To think they may as well say "don't send children with additional needs back in September"

[drspouse]

The current plan is:
All in bubbles of 30
All in the classroom together
All facing the front (WTF has that got to do with virus protection)
No use of shared spaces except at your rota time and after it's been bleached.
Teachers at the front, 2m away
AND focus on behaviour.

My DS has an EHCP and needs a space to escape to when the classroom gets too much. He's often been using a work space outside the classroom. We just looked round a lovely mainstream primary that has a behaviour base and a nurture base. Oh and a library and an ICT suite that children can access at lunchtime.
His previous school had very little space and the corridor was the library etc.

So how are schools supposed to cater for children who need time out of the classroom to prevent meltdown?
This includes children who are having a hard time at home, can't cope with playground noise etc. Not just those who have a diagnosis of SEN.

And children like my DD who have small group teaching outside the classroom most days - you can't do that with 2m separation and all facing the front even if you can disinfect the break out area.

So I'm guessing nobody really wants a child like my DS in their child's classroom if he's not allowed to go out to his calm down area when he needs to?

Well, I guess I knew the government didn't really want to deal with inconvenient children who don't fit their mould, but this confirms it.

I really feel for teachers, yet another impossible task.

so some kids having more legal rights than others is ok, is it!

Er, yes it is. I think yours and others replies to this thread demonstrate beautifully why we absolutely need laws in place to protect disabled and disadvantaged children from discrimination @JaniceWebster.

Thankfully from 1st August the provision in section F will return to being compulsory which is good for those pupils who have a clear section F

@JaniceWebster you clearly don't get it. Kids with EHCPs don't just get them for no reason. They nearly always have to be sidelined. My daughter can't attend extra furriculars or even normal day to day activities because she needs to high a level of support. I accept that. I will not accept that she should go without in school too.

Well @JaniceWebster if you want the special provision for your children then be sure to make sure you are prepared to spend thousands on legal fees, hundreds and possibly a few thousand on independent assessments, spend hours and hours writing letters of complaint to the LA, to MPs, to schools, go to SENDIST repeatedly, threaten JR, get a barrister and a date for the high court, get rulings by the ombudsman and know that come September at AR you might well be back on the treadmill once again depending on which bit iof the provision the LEA decide to try and cut. Of course you have to juggle all that whilst being parent and carer to a child with a disability.
Years ago some parents in my son's infants school got up a petition to have my son removed, the HT gave the posse pens and paper and told them they could write and remove their children but ds had a legal right to be in that school and he was staying. If you aren't happy that schools are forced to meet their legal obligations then I suppose you have that same option as those parents did.

Are people really jealous that young people with additional needs get some support to help them bridge the gap between them and their peers a bit? Unbelievable

@sirzy I'm just surprised you haven't encountered it previously.

I have sadly. Still struggle to understand the mentality.

I assume they aren’t jealous of the fact he is under the care of 15 professionals or the fact that we have been up since 3am due to a feeding pump malfunction. But that support to be able to go to school is awful isn’t it!

@JaniceWebster I wouldn't have the energy to get myself worked up about disadvantaged children being in school.

My ds has always had 1-1 and is still 3 years developmentally behind his peers, he is nearly 7 but at a 3-4 year old level and the gap is widening the more time goes on. He will never catch up. He's socially like a toddler and will need support for the rest of his life.

Going into school during lockdown for ds was never about education, more for his routine and I don't give a shit to say but for respite for me, in fact that was my deciding factor, his school encouraged me to send him back so I could have a much needed break.

Come September when every other child is back in the classroom learning & catching up what they have missed out on, my ds will be outside with his 1-1 twirling ribbons and splashing in water and no doubt eating grass like he always does, having the time of his life though I'll add.

He can't access the curriculum even at the basic level they present it.

He's going into year 2 and it's always been like this for him since nursery. (He's moving to special school during year 2 and I pray they can engage him more. I don't blame his primary school they do there very best and have all professionals working with them, mainstream hasn't been right for him but at least we tried.)

I just couldn't get pissed off with disadvantaged children going to school. In fact I would sit there and think to myself thank god my child doesn't have to face that. It's not a life you would want for your child.

Are people really jealous that young people with additional needs get some support to help them bridge the gap between them and their peers a bit? Unbelievable

It's amazing what some people will get up in arms about. My DDs friend has a disability that affects her movement, and my DD is partially deaf. We've had to get specific agreements that both will be seated in class appropriate to their needs (not often together but friend needs to be somewhere she can get in and out of plus use desk space and DD needs to be sited so she can hear). You'd think that was a no brainier wouldn't you? But there have been complaints that children with no needs can't have their preferred seats because either DD or friends DD have been allocated it so they can literally access learning. Always astonishes me.

Claiming that your own child is at disadvantage whilst they have been given priority at school for months is outrageous when at least half are denied access.

You can't be serious? 

It is clear that your position on all this comes from a place of extreme privilege and ignorance @JaniceWebster.

@JaniceWebster still hasn't answered my earlier question:

Please explain to me how my disabled child receiving the support set out in his EHC plan causes your child to suffer, be neglected, or not looked after. I would genuinely like to know how the removal of disadvantages for my child creates disadvantages for yours.

PS: the word "normie" was used sarcastically in response to an ableist post, untwist your knickers.

Oh and like many young people with EHC plans Ds hasn’t been able to go into school during all of this because he is also shielding and even if he wasn’t wouldn’t have been able to cope with the way things had to be at that point

Yes did have a parent complain that all the children in class had to take turns attending the "special group" where dd went every week. That would be the group to meet her social interaction needs in the EHCP led by the TA that dd's EHCP funded.

Janice, if you believe pupils with EHCPs are at an advantage perhaps you would like to swap? DS1&3 have EHCPs. But, you have to take the whole package. You have to take their LLI, anxiety, DS1's complex MH problems, DS3's ASD, multiple other health conditions, their trauma, the numerous appointments and hospital admissions. DS1 is out of school and has been for a number of years, that's not in his and my best interest, and it takes its toll. My constant stress and anxiety about keeping them as well as they can be and fighting for the support and care they need. And the paperwork - a full time job on its own.

For the record DS3 hasn't been in school since the week before the schools closed due to his LLI.

More than not giving pupils an advantage, EHCPs don't remove disadvantage completely. They remove some of the barriers disabled children face in accessing education and everyday life.

This thread is depressing.

Janice Do you also object to DSA and the Access to Work scheme?

So glad we're going back to ehcp provision now having to be made for September.

So a little boy I work with, who pulls his own hair out, picks his skin off, can't concentrate or focus, can't make friends, can't access the curriculum...he's fortunate? Advantaged? Because he has been prioritised due to the fact that without a continuance of routine he spirals into harming himself and others? Righto.

Fucked up thinking there. Think beyond the end of your nose.

My son has a,full EHCP and attends a,special school only be hase,n been at school since. Since March along so with every other child at his school all of whom have an EHCP ,they have to have one to attend ,I really hate this assumption that all children with EHCP,s are in school ,everybody seems to have forgotten about special schools.

danni0509

I think my point is being missed. I just couldn't get pissed off with disadvantaged children going to school.

I am not pissed off by that, I am pissed off by children NOT going to school because they are not judged disadvantaged "enough".

I am pissed off that the well being and mental health of children, who might have been happy and thriving before, or might not, is being completely abandoned and that so many think it's absolutely fine, some posters on here are a prime example but they are not the ones making the decision ultimately.

People who are accusing others to pretend that other children "do not count" are doing exactly that themselves. It's not their kid, so it doesn't matter.

And about the catching up: it's a fact that schools have handled the lockdown very differently. Some kids will end up far behind, and are the ones who will lose out on school place, uni place, internships...

What pisses me off is the failure and refusal to recognise that the lockdown has created some huge mental and physical issues for some kids and that is completely ignored and is even denied.

@x2boys none of the generic special schools around here have been open at all either to any child. A friend of mine has just heard that LA will be funding independent physio now until September for her dc after another fight on the back of two tribunals and a media spotlight. It's a disgrace.

I just saw that my post stating that children currently being refused access at school is a disgrace...especially when said children are struggling on all levels. But they don't count, as someone called them , and I QUOTE "normies".

nice, very nice.
proves my point really.

I think what it proves is just how disablist your attitude is. You may not be willing to see it but your posts make it pretty clear!

But surely someone without additional needs is far better placed to overcome than those with?

well how much of mental and physical problems do you think is enough to take children and the problem they are currently facing seriously... They don't count, do they.

who is the disablist here.

If you want a post deleted, you just need to report it, it doesn't matter what people actually wrote btw. Try it.