Do 1:1 TAs exist

I have spent the past 2 years as a 1:1 however last year was year 6, so did a lot of independence preparation from mid spring term ready for the move to secondary, where provision is different to primary. I spent mornings supporting 1:1 and then working more general support in the class in the afternoons, falling back to 1:1 when needed. Towards the end of the school year I stepped even further back and spent more time floating around the classroom, keeping an eye, but supporting across the class.

This year I am 1:4 in lower ks2, my job role is supporting those 4 children all day every day, sometimes the class teacher will do input and I'll support and then we swap, I'll support the main class and she supports the group I work with, I think this is a lovely way of working as she knows them really well rather than them being in a little bubble with me and I just talk to her about them, which has been previous experience with some teachers. However, fully aware as a 1:1 this method would less likely to be possible.

I used to be a 1 to 1 TA for a children with high needs. I was constantly asked to help other children, take groups, do classroom jobs. It was a balancing act. I've been told it's even worse now as there are fewer class TAs due to funding cuts.

Small groups can help integrate the child with SEND so that can be a big positive. But if the child with 1 to 1 can sit quietly then their TA is often used to engage with children who have challenging behaviour and are disrupting the class, but have no TA. That’s obviously not ideal at all.

So school can allocate 1:1 or small group work. They can apply for extra funding for this. When you get a ehcp section F will specify what additional support is required. The school should then adhere to that. It may say 1:1 or 1:4, 1:15 etc .

My dc has asd and global developmental delays. He has a 1:1 830-9. 10-12, 12-1, 1-3.

This is 1:1 just for him. We have had issues of his 1:1 being utilised elsewhere but I keep a close eye on things. I'm on board of governors and I volunteer in school

In my experience with my son who is nearly 5 and has had an ehcp since he was 3, it needs to be explicitly called out in section F (I think) and the LA will do everything possible to avoid it. We had to get a solicitor involved to secure ours for my son who is very high needs (awaiting specialist school).

In my mainstream school where I’m currently SENCo, we have general TAs and SEN TAs. All the SEN TAs work in a 1:1 basis. We currently have 5 children in EYFS with 1:1 TAs but most of those children started on a reduced timetable which we are building up to full time. 2 of them didn’t have an EHCP when they started, but their previous setting had started the process. 4 other children with EHCPs / 1:1 TAs throughout school are waiting for a place at special school.

The 1:1 might work with a small group including the specific child they work with as this could benefit their social skills. It depends on the particular need of the child but imo it is usually wrong for the child to be isolated and never work or play with other children. This is not the same as the TA being used as a general TA.

@SyntacticalVortex explained it better.

LAs and schools rely on parents not challenging them. Those parents need to be supported to appeal and then enforce the EHCP. The school not normally providing 1:1 is not a lawful reason to refuse to name parental preference or provide 1:1.

I worked as a 1:1 TA for 2 years. I worked with other children as well only in the sense that if my 1:1 child was taking part in group work and another child in the group asked me a question I wasn't going to refuse to help them (tho obviously the 1:1 child was my priority and I wouldn't leave him struggling). If one of the other children came up to me with a question when I was helping my 1:1 child with solo work I would tell them to go ask the teacher or class TA.

Also, it can depend on the child's needs / skills / behavioural issues. Part of my remit as that particular child's 1:1 was to encourage independent social skills so during free play (Reception and Yr1) I might set him and a friend up with an activity then sort of hover nearby keeping an eye on him but talking to some of the others if he and his friend were doing OK.

I wish they were challenging them more but, unfortunately, I've been in too many annual reviews where the prospective secondary has dictated what the EHCP stipulates based upon what they are willing to provide. The parents end up accepting it because they want that child in that school and think that it will all work out in the end. In reality, it doesn't and the kids (who have been used to having strong and effective support) suddenly lose it all and are practically abandoned.

The secondary closest, for example, offers no in-class support. The school's TAs are used to run additional lessons in core subjects for small groups of children and that's all they do, regardless of the EHCP.

In order to not include 1:1 in EHCPs LAs often like to misrepresent the evidence by claiming 1:1s cause dependency. The research actually shows a well trained 1:1 deployed correctly can have a positive impact. It does not need to cause dependency at all.

As others have highlighted 1:1 can create dependency by child on the TA and leave the TA redundant when the child moves on .
And requires a strong minded TA who is neither left stranded in the corner in a little bubble nor constantly having to fight off helping too much with competing classroom needs.
Much better I think to have TAs who provide intensive rotating support to different high needs children.

I hope parents are being supported to appeal in your LA, too.

I hope parents in your area know the law, are appealing EHCPs, and taking action against discriminatory schools. LAs should not be removing provision just because a school says they can’t provide 1:1 that is required. There are limited reasons the LA can refuse to name parental preference and needing 1:1 is not one of them. What schools normally provide isn’t relevant if an EHCP states 1:1.

I’ve been explicitly told that we are not to include anything about 1:1s or individual work within Section F, so I feel like this will be highly dependent on the LA

And how much parents are challenging the LA because as much as LAs are doing things like this, they actually shouldn't be. It is not the LA's place to make blanket statements such as this and they are skating on thin ice doing so.

Yes they exist but not every child with additional needs needs constant 1:1, the echp will state what they believe is required, it's then reviewed - at 3 it will be impossible to predict what he will need at 6. My dd had 1:2 which worked fine. (She at 3 was non verbal so they predicted very high needs but she developed at lot before she started mainstream at 5

1:1 support does exist however, it's significantly more common in primary than in secondary. In my area, none of the local secondaries offer 1:1 support. If a child's EHCP states that they need it, they either insist upon the wording being changed before the child starts at the school (usually what ends up happening) or they state categorically that they cannot meet the needs of the child and them don't provide it if forced to take him/her. They state that they just don't do 1:1 TAs as a support system at their schools.

Even at primary, I'd say that it's rare for a 1:1 TA to exclusively work with one child. It tends to be heavy involvement initially then stepping back to allow independence and checking in and supporting only as needed. Obviously, the higher the level of need, the more support that will be needed.

If a child's needs were such that they were unable to operate at all within mainstream without an adult actively next to and working with them at all times, I'd also question whether mainstream was the right setting for them. When this happens, the child tends to become a satellite, orbiting the class with their TA rather than ever truly being part of the class. In my opinion, a specialist setting is more appropriate there but it's incredibly difficult to move to one after starting in mainstream.

I work as a SEN worker for the local authority, and I’ve been explicitly told that we are not to include anything about 1:1s or individual work within Section F, so I feel like this will be highly dependent on the LA. However, as people have said above, it is a legal document so if it says that he requires a 1:1, it has to be provided. However if it says something like ‘…has access to’ or ‘…may benefit from’ then this is not a required provision

It depends on the EHCP. If section F details, specifies and quantifies 1:1 then it must be provided. It isn’t optional. But not all EHCPs include 1:1 and when 1:1 is mentioned it is often vague and woolly with wording such as “access to 1:1”, “would benefit from 1:1”, “opportunities for 1:1” or “or 1:1 or small group work” or… You may have to appeal to get 1:1 in section F and make the wording watertight.

I have a friend who worked 1 to 1 and lost her job when the child moved on to secondaty school and there wasn't the budget to keep her on, the child had high needs so she wasn't able to work with any other children

1:1s do exist, especially with children with the severest of difficulties. However, it is more common a TA will look after a small group of SEN children, say 2 - 5.

We have so many needs in our mainstream school children who would have previously been 1:1 are now 1:2 or 3 as government funding doesn't touch the salary needed for the staff member to be 1:1 and too many needs in the class.

They do exist but I cannot emphasis enough that you will need to have this worded out strongly in the EHCP itself

Ipsea and other advocates are really helpful with advise when it comes to ensuring a well written document.

Yes. Definitely, yes. Both my so sons had a true 1:1, all the way to the end of secondary.

My cousin is a 1:1 with a specific child. Not sure how common that is though. It's a mainstream primary

They do but you need quite a strung minded TA who will happily say no to the hundred other things he teachers ask them to do in a day.

No, I need to stay with x was used a lot in my last school but I've also seen TAs who are supposed to be 1-1 working with several children.