School want to trial a part time timetable after just 2 weeks at the school - WWYD?

Sadly the whole SEN system is failing. Too many people demanding too much from it. I feel very sorry for the teachers and pupils in mainstream. Specialist provision should be widened instead of trying to change everything for an individual. We can’t afford it any more. It is on the verge of collapse.

https://www.pegsupport.co.uk/

If you were the parent of an SEN child I imagine you might want to ask as much as you can get to make sure your child is supported.

Indeed, especially when the child has an EHCP which legally entitles them to certain provision.

I don't imagine the OP will be back (it's hard enough parenting a child like this without randoms on the Internet lecturing you about Xboxes) but the very least she should expect is that the school deliver what's in the EHCP, not just take the easy road with informal exclusions.

”I'm also worried about what it means long term. Is this the start of them deciding mainstream isn't going to work? ”

But mainstream isn’t working for him is it? It didn’t work at primary school and it’s not looking promising for secondary.

if he was getting sent home from PRU because they couldn’t meet his needs it’s baffling they’ve decided mainstream secondary was going to magically work.

if I was you I’d work with the secondary at this point to come up with a plan that proves he needs more than mainstream education can offer.

Not in terms of whether ADHD like the OP describes is a disability, it hasn’t, or at least not to anyone who actually understanding disability law.

so are all the other children in his class though.

The school have suggested an adjustment that may help him get used to school, why not try it. Make sure you have strict parameters in place, OP, about when it will be reviewed, what the next steps will be if it is working out (eg, after 4 weeks of part-time, he does 1 full day, and 4 part time etc etc)

He has a 1:1. That already means he is getting (or should be getting) support. Don't let him waste this opportunity. Because the alternative may well be not to go to mainstream school.

Too many people demanding too much from it.

There hasn’t been such a big increase in the rate of SEN as some would like people to believe. The most recent statistics released this year show 20.8% of pupils have SEN. In 2010, it was 20.9% or 21.1% (depending on which statistics you look at - I think it is a rounding issue adding up SA, SA+ and SSEN). In 2005, it was 18%. Going back several decades to the Warnock report in 1978, “some 20% appeared to need some form of special educational help. This may even be an underestimate…”

DC don’t get provision just be use parents demand it. That isn’t how SEN law works. LAs certainly don’t give provision when the child isn’t entitled to that provision in law. Neither does SENDIST Order it when the legal test isn’t met and if LAs thought the FtT had erred in law, they would be quick to challenge it.

so the other kids don't get the benefit of a TA?

I hope they have two but if they only have one then yes the other children won't get much help because the TA will be focused on the SEN kids.

They will have a TA but how much the TA can help I don't know. I know three high needs autistic children starting next week including my son. Not very verbal, in nappies. Not the schools fault, not the parents fault but I think the TAs won't be able to help the other children very much.

As they should as they will need it the most. Sadly though this is one of the problems of the chronic underfunding in schools, if we want to be inclusive they need to ensure that there is enough money to properly staff classrooms and support all children.

I'm so sorry OP but I failt to see why the schools teachers should have to put up with being sworn at by your DS. Yes your DS has special needs but teachers should not be swoirn at and be told to accept it because of special needs. Its also probably detroying the ability of the 29 other children to learn.

It sounds to me that this is being offered as a half-way house and if you refuse it then I think you can expect an exclusion to come quite soon.

Perhaps its time to get in touch with your local MP because there needs to be support for your DS and a MS school isn't really the place for it.

If the child in question has a 1:1, that's most likely being funded via his EHCP. If he's not using their services in the afternoon, that actually frees them up to work with other kids. So it's the opposite to what some posters seem to think. The child is bringing resources rather than taking them.

This is one of the mechanisms schools use to exclude ND kids so I think I would want assurances that they had tried various different strategies before they landed on this. You don’t have to agree, they need your consent to do this. From experience, schools are far too happy to move the problem and not try and meet the child’s needs. He isn’t misbehaving, they aren’t meeting his needs. That’s what causes the meltdowns and behaviours. It’s something that is hard to understand unless you have been there.

Stresses me out just reading this.
If I was at a Secondary, in a class with with someone like OPs son, I'd probably scream at him to get the fuck out, go to the Principal's and refuse to return to the class until he is removed.
I might try to stage an "intervention" of a whole class walk-out due to shite conditions for learning.
Yes, I have ADHD and have an overwhelming fight or flight response to aggression or perceived injustice. Sharing a class with someone extremely dysregulated would cause a mirrored emotional reaction in me, strong enough to disrupt my own learning and then add to the problems the school have to deal with.

Schools really are their own sort of hellhole these days.
I could never be a teacher -it must require a nervous system as blunt as a piece of foam.

I think most teachers, myself included, recognise that a lot of year 7s really struggle to begin with and would do our best not to take behaviour personally.

@JapanesePotWeed if you did that then it sounds like you'd be excluded yourself.

My DS is in a specialist school with pupils who swear and kick. He is used to it now and knows to ignore or report to the teacher.

Sounds like he's more mature than you at 14 TBH.

Having control of your own emotional response when faced with abuse or (what I would perceive) unfair working conditions is a very good skill/ability when it comes to keeping a paying job. Tellingly it seems that prisons, mental institutions, police and schools are the only places where you must provide a service to said abuser repeatedly as part of the wider expectations of your role. Transferable skills!

But I'd rather teachers be passionate about their subject and excellent at imparting knowledge and get regular training on how to lead, motivate and excite... Than go on courses on how to depersonalise or handle abuse or provide for special needs not compatible with learning.
As I mentioned - I have ADHD. And the sort of environment that is on offer in schools at the moment, would sink me. It would take my abilities and focus away from the studies and direct towards anger and finding ways to remove the trigger.
That's OK if teachers don't take it personally... But it is VERY personal to those whose education is affected.

I did well in a mainstream school as it was a different environment then.
I wouldn't do well now. You are right, I could even get excluded for kicking off against aggression. And that would be instead of achieving top grades and representing my school in competitions. Great. Very beneficial to the education system!

Maybe we should leave the Mainstream schools to fester and create Teaching focused schools instead, for those who want the environment to focus and learn. Revolutionary.

I hope you don't have school age kids, @JapanesePotWeed , as thanks to the recent White Paper, stories like the OP's are going to be occurring in every class of every school within a few years. And local authorities will be able to bat it back to the school.

No of course not. I would however think anything would have to be done carefully. I personally would suggest a NVR course, where the OP is supported in whatever changes she makes. I would also suggest a referral to a genetics clinic to see if there is anything there that can explain his behaviour. My girls both have a genetic deletion with explains a lot. I would also get a sensory integration and speech and language assessment done.

The school may have been forced to take him. The senco will only know what to do within the school, not about specialist provision which might be more suitable. Parents who rely on school, senco, LA to do the best for their child are often left with unsuitable provision. Instead parents need to be heavily involved, often with the support of orgs like SOS!SEN or ipsea.

If he has a 1 to 1, that's funded by the LA. If he isn't in school, the TA will be moved to other duties. But that's not right - the TA is specifically funded for him. The school will want the ehc and the funding/staff that comes with it. They can't say yes then unofficially exclude the boy yet keep the funding.

I'd be very surprised if he has access to an individual TA as worded on the EHCP, this is rare.

I work in secondary and it's very different to primary, we don't work one on one with a child all day we swap most lessons.

I'd ask for an emergency AR and start looking for a suitable school asap. It'll be a long slow process no doubt ending in a tribunal ( I've also been there) good luck.