To be concerned about child who needs 1-to-1

[Frustratedsenmummy]

DD is 5 and in reception. EHCP in process and has been in as vulnerable throughout. School fully acknowledge she needs 1 to 1 and can not be left unsupervised and specifically rota-ed on an extra staff member on the lockdown Rota to be her 1-to-1 until ehcp is granted.

Reception are highest priority in her school for return full time and obviously the bubbles and restriction of 15 and how this impacts on staffing is worrying me for her potentially being in a group of 15 with just one staff member and no 1-to-1.

Aibu to ask for some reassurance on how schools are planning to manage this? Or am I right to be worried?

Btw I have utmost respect for her school teachers and teachers in general right now. I don't want them under any unnecessary pressure but if I'm right to be worried I'd rather they just told me they can't staff her or that it isn't going to be close to what's needed.

You can ask. They can do what they can do.

If she's been getting 1-to-1 support, I expect that will continue. In the same way as her normal class might have teacher + TA + her 1-1, her bubble will have teacher + her 1-1. Staffing for the moment will be solved by using the teachers from other year groups, not by taking away her 1-1.

Have you spoke to.echool,my sons special school have no plans to reopen yet as they don't believe they are able to keep the children safe .

Have you asked them? Speculating on here does you no good at all.

I daren't ask them. I was chatting to the senco Friday in general and she said they had a fully workable plan they spent 4 days working on and then the guidance change completely messed it up. I don't want to add to their pressure.

I'm only concerned because she's a flight/fighter and unpredictable. I don't want her hurting herself, kids or teachers.

You have to ask them.

MumsNet cannot help you on this because all schools/staffing levels etc won't be exactly the same as yours.

The 1-1 will continue. Presumably you were chatting to the senco regarding dd so it’s unlikely the revised plan is going to ignore the needs of the kids the senco is sorting out.

I was more asking how other schools are planning on managing it? Will be asking them next week but want to leave it as long as possible but am curious how it might be done.

Ok, on the other side of this, I have a child in my class (I’m a TA) who needs one to one. His parents aren’t always forthcoming with plans, as in he attends regular, twice weekly support sessions out of school, but if they are cancelled we don’t find out until he isn’t collected at the normal time (just before lunch) and it throws everything out as we plan for him to go, and therefore not to need the one to one. If we knew in advance, we could plan accordingly and make sure the right staff were available.
So it’s not having your child there that would be an issue, it’s not knowing what you are thinking of doing, and therefore being unable to plan.
I would say, email or phone and ask. Open the conversation and plan it with them.

It depends if your school has general TAs or only TAs assigned to SEN children. General TAs are pretty rare in my experience.

And don’t leave it as long as possible, having seen your update. The sooner they know what you are thinking of doing, the sooner they can sort it out.

The school has general TAs but her classroom TA in January effectively became her 1-2-1 then in February she became high risk from a safety pov and they were struggling to staff her and reduced numbers in lockdown actually made it easier. They applied for an EHCP back in March to specifically fund her own one to one but had been making do borrowing general TAs or the pastoral worker/SLT have been stepping in to 1-to-1 for her some days so it's been a bit all over the place.

You need to ask the school. Call them on Monday and say “I really don’t want to add any pressure at a time when I know you are so stretched. Can I ask what your plans involve for a group DD is in? I ask now because I’m aware it might be too challenging for her to have 1-2-1 support, and if it is the case that this support won’t be available - which I fully understand - I will need a little time to think about if I should send her in or not. I hope you understand why I am asking and I do so in full support of what you’re doing right now in incredibly difficult circumstances”.