To think I was put in an unacceptable situation regarding SEN students toileting needs?

I have been a SENCO, led a resources provision base and can assure you that this is not acceptable.

Each of these children will have a personal care plan, you should have had this shared with you and some training about how to protect yourself from a safeguarding perspective.

However there is no training that can make it any easier to deal with a child who needs to be cleaned and changed and doesn't want to.

If there is any information on the child's one page profile from parents about how they manage changes at home that might be helpful.

I used to have 2 TAs go with two children who has similar needs. They would take turns sorting the kids out then the other adult was just outside the toilets door in an emergency.

Don't forget they have only just started school. They are likely to fall into a routine too.

I definitely would speak to the class teacher SENCO about your concerns as you need a proper induction.

Yes, in my previous job in a college we were completely unprepared for a student who needed intimate & personal care. It was a case of the managers didn't think to find out exactly what his disabilities were & what extra support he needed. But if it was my child I'd be making damn sure they were 100% on board with his needs & the staff were fully qualified in every aspect. It was embarrassing that the poor lad was on occasion waiting for 2 members of staff to be available to help with his toiletting while he crossed his legs

TAs are not always paid minimum wage. Not sure where you got this information from but it's incorrect

This is not normal AT ALL in my experience. Get a CACHE Level 3 qualification online (won’t take long) and start building up experience with an agency and then apply to good schools only. This place you are at are taking the mick and you are not learning best practice.

Are these children's parents aware their vulnerable kids are being changed entirely alone by untrained staff? This is absolutely shocking! Ffs especially in light of some of the news about nursery staff this year.

You sound lovely OP and incredibly dedicated but it is truly horrifying that the school are happy to let brand new staff be doing this totally unsupervised. What are they thinking?!

I'd be point blank refusing to do this anymore, for your own protection as much as the children's. And I'd also be looking for a new job, this school sounds disgraceful on so many levels.

Hmmm.....I've worked as a cleaner (for my friend's business) as a tentative, flexible return to working life following years of chronic fatigue and being a SAHM. I have a degree and teach GCSE Maths privately and also work as a doctor's receptionist to boost my salary/increase my hours.
I find your comment about cleaners and your prejudice very offensive.
Make of that what you will.

It is illegal for a minimum-wage employee to be required to do unpaid overtime, because they are then getting paid less than minimum wage.

It is vitally important that anyone placed in this position should raise a formal grievance and report this to HMRC with the support of Citizens Advice/ACAS. Yes obviously the money isn't actually there but schools won't be given the budgets they need until this is forced through. Resignedly accepting illtreatment just perpetuates the situation.

Fair enough.

TAs are paid minimum wage, and schools pay for the minimum hours they can get away with and then expect support staff to do all the little extras for free. The SEN school I worked at mandated - well to be honest law mandated that all behavioural incidents were reported before staff went home on that day. There was no extra pay or any other compensation for the time we spent working.

TAs are staff who are expected to support teachers with teaching reading and writing, maths, science. They need to be educated and skilled people. They are usually women, make of that what you will. And most would be much better off as illiterate cleaners. (Naturally most would be better off in the habitually male jobs, as Next has recently demonstrated).

My son works in a specialist unit attached to s main stream primary.
The school can't afford to replace staff
And they are running on a bare minimum.
There's no longer there capacity to take the children out

Yes I do have very little idea of this - hence the shock. It's an awful situation :(

There was a time when there were job adverts for ‘graduate TAs’ in my area, yes. You clearly have little idea of how bad things are already in many parts of the country if you find that boggling. For the last couple of years more and more school support staff have left and agencies are having trouble finding staff who are prepared to work in schools and do the job expected for the wages offered, as behaviour deteriorates. I was one of those who left two years ago so I’m not up to date on what’s happening to be honest. I know a few women who appear to have just dropped out of the job market and are relying on partners, husbands or family for their living, maybe while doing a little craft for sale on the side, because it is not worth trying to work hard for women.

Lots of things that you have posted are very worrying. Have you considered doing supply LSA work? It would pay better, you would get experience and you would get a better feel for schools and how they work. Hopefully you will have a better experience.

So, you have to be degree educated to even do ops job? .....on minimum wage? Again, the mind boggles!

It's unbelievable that they wouldn't give you any training. How utterly irresponsible of your employer!
The mind boggles! Hopefully you'll get some good advice on this thread. Sorry OP, that sounds super stressful and totally unreasonable

she told me to go and check the classroom even though that would've meant leaving her undressed and unattended in the bathroom that other children use
That is shocking.
This school sounds clueless.
I know it's hard to get a job at the moment, but I'm not sure I could stay if I were you.

Definitely look for something else. This situation isn't fair on you or the SEN children and their families. I worked as a TA and on my first day was placed with a very violent autistic child, I'd had no training and had absolutely no idea what to do. The child attacked me daily for months and some of it was in front of my own DC who was at the same school. I ended up feeling suicidal from the stress and will never do anything like it again. Thankfully the autistic child got a place at a special school where they could get the support they needed.

Of course. That goes without saying.

But OP 's provider needs to be aware and to follow up on this. OP is somewhat vulnerable and she needs the backing of the apprenticeship provider.

You need to hold them accountable as you can be damn sure they'd hold you accountable if something went wrong. Even if they were ultimately responsible.

As someone else said, the teacher will have no info at all on your background experience/qualifications. It's not her business to know that and won't unless you share it with her.

Are you a member of a union? If not, join. The mantra for teachers is don't step foot in a classroom without union membership.

She will help you as much as she can but ultimately you need to speak to your line manager/the phase leader to address training. It is your responsibility to raise that as a professional duty. Don't sit around waiting for someone else to think of it. The teacher can't arrange training for you - that's not her role. Nor would she deliver it.

No one will think badly of you for raising a concern or an issue or a training need in yourself. They would think badly of you if you didn't and then it became a problem.

My daughter is at university. She did a week's volunteering at my school after her A Levels and this was enough experience for her to get work as a part time TA alongside her degree through a supply agency.

When the university year finished, she worked full time as a TA through an agency on above minimum wage for a term and they said that they'd have gladly kept her on in September had she not been going back to university.

I'd look at different options if I were you.

As an aside, no one should be doing personal care without training or another adult present regardless of a child's needs or care plan. That's basic safeguaridng and protects both child and adult.

ETA: my daughter has no TA/education specific qualifications and her degree is not in education either.

Intimate care plans should already be in place though.

The school is clearly not committed to training you. Your mentor clearly can't be bothered to carry out her role. They just want an extra body on the cheap, and that's not on.

Your mentor is basically washing her hands of you and expecting others to pick up the reins (probably without communicating that to them).

I would use your review to make it very clear to your provider that the school isn't providing you with the information and training that you need (and which they almost certainly signed up to).

It's very early in the term for the class teacher to have sussed out all the children and have behaviour plans in place, so I'd cut her some slack on that. It's the management team that don't seem to have any kind of on boarding systems or any commitment to the apprenticeship.

It's not the class teacher's job to train you so she really has nothing to do with this.
It's likely she has no idea what your background or level of experience is.
You need to direct your questions and concerns to your line manager, they are responsible for ensuring you have sufficient training, have read and understood the policies etc.