Appeal against Refusal to Carry out a Statutory Assessment 

If you or the school / nursery have asked the LA to carry out a Statutory Assessment of your child's needs and the LA has refused , the parents have 2 months from the date of the decision letter to appeal against  the LA's decision .The school does not have the right of appeal ; it is only the parents that have the right of appeal to the Tribunal

We are frequently asked by parents if they will be successful in an appeal if the school is not backing them up ; this very much depends on the particular circumstances of the case and consideration will have to be given as to why the school are  not supporting the parents' request for statutory assessment . Is this because the school  does not agree with the parents about the extent of the child's needs and the amount of provision required to meet the child's needs ; is it because the school consider that they have enough money and resources available to be able to provide for the child's needs on the budget assigned to the school through School Action and School Action Plus or it is because teh school does not want to oppose the LA decision

The Tribunal will be deciding ONLY whether to carry out a Statutory Assessment ; not whether to issue a statement or what should be in a statement . They will merely be considering whether your child probably has special educational needs that may require the LA to deteremine the special educational provision required to meet those needs .

The Tribunal will require evidence about

• Your child's needs
• The provision available to your child previously both in terms of input from the school and input from external professionals
• The progress and rate of progress your child has made as a result of purposeful action by the school and the involvement of external agencies 
• Whether your child's difficulties have been remedied as a result of previous input
• The resources available to the school in terms of monies and  input available on School Action and School Action Plus ; this may include the amount of 1:1 assistant support available to your child on a weekly basis , the amount of small group support  available ; the amount of teacher or specialist teacher input ; the amount  of EP input or input from therapists available ; how many children are supported from the monies and resources available to the school
• The composition of your child's class and the staffing arrangements in the class 

If your child is attending an independent school you can still request a statutory assessment ; however you will be proving not that your child is not making adequate progress with the resources available to the independent school or is falling behind his/her peers in the independent setting  . You will need to prove that your child may have special educational needs that would require more or different provision than would ordinarily or reasonably be expected to be provided  in a mainstained mainstream setting