This year our youngest child was refused an additional support needs nursery placement. I was devastated at the time because I knew for certain he wouldnt cope in mainstream. He was already in a 2-3 room at a nursery and wasn't coping. The nursery itself was brilliant with him and his key worker, especially, was so patient and so understanding that I knew they were doing all they could to support him. Problem was he needed more support than what they could offer. Fast forward 4 months of fighting and I managed to get him an additional support needs placement! Below is the timeline and details of what happened.
October 2023 - application from nursery to the additonal support needs pathway is submitted. Where a panel of council employees and education staff assess the applications and make a decision.
February 2024 - The panel's decisions were released to parents. My son was refused a placement. I was told by different people in the council that there was no way to appeal and the nursery couldn't help me fight it. It is down to the parents to fight it. I wasn't satisfied with no justification or right to appeal. I wanted a member of the council to explain their decision because no one involved in my son's care agreed with it. So, I emailed anyone I thought that might help within the council. I emailed the Senior Education and Families Manager, a Quality Officer, a Continuous Improvement Officier for Inclusion and a Cluster Improvement and Integration Leads (CIILs). The Quality Officer then agreed to meet with me online to discuss my son's case.
March 2024 - The meeting was productive to a point, where the officer told me my next step was to submit a placing request by the 15th of March 2024 and then a formal conplaint if necessary. The officer also told me that because my son had started to understand some words within his daily routine he was showing progress. Personally, I still didnt believe this was enough to suggest mainstream would be suitable for him. A compromise was offered that my son could stay in his current 2-3 room for as long as he needed to with the hope of him going into the mainstream 3-5 room. I knew he wouldn't ever be ready for that but I was comforted that he could stay where he was, which was a supportive and quieter environment. However, I felt worried that his development wouldn't progress much without an ASN placement so I fought on.
I put in the placing request for the additional support needs nursery closest to us.
May 2024 - The placing request was rejected. It stated that the nursery I requested would not be suited to my son's age, aptitude or ability, which is simply nonsense. On the result letter it offers mediation as the next option and I opted for that. Again I wanted to learn the councils justification of why my son had to go to mainstream.
Mediation started at the end of May. It involved an independent mediation company and started with a meeting between the mediator and myself. Then the mediator met with the Continuous Improvement Officer feom the council. The aim of these meetings was for the mediator to gather information from both perspectives. Then we all met together online in June.
June 2024 - The meeting with the mediator, the Continuous Improvement Officer and myself was interesting. I started to put forward my case but realised the officer was of a certain perspective and I wouldn't be able to change that. However, the officer said a colleague would go out to spend time with my son to assess him. Then they would make a decision depending on the result of the assessment. The officer asked me to be open to a different type of placement - a Language and Communication nursery. I didn't know how exactly they worked but I said I would go and visit one with an open mind.
I went to visit our nearest Language and Communication nursery and it was amazing! The set up they had was great, the staff were so helpful and the actual nursery was well resourced. However, this was definitely not the place for my son. It was basically a mainstream nursery with approximately 30 children in the room at one time and the support was given through an extraction model, where the child is taken out to do certain tasks. This was not the level of support my son needed and the size of the nursery would simply terrorise him. Therefore, I told the council that type of nursery would not be suitable and I would reject any such placement offer.
While this was going on the deadline to put a case forward to the Additonal Support Needs Tribunal was approaching. I spoke with Govan Law, who are a law firm who take on cases related to additional support needs tribunal and are government funded, they agreed to take on our case. They started the process and would take care of everything for us. For Govan Law to take on a case you need to have a placing request rejected.
July 2024 - A member of staff from North Lanarkshire Council Education department came out to assess Nathan over two days. The assessor spoke with me too and asked many questions. I gave her as much information as I could to support our case, just being honest because I knew Nathan definitely needed more intensive support. Ten days later an offer for an additional support needs nursery placement came through email. I was over the moon! It was not my 1st choice nursery that I had completed the placing request for but it was an ASN placement and therfore I was relieved and delighted!
I called the nursery and asked many questions, including requesting a visit. I went to view the nursery the following week, I was really happy with what I saw and heard. I accepted the offer.
August 2024 - My son started his new ASN nursery and he has settled better than I could have hoped.
Summary of the process
1. Nursery submits application to Additional Support Needs panel for ASN placement in October.
2. Result of panel decision is given to parents in February.
3. If the panel rejects the application for an additional support needs placement the placing request can be submitted and should be done by 15th of March by the parents/carers (date may change from year to year).
4. Placing request decision is given to parents in May.
5. If placing request is refused, respond to the letter to ask for mediation or go straight to the Additional Support Needs Tribunal process.
6. Mediation takes place in May to July.
7. Deadline for submitting case to the Additonal Support Needs Tribunal is 8 weeks from the placing request decision. Even if you go through mediation, get the process started for the tribunal by the deadline. Both processes may overlap.
I hope this helps. Please get in touch if you have any questions, through email info@autismattheheart.co.uk or Facebook messenger. The links for Govan Law and a fantastic website called Enquire is in the information section of this website, the article is titled Your Child’s Rights To Educational Support. Here I have summarised some educational law and government initiatives. Click the link below.
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