I honestly can not believe what I am writing. After agreeing in principle last October that we could make the move over to EOTAS after the last placement had broken down. But October was 8 months go and we still don’t have a provision in place. The news today is very welcomed I am tired of living in limbo under all this. Charlie is unaware, one of the most important piece of raising Charlie is to make sure he has no unnecessary anxiety. To make sure his life flows, with as little interruptions as possible and to make sure we stick to his routines as much as possible.

To do this, I have limited the conversations I have with Charlie over school, education and learning. He knows he will not be returning to his old placement and he knows we’re working towards him being at home with me for home education and that is where I leave it. Eventually, we will have more conversations and I will slowly introduce him to all the parts of the EOTAS plan that we have have been agreed. I feel we’re still so far away from it all. Charlie has basically missed all of year 5 in his education and he is still so academically behind in his Maths and English. Luckily, cognitively Charlie has no difficulties. He understands and responds (albeit in his own way). We still have so much work to do around sensitivities, strategies and speech and language but ALL that is outlined in the EHCP and we will have provision to support this.

I feel so relieved that I can see that light at the end of a very long tunnel. I am so pleased that we will be working on a plan that fully supports Charlie’s educational, social and emotional mental health needs. I am happy that Charlie finally has a placement that suits his needs and respects the challenges and barriers that Charlie has to learning.

I will keep you all updated on the progress, and it would be amazing to believe that this will be sorted before year 6 starts but I won’t hold my breath! Once Charlie builds in these new routines, of seeing the maths tutor, horse riding, swimming lessons then I will (fingers crossed) ask the LA to support Charlie with a TA that can work with him 1:1. This will only be done when I can prove that Charlie is thriving and successfully managing the demands of the EOTAS. Once I can prove that, then we will be able to successfully request a TA to support Charlie and increase his learning. I am excited for the future.

I can’t wait to share the news that the package is in place and we are being fully financed for it.

Georgina x