To think term time working shouldnt be allowed for proffessionals who are meant to help!

[lisad123isgoingcrazy]

Been trying to get hold of 3 different proffessionals about DD2 and her starting preschool in sept. They havent got 1-1 support started, they have given me pm when I said i wasnt able to make pm due to DD1 routine and have only given 2 sessions whens shes funded for 5. Also trying to get hold of someone to help fund her specialist placement with no luck. Every bugger is working term time only and impossible to talk to before schools go back. Thing is they drop this all on me on last day of term
I understand teachers working term time but parent support workers? Advisory servies?? Not just odd person but whole service!!

sorry rant over, feel free to flame me now

wow you lot are agreeable this afternoon

Any service that is linked through the school/run by school staff will only have term time staff. the only people that will be in school are office and maintenance staff.

If the support is through an external agency then you may have to contact them directly.

they arent school run services thats why im surprised, but i guess they support children within school but still a PITA

If they're working with school children it's quite likely they're heavily encouraged to take holidays outside of school term time - my parents run a number of projects working within schools and their staff have to do this.

Or are they not meant to get a holiday at all?

You're being a little bit unreasonable because the fact that it's a reduced service is more to do with government budgets than cushy working arrangements for staff.

I'm a family support worker, for families with school age children and I work part-time AND term-time only. I am very aware that families need support all year round (and perhaps more so in the holidays) but unfortunately there is not enough money to fund a full time, year round worker. In fact, my hours have recently been reduced and it's not clear whether there will be any funding at all for these support worker type roles after July 2011.

Try not to worry too much about your DD's preschool - I'm naively hopeful sure it will all get organised in September.

I can see why they wouldn't want them to take hols in term time but agree how infuriating it is - I got a letter the day after schools broke up to say DS had been denied a statement and I had x many days to appeal but there was no bugger there to speak to for help or to lodge an appeal for you

Unreasonable - you don't want a pm apointment because of your DD routine, but others aren't allowed to be flexible in their approach to work?!!!

Not Unreasonable because this is your child and her future. Maybe you're a bit stressed about this (I would be) but it's hardly likely to be the entire service - they'll have to have cover - business needs will dictate minimum staffing. try again tomorrow.

It is standard to be given afternoon sessions first in pre-school - your daughter will no doubt adjust

why should people who work termtime be available to you during the summer though? sort it out the first week of term

They'll probably say yes it's ok to change, so chill, don't worry. Mistakes happen at the end of term. It's busy!

sorry should have been more clear, I didnt want afternoons as it means changing DD1's rotuine as well and she Autistic and changes are hard to manage especially at start of term. I can promise you it is the whole service says so on the answer machines.

I used to work as a manager for an LA and those sorts of advisory services were generally staffed by people who were historically on teachers terms and conditions and there was nothing we could do about it if they didn't want to change - and pretty much none of them did want to change! So contrary to what Queen said it isn't always the LA's fault. It would have made my life and other managers lives SO much easier if they had wanted to go over to standard terms, but no-one wanted to and legally we couldn't make them. (Don't get me started...)

:(

It is not reasonable to expect school or pre-school staff to work outside of term time and even if advisors were available they probably would just tell you to contact the pre-school !

On the other hand it is definitely not reasonable to let you know the sessions your dd2 has been given and the funding on the last day of term. I would wonder if the pre-school really could meet my dds needs in this situation. Providing for children with SEN is supposed to be top priority !

Sometimes it is a struggle for parents of children with special needs to get the right support and education for their child. You could try contacting an independent charity for the condition your child has for further advice on what to do next.

If this is the year before your child starts school you should get 5 sessions but if your child qualifies for 2 years of pre-school you may get fewer sessions.

They're not school staff, crazymum. They will be LA staff.

yanbu
I was annoyed to find that the person who is suposed to be suporting me in my fight to keep dd at her school post 16 doesn't work at all in the holiday!!
so brill one week after school starts we have her MDR and I can't get help..