to anybody with kids

my advice
education authorities
get intouch with local paper
and local mp`s, all of them lab.con,libs etc
citizens advise
just make it a wider audience, bring it into the open
get them to get in touch with school governing bodies, keep pestering the hell out of each and every one of them, every day if possible

all the best higgi

Have spoken to may father who is an ex collage teacher.

His advice was go to the local MP and keep pushing the council but I guess you are doing that.

He also says that it is a post code lottery in that you could move to the next county and get more money and support.

The other fact to consider is that the school will have a "budget" for learning disability kids. So the more kids the less money there is for each of them. He said it appears the school is doing what it can under the guide lines and restraints that have been set on it by the Government.

As for the £100 tuition fee the actual teacher only gets about £25 of that the rest goes the school/agency.
Sorry to say but you will need a specially trained tutor to work with your daughter so they will be a little more expensive. Yes I know this is wrong.

Most importantly his advice is do not remove your daughter from the education system as you will get no support. Fight the system from within so to speak.

My own idea is take it to the papers. The Sun, Sport, Star type love to have a cause to fight and will take any chance they can get to bash the Government.

I am dyslexic and the school did not want to know. I and suffered very badly at school coming out with nothing except depression from being bullied.

My collage saw this and organized a reader and righter for me. I cam away with no more depression and cam out top of my class

Hope this is of help to you.

John.

Sorry to hear of your situation.

My take on education is that even with healthy kids the approach that schools take often varies from area to area, even within a county.

I can only speak of my own experience of local schools and Cheshire County Councils Education Department.

First each school seems to have a budget to fund 'special needs education'. Once the budget is spent it's spent - hence the 7 hours offered!

However, in my area it has been unofficially acknowledged that one school in particular does really well with special needs children and this appears to be getting more funding. Possibly at the cost of the other schools so I'll chip in with my pennerth for what it's worth:

1) Have a meeting with your headmaster to understand what the limiting factors are. Make notes. Watchem they're canny b*ggers.

2) Ask whether there is a tribunal to appeal for more funding or what appeal processes are available. How more funding can be made available. Ask very direct questions and make sure that you get very direct answers. Make notes. Keep takin notes

3) Speak to someone at County Eductaion level and get them to explain the special needs strategy & funding for your area.

4) Find out how many other statemented children there are at your school and perhaps on a broader basis within 5 miles. Not sure how you'd do this.Is there a register with the LEA. You don't need names as this would breach the Data Protection Act, but numbers of statemented children by school would give you a good understanding of whether this is under funded, funded but not in the right way etc..(with 3 & 4 you can see if there's unused budget somewhere else).

5) With the knowledge gained from the above, then approach (as suggested previously) both your local borough councillor for advise, guidance & assistance. And likewise your MP who may be able to engage at a county level. If you can marshall a number of parents with a similar problem this would help.

The issue is that until you know on what basis the funding is available and how it's made available it's impossible to fight your corner.

It could be that in your area there's no funding available but 15 miles away the situation's different. Facile as an example. But in your situation I'm sure that you won't want to leave a stone unturned.

Good luck. JB.

Oh and most most importantly. Follow each meeting, telephone call up with a letter, reflecting the questions that you asked and the answers given. This then corroborates the exchange be it in person or over the telephone and ensures that the party that your engaging with understands that you mean business.

It also gives them the opprotunity to respond and clarify...

It doesn't have to be done in a nasty way, just a simple

Thanks for meeting/talking ....on xx/xx/xx as mentioned my situation is ....

Just to be clear i asked .... your reply was ... my understanding is therefore ....
I then asked ...

and so on.

Finally ask them to reply confirming the responses given as a matter of record. If you don't get a response call and check they got the letter etc...

Hence the reference to making notes. It creates a record of what was said. Helpful, sometimes if two of you go into meeting. Or put a phone call on speakerphone and have someone write notes.

DON'T rely on telephone conversations/email, people can deny telephone conversations happened or that they never got the email and often pass the buck. It's less easy to ignore a letter. Especially if you followup the letter with a call.

Cheers. JB.