special educational provision has been provision-led by the LA and school / college, not person-centred.  As a family we have tried to open up alternative study options, but the courses are at colleges further away and her anxiety precludes these. 

3.         There has been no attempt by the LA to find out her likes and preferences and so support her choices. 

EHC plan and annual review:

4.         Her EHC plan outcomes in section E are largely generic, I have read others which are word for word identical.  Even those we have changed are not being provided for in section F.  The college explicitly told me at her annual review this term that they only gather parents' and students' views at the meeting - not beforehand - and seemed to have no knowledge of CoP guidelines around holding an annual review meeting.  I was told that they couldn't provide all the items listed in section F because their funding had been cut.  It also became apparent that relevant members of staff e.g. speech and language therapist, had not seen my daughter's plan at all, even though SLT is specifically mentioned in section F.  Her annual review meeting took place on April 19th; the LA did not attend, and my daughter has not received any communication from the LA since then.  The CoP gives the LA four weeks to make a decision about her plan following her AR meeting.  Our LA are, as usual, not adhering to the SEND CoP, and I have no redress until they do, other than an official complaint, followed by LGO, neither of which will bring any benefit to my daughter.

June 2018