Chloe’s story

In September 2017 Chloe, who is now 17, had started the child care course full time however her mental health and physical disability had not allowed her to continue. It had been agreed that Chloe would be able to continue to study for the course at home.

Chloe’s mum, Janet, had contacted the college in May 2018 to ask what the plan was for Chloe to continue her studying in September. She had been told inconsistent things; that Chloe needed an EHC plan, that she would not be able to continue and should find another course or that she needed to be in college full time. Janet contacted SENDIASS in September as the school year had started but it was unclear what was happening with Chloe’s course. Janet wanted support to talk through Chloe’s options with the college and ensure the best support for her to continue her studies. She stated that she struggled with her own health, both mental and physical and found the process overwhelming.

With Chloe’s consent, as Chloe is over 16, SENDIASS reached out to the college to book a meeting with the inclusion team to discuss her support. Chloe was unable to attend this meeting as she was on holiday but agreed that it could progress without her. At this meeting Janet was supported to ask a lot of questions about what qualification Chloe had achieved so far and what her options to continue were. A member of staff from the inclusion team noted questions to ask the Head of Child Care. Another meeting was held a few weeks later that Chloe attended, unfortunately miscommunication meant that the Head of Child Care was not present and some of the questions had not been answered. Despite emails going back and forth between Janet and the member of the inclusion team no progress was being made. Chloe was losing hope and started talking about not going back to college despite desperately wanting to progress with her course and earn a qualification in child care.

Janet felt that she had no option but to put in a letter of complaint to the college about the lack of progress. SENDIASS supported Janet and Chloe with this letter to ensure that the timeline of events was clear as was the desired outcome.

This letter of complaint lead to a meeting with the Inclusion team and the Head of Child Care. At this meeting an option of a CACHE course was presented. This course presented less time in college for Chloe with more home learning and fewer placement hours that could be completed in one setting. Inclusion also agreed to provide one to one support for the time that Chloe was in college to support her with her learning.

Chloe was excited by this option as it presented her with a supported way to continue her studies that did not feel overwhelming. She began the course in November 2018 and is doing really well.