To feel these parent are not understanding ( WhatsApp and Sats )

Just trying to get accommodations for my autistic son was a nightmare! Thank god I’m not dealing with WhatsApp crap too!
They are brainless idiots.

The “problem” with access arrangements isn’t the arrangements themselves it’s that there will be students that would benefit from some level of additional support but don’t get it because it’s not severe enough. That middle group that don’t quite meet the criteria for help but can’t achieve the necessary levels without it.

the system needs to spend more time looking at other ways to measure ability and remove the barriers in the first place rather than just giving some assistance to work round them

People are ignorant.

My ds had access arrangements for GCSEs and still got a range of grades from 4-9’s. This is because he doesn’t do better with the help - it just means he can reach his full potential.

maybe just a simple link to the access arrangements guide and nothing else would be a good response?

You’ll never educate those who don’t want to be educated but maybe those who didn’t have an issue before and have been persuaded to have one now will read it and change their minds back?

I saw that thread, it hurt me too.
My ds will have a reader for him today and will reach his full potential due to this. I am very proud of him

Nobody actually cares about SATs other than year 6 teachers.

This. Best thing about moving to secondary was leaving the class whatsapp group!

Just tell yourself - 2 more months and you may never need to speak to some parents again.

DD is sitting A-Levels from next week onwards, extra time, smaller room and rest breaks. All these adjustments were given after long and difficult discussions and diagnosis.

I am sure she would prefer normal exam circumstances and not having ASD/ADHD.

This is exactly what came to my mind! I’d share this and say ‘be thankful your child doesn’t need access arrangements, but also feel confident that it has no impact on anyone but the children involved’
I wish people would mind their own business!!! 💐

I would respond exactly what you wrote in the last paragraph about them not understanding and the point of it is to make things equal.

However I'd prefix with something like "I had to take a day to respond here as I was so upset by these remarks I needed to make sure I was calm"

Then finish with
"That's all I have to say. I won't be entering into a debate about this."

My eldest is allowed to type. If he wasn't allowed to type that would be it - he wouldn't be passing anything (I pity his poor maths teacher because that's the one exam he can't type).

These accommodations let the kids prove what they know.

I do have some concerns that in the big, wide world, these accommodations obviously won't always be available - but TBH, only a little bit, modern tech is coming on so much that living without writing or reading is becoming more and more accessible.

They need to focus on their own child and their own child's needs and not the help another child is getting. If they feel their child doesn't have the access arrangements they need, they need to speak to the teacher. Otherwise they need to back off from another child's learning which is nothing to do with them.

All children can have the questions read to them during the tests (apart from the reading paper).

@LivelyCrab

DD has an EHCP, and my experience of school so far has been a school trying to reject her placement (which I now fear may happen throughout her education), DD being completely overlooked because she is well behaved/extremely quiet, arguments with the SENCO, general dislike/ostracisation/emails ignored/battle over provision. I’m not seeing the EHCP as some sort of ‘bonus’ - at all. While I think a few people may try and fix the system, the SEN Mum’s I know have very genuine and valid concerns.

I can recommend leaving the whatsapp group, I left when my eldest was in year 6 and never joined another one

So Henry is just as whiny “it’s not fair on me” as his parents.
(SATS aren’t that hard IF your child is academically decent which is what you need for top set anything we didn’t do a scrap of revision at home barely noticed they happened at school.
We just get our kids to concentrate on their own exams, to the point I asked our eldest if anyone got extra time in his school because he had never mentioned it, asked how does that work leaving the room, “oh they sit at the front”)

So it would be tempting to message in the Group
”you can’t polish a turd Susan”
but probably not advisable!

You can’t argue with stupid. I’d be tempted to screenshot and send to the school. Ask them to invite the parents in for a chat about why some kids need accommodations.

Y6 teacher here. Loads of kids have access arrangements for all different reasons and has nothing to do with ability. These parents are ignorant. Don’t waste your time on them. Good luck to your son this week!

Your son clearly needs extra time in his exams and you should ignore these WhatsApp comments.

However, I do think there’s a broader issue that this discussion flags up. In DSs class over a third of kids have extra help / time. That’s a huge number. So what happens to a kid who doesn’t have a specific diagnosis but is slow at exams, or isn’t able to hold information well, or just aren’t that bright. They’re also at a disadvantage, so why shouldn’t they get help?

I don’t know what the solution is. I suspect it’s reform of the whole education system.

I’d probably say if Henry has SEN and needs additional support then it can be arranged for him, I spoke to xyz for my Jonny.

The other option is to reply to the ranty mum with something passive aggressive like

This message comes across like you’re wishing something like cerebral palsy onto DC so they’d get more exam support. I’m sure it’s not what you intended, but I promise you life would be a lot harder on you and him if he had it, and the exam arrangements would be the last of your worries.

Perhaps I’d be classed in that way but it’s my experience that because my child is well behaved, stable family life and isn’t on anyone’s radar she’s more likely not to get noticed.

It’s the teachers job to speak up for those children that need the extra time (I say this as a teacher).

Hopefully the kids will grow up to be less thick and ignorant than the parents

I agree. My children were a lot kinder to those who needed help, they had understanding.

Sounds more like the queen bee has spoken and the others are you jumping to her tune.

It’s like the ‘I don’t mean YOU, but …..

Id ignore it.

The rest of the world gets it.

OP tell them treating everyone the same is sometimes the most unfair thing to do.

My DD16 has always had extra time and to be honest I’m not convinced it helps, they are more exhausted as they spend more time in exams especially on the days (like this week in her GCSEs) she has two in one day.

These people are stupid, feel free to tell them that.

Totally not my experience as a teacher not parent of an SEN child.