and get you update on things! Although, where do I even begin…
I brought Music n What Not back a few years ago now and it’s safe to say it’s been very sporadic to say the least! I haven’t been consistent, life has life’d hard and well here we are. I firstly want to say thank you if you are still here reading and hoping for more. I write this blog for a creative outlet because I don’t have the facilities to have an art studio, but also because I love writing and always have. The last few years have been so challenging that I almost wrote a post saying goodbye to the blog for the final time but that’s not what this is. This is a restart and a reintroduction.
Shall we begin?
In June 2024 I published a post called ‘A little update…’ which shared what would turn out to be a battle that would continue until March 2026. We appealed the placement type, it was declined, so we took it to tribunal where a judge would make the decision. We felt confident knowing that 99% of cases are won by the parent/carer when reaching tribunal for a school placement. But that confidence was stripped away over and over again. I hired an advocate to support us so my mother in law (MIL) wouldn’t have too (as she has worked in the field of SEND for many many years and knows her shit), that unfortunately didn’t work out and we had to take the L on that we wasted and lost £1100. We have had to rely on our parents so much, including my MIL attending calls and the hearing with us. We held onto hope that our friends wouldn’t get sick of us declining or not being the best at reaching out, we had to hold hope that we would win. And I will be the first to admit I lost hope and was trying to mentally prepare giving up this blog, my degree and my job. That I would become a stay at home mom (nothing wrong with that at all – I rate you all) and work out who I was without a “corporate” career.
But on 16th March we won!
We won our tribunal hearing!
We won with the school we wanted!
Even writing this I’m holding back tears. Because it should never have got to this! Our son is absolutely entitled to an education and an education in a setting that can support him in the way he needs, and I hate Birmingham City Council for depriving him of that for so long and making us go through this. I hate that we aren’t the only ones that have had this or will unfortunately have this happen to them too!! But that’s something I can’t get into without leaving this post 100 pages long before even wrapping it up.
So after that news, I have battled so many emotions. An overwhelming amount of joy that its over, that he will get to go to school. And that for the first time since 2024, I won’t have to avoid social media as to not see the first day of school photos. I have felt an overwhelming amount of anxiety that I think I wasn’t allowing to surface fully during this process, which has led to falling back into habits of skin picking on my fingers. Something I haven’t done to this level since secondary school. But also anger. Anger at myself for letting the system that supposed to support and protect our children make me question my ability to make decisions, question whether I am a good mother, for ripping me apart and allowing myself to rip further apart. Anger at the system, how my son has been let down so many times and how they get away with it time and time again.
But what I am doing now is challenging myself to get out of this rutt. To take our son out on my own and it not be to food shop, to go out on my own without our son or my husband. To reconnect with my friends, with my hobbies, my passions and my degree.
2026 is the year of finding myself again after the start of motherhood leading to the worst mental health I’ve ever experienced, after fighting a system and proving that we do in face know what we are doing when it comes to protecting our sons mental health and giving him what he is entitled to and deserves.
2026 is the year I pick uni back up and finally stop holding myself back with imposter syndrome and write the goddamn post and publish it!
I hope you are here for the journey, it will be documented, and it will involve many more blog posts. And if it doesn’t, you have permission to hold me accountable.
So…
Hi, I’m Leanne!
I’m just a girl in her 30’s whose birth year has her just scrapping in as a millennial. I love going to gigs, trying out new coffee shops, bit of a foodie but with a twist as I am a coeliac. I am a boy mom, a wife to my music loving and creative husband – he’s also my baby daddy 😉
I’m kind of a corporate girly (job title is very corporate sounding), as I work for a fabulous disability charity. I’ve reignited my love of reading, I love watching tv series, being outdoors – I love the beach and the forest.
I’m on a journey of finding my style as an ex-scene kid who had their “normal” period in their late teens early 20’s. I’m unlearning the awful effects of diet culture, after being on diets on and off since I was 15 until pregnancy aged 25, and relearning a healthy relationship with food.
Oh and how could I almost forget to share that I am a raging Tim Burton fan, I’m talking tattoos, home decor, and my husband took me to the museum for my 30th birthday where I felt like a kid in a candy shop!!
I have an open door policy to anyone struggling with mental health and not just because I’ve been there many times myself. But also an open door policy to anyone on the journey for diagnosis, EHCP or even tribunal.
I write reviews about music, attending gigs/festivals, n everything that get’s my fingers twitching for the keyboard. If any of this sounds like your kinda thing, then strap yourself in and enjoy the ride!
Love
Leanne xo
Music n What Not
Music n What Not 