EHCP 25 hours 1-1 Help with school please

[TheScrapMonster]

DS is 5 in Year 1 which is mixed with R at his school and has been granted an EHCP with 25 hours OR equivalent on section F.
There are various bits of specified 1-1 within the EHCP e.g. phonics , dressing before and after PE and some work programmes to help with expressing feelings. I spoke to the SENCO at school yesterday who says they will not be recruiting a further TA as he has a " good relationship " with the current TA's in the class and they don't want to mix that up.
Im a bit confused by how this is going to work though, the set up is 1 class teacher 1 TA and a further TA who appears to be funded by another child who has physical disabilities . I remember school recruiting for this TA and it was for a full time 1-1 however she seems to be shared out a lot with the class .
I guess my biggest worry is where exactly is DS money going? And why have we just flogged ourselves for months getting an EHCP with what i feel is exceptional levels of funding for him , 25 hours a week is a lot of support . Obviously this is backed up by EP reports etc that this is what he needs so how exactly is this going to be met. An in in my rights to ask for a breakdown of how the 25 hours 1-1 provision is going to be used ? As far as i see it now what was the point as he doesn't appear to be going to get anything he hasn't already been getting ( perhaps I'm missing the point here its been a long old road and I'm jaded by it all now )

I do agree we have come a long way and DS does have a fantastic relationship with one of the TA's , I'm also happy with school in general now after a very shaky start. They have worked hard with DS and we did very nearly loose him to education a year ago. Perhaps I'm naieve but i assumed 25 hours would equal at least a TA for him part time? I do have grave concerns about his transition to year 2 when he will move class and that was a large part of wanting a TA with him for consistency .

[SerendipityPhenomenon]

You're absolutely within your rights to ask for that breakdown. If they're using the existing class TA, ask for confirmation that she will give 25 hours direct 1:1 to your child and will not be expected to support anyone else in the class at the same time - i.e. how do they plan to replace the work she was previously doing with the rest of the class. They may try suggesting that the TA doesn't have to be velcroed to your child's side all the time and should stand back sometimes to let him get on with things - which is true up to a point, but she still has to be paying attention to him and to be ready to step in immediately if he needs support, which obviously won't happen if she has whole class TA duties. Anyway, it would make much more sense for her to use any time she doesn't need to be physically with your son in preparing materials for him, keeping records etc.

You really need to keep a close eye on this. A friend of mine has a son with full time 1:1 on his EHCP and initially the school recruited a 1:1 for him. However, for reasons which were never fully explained the 1:1 disappeared and suddenly the class TA was allocated. She had no training in friend's son's needs and was in an impossible position because the teacher still relied on her for help and the other children in the class expected to come to her for help. Ultimately my friend kicked up a major fuss and started threatening judicial review and the TA was reinstated. Friend wasn't popular with the school but she no longer cared.

[OneInEight]

Does your child's EHCP say 25 hours 1:1 or 25 hours equivalent of 1:1. If the latter then they can spend the money more flexibily e.g speech therapy from a trained professional would cost more than a TA so less hours would be allocated. If relations are good with the school and your child is making good progress then I wouln't kick up a fuss now but at the annual review make sure there is a good transition plan for movement into year two. In fairness my ds's got a lot of TA support in the interim period before they had a statement which was not sustainable long term out of the schools budget without detriment to other children.

[MadsP]

I am in the same boat. My son has had a 22.5 hour EHCP since reception (now in year 2) and I'm still not entirely sure where this money is going.

My SIL is a head teacher at another school and says 22.5 hours is equivalent to around £10-12k and that if parents don't push for how they want the money spent, the school will spend it how they see fit.

So I recommend you do research on what you want the money spent on. What do you think he needs? Therapy, TA, music, sport - the point of the EHCP is that it's for your child, not the class.

Are you under a hospital? We're under GOSH and last month we asked them to spell out how they think this money should be spent, no one is going to argue with them!

My SIL says I have to be prepared to make some noise about it if I'm not happy, most schools want the cash but unless it's a very obvious disability, prefer to spend the money in a way that benefits as many kids as possible. I get that, but we have to make sure it's not to the detriment of our child.

I want to know if a EHCP can be used to fund private school. My DS is only in Year 2 but I'm thinking about Year 7 already!

[StarlightMcKenzee]

You can only get an independent/private school funded through an EHCP if you can prove (usually via tribunal) that the school is your child's nearest appropriate school and the additional cost of the placement demonstrates reasonable public expenditure.

[StarlightMcKenzee]

If your child needs 25 hours of 1:1, you need to ensure the wording says that.

It isn't legal to say 'OR equivalent' because that cannot be challenged in law if it isn't defined.

Good wording can include '25 hours of 1:1 support from an adult with x training/experience to be used exclusively for y'. That means that for 25 hours the TA's sole responsibility is your child. That could mean preparing materials for your child's use, or even just stepping back and taking notes on interaction if the 25 hours aren't needed to be right next to the child.