I am a parent of five children with Special Educational Needs, who need differentiated education in order to reach potential.

Child A

• A has an EHC which specifies a school.
• This named school has applied to the High Court to overturn the decisions of the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) and Local Authority (LA) to name them. 
• This is the only available school in the UK who can meet their needs. 
• This is a very slow process. This child has effectively been out of school for three years and has been waiting to go to an appropriate school for the whole of this time. 
• This is educationally inadequate and psychologically demoralising, when as evidenced by experts A needs intensive support at the earliest, to prevent further complications, consequent to unmet needs.
• The wider picture is that if such behaviours by school become commonplace, many more children will similarly suffer. 
• This is a Public Interest matter. 
• This case should receive support, to help this child and also to increase case law, hopefully to prevent other children going through the same adverse experiences.
• There is a hiatus at present, resulting from our lack of funds to expedite the matter. The school and LA have not made applications of urgency to the High Court. Without resources, I am unable to do anything further. Meanwhile A continues to suffer.

Child B

• B has suffered with health problems from primary school, resulting in impairment to accessing the curriculum.
• This has resulted in further complications, not reaching their potential and continuously declining attainment.
• We need support to secure expert reports, in order for the LA to issue an EHC.
• From experience, this is likely to need to be appealed at the FTT, for a Final EHC which is fit for purpose

Child C

• C has suffered through unmet needs for five years.
• C has an inadequate EHC and therefore an inappropriate school named.
• C has a First Teir Tribunal hearing in the first week of July 2022.
• Unfortunately, due to the high costs incurred during A's FTT appeal, which lasted almost 2years and the consequent current High Court action by the named school, we no longer have funding for solicitor support for any of the children.
• We are currently scheduled to go to the FTT hearing with no legal support, no solicitor, no barrister - no representation.
• The LA have a full, proficient legal team in place, including a barrister from Essex Chambers.
• We are at a significant disadvantage in comparison to the LA and at risk of losing the case, through lack of funding for any legal representation, rather than merits of the case.

Child D

• Due to lack of funds, we are not able to secure expert assessments to initiate the EHC process.
• D has suffered at school for several years and their needs are escalating.
• We are seeking support for expert assessments and legal representation for an EHC which is fit for purpose.

Child E

• E has been struggling in education for several years.
• E has been out of school for one year.
• We are looking for support with expert reports to determine needs, in order to determine the necessary provision and appropriate educational setting.
• Legal representation will be necessary in order for an EHC to be issued which is fir for purpose.

We have five children with education appeals at various stages of appeal at the First Tier Tribunal and High Court. Unfortunately, this is the only route parents have to seek appropriate provision for SEND for their children.

We are raising £70 000 to pay for barrister and solicitor fees for the High Court and First Tier Tribunal appeals. Expert reports and  expert representation also needed and will be funded from this.

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Support to access appropriate education will enable specialist provision to enable these children to reach their potential. The First Tier Tribunal appeals are against the Local Authority who will not accept the childrens' needs and necessary provision, unless ordered by a judge. These appeals have a 95% success rate for parents -  ie only about 5% of appeal are decided in the Local Authorities favour. This means the Local Authorities are placing obstacles to meeting disabled childrens' needs, unnecessarily.  (Reference :  Special Needs Jungle December 11 2020)

Appropriate education, which support disabled childrens barriers to learning, is entirely life changing. Appropriate education is a basic human right. Children with learning difficulties need to to learn in appropriate environments and with specialist support., Such neurodivergent children are tomorrow's Einstein's. The world needs such talent to be developed, as these children literally see what others do not.

Life changing access to appropriate education not only has the probability of saving such childrens' lives, but instead of such children becoming a burden on society, there is hope they will become great assets.

The High Court appeal requires specialist education solicitors and barristers to navigate the complex issues, in order to secure a school placement at the only available school in the UK that can meet needs.

The four First Tier Tribunal cases need specialist education solicitors and barristers to again navigate the complexities, in order to secure the appropriate school settings and provision. Experts are also needed, both for reports and for representation, to provide evidence necessitating the specialist school placements.

£30 000 needs to be allocated to the High Court appeal to cover solicitor and barrister fees.

£20 000 needs to be allocated for the four childrens' cases at the First Tier Tribunal cases for solicitor and barrister fees.

£20 000 is needed for expert reports and representation for four childrens' cases at the First Tier Tribunal - Educational Psychologist, Occupational Therapist and Speech and Language Therapist

A heartfelt thank you for reading and any support you are able to offer.