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.

"School say that they’re in touch with the provider and I should hear soon. It isn’t good enough is it."

But speech and language consultants cant work at the moment. That's not anybody's fault. We can only blame covid for that one.

@Sirzy, so agree. I'm hoping the two jr's that have been launched against the government are successful and they get their rights back! Also I fully intend to challenge where I can reasonably prove the best endeavours have nothing to do with the virus e.g. If one to one is shielding and it's specified and quantified, the la should employ another. Although I suspect most ehcp' aren't this detailed.

Many parents have to launch legal proceedings to get an a lawful ehcp in place for their child. They face tribunal, private reports, assessments, Gaslighting, all sorts on top of all the stress and worry that comes with having a child with SEND. Most parents fortunaly have no idea what this world is like.

My ds has very complex needs, we didn't really have to fight for a statement of Sen (prior to ehcp) but have had to start judicial review proceedings against our la for failing to provide the provision (didn't get very far before it was sorted). we now won't have that option I'm afraid. Essentially kids with ehcp's have lost their right (human right in the uk) to an education.... I guess some of you are ok with that as long as your children get babysat or whatever education is on offer in September.

Word to the wise; not all children with Sen are born with them and not all are apparent early on. Where do you think they will cut next? Kids who are in the lower academic groups? Kids with English as a second language? Kids who can't afford uniform (already happens to an extent)? Kids who aren't uk passport holders? Kids in care?

Our LA's answer to support during the covid crisis is a weekly phone call to check that the child with an EHCP is alive and well. The person who phones me is a redeployed teacher.
The two special schools nearest me have been closed to all children since before the official lockdown due to health and safety concerns. Even before that they were refusing to have some children in school so EHCP or not, directives or not those children, all with EHCPs haven't been in school. But the parent gets a weekly phone call so all is good there then
Dd is one of the fortunate ones as she attends independent specialist, her EHCP is being met and little has changed in school and the SALT and OT are in now as well.
I heard though, yesterday, the LA have called an early AR so no doubt their aim is to remove provision as the last AR was nine months late (I wanted and secured increased provision) and forced by a solicitor. Best start preparing for another solicitor's bill then.

speech and language consultants cant work at the moment. That's not anybody's fault.
My DS is having a video speech and language assessment soon. We are also sending the SALT some videos of him telling stories. I heard of another family that had a full standardised assessment over Zoom, others now doing garden assessments (playground therapy or assessments would be fine at many schools now too).
SALTs who work on feeding etc. are using face shields (more of a risk of droplets but less need for the child to see their lips fully).

@TabbyMumz and @WellTidy, I pointed out that the best endeavours example given by the gov was to arrange therapies where possible via zoom or other video calls. My son has had some via zoom but the therapist now attends the house after a risk assessment. They are health care providers. Look up the examples on the gov website of the best endeavours, the la should still provide this. Sossen are fantastic, I'm sure their FBI page will have something on it or their website. Ipsea have some template letters too I think.

Have a chat with the school/perspective school. Ir depends very much on the school, I'm a 1:1 to a yrR child, without 1:1 it wouldn't be safe for him to be in school. Before lockdown I was advised by the go to stop going to work so his afternoon ta took over. In prep for returning I was given the option to work at home/work in a different year/work with my pupil as I'm still at moderate risk, and we're not allowed mask generally. Had I chose not to work with him he was to have the yrR ta.
I chose to return as I wanted to be there for him. We do not expect him to socially distance, we encourage the other children to respect 'his bubble' like we do between all pupils, initially I was told to socially distance myself where possible and initially it was just about keeping him safe. Now we're encouraging to participate more but I'm not really socially distancing at all... but he's washing his hands regularly, something that was a big trigger for him previously.
1:1s know our pupils and want the best for them 😊

@JaniceWebster

At the moment, not everyone is supposed to be in. but your own child actually IS in, so that's all right Jack. Yeah, we get that.

Being abandoned until AT LEAST September might be ok for you, but it's very damaging to some children. You don't care about those, why should you, it's not your job.

Janice I very much care about the children disadvantaged by not being at school until September. But the fact is that the entire system is set up for them and they will still remain far less impacted than SEN children even in normal times.

I am a teacher. We have a child in our school who requires two to one adult supervision in a separate room and a place in a special school. There is no space. When we ran out of money to provide two to one support we were told by the LA to reduce the hours she came to school. Her education has been thrown under a bus even before Covid and will be for the foreseeable future.

I can’t compare that to my non-SEN Year 1 child, who hasn’t returned to school yet.

It would be hard for anyone who doesn’t work in education or doesn’t have a child with SEN to appreciate how much our current system has let these children down for years. Looks like it will continue to as well.

@BostonCheers

What I would say is that if this crisis leads to a re-calibration of the balance between supporting individual pupils who have particular needs and providing a high-quality education to the majority of DC, that will not be a bad thing.

IMO we cannot have a situation where the needs of one student in a class take precedence over the education of the other 29. That has been happening sometimes I think.

Particular because of the dangers here, the health and safety of teachers and students cannot be compromised. So while we should absolutely be looking to support pupils with SENs, if there is any threat to safety, pupils will have to go regardless of their needs.

And where would you like them to go?

BostonCheers - or they could support those needs properly so they dont impact on other students rather than setting them up to fail?
I am not sure we have a right to glide through life unemencumbered by the needs of the disabled.

So basically write them and the families off but make sure nobody else is inconvenienced.

Or we could ensure proper support is put in place and as such ensure children don’t grow up to have narrow-minded attitudes like yours.

@sirzy

So you’re quite happy to have students in your DC’s class who are a threat to the safety of staff and pupils?

Boston if the needs of pupils with SEN were met then the other 29 as you put it would receive a better standard of education.

Whatever happened to Mumsnet's This Is My Child campaign?

speech and language consultants cant work at the moment.

DS1, who has EOTAS, is now receiving most of his provision including SALT via various virtual means. DS3 is receiving some but not all of his SALT provision too.

They've starved the system to the point where they can barely provide for the kids without SEN never mind the ones with! Now with COVID the SEN kids will get next to nothing unless their parents can afford fees.

I’m probably speaking very much from a secondary perspective but tables arranged in groups really aren’t great for learning.

Time and time again research indicates children learn better when facing the front.

Useruseruserusee
I have thought (and complained and campaigned) for years that our current system is letting all the children down, obviously worst for others. It seems that no-one cared for so long until it touched their own.

I am just looking at the current situation as an emergency with temporary measures, and I think that people should be more realistic. We shouldn't be in this situation, it was obvious the system would crash one way or another, but as we are and cannot change things magically I think a medium should be reached.

It's not about getting rid of some children, it's trying to do the best for the majority. Unless the government decide to requisition all private schools, (which wouldn't be fair or remotely acceptable!) what are the choices?

Most of the time when that happens it is because the support isn’t in place, or they aren’t in the right setting for them.

There have been times when DS has lashed out in school, especially before the LA conceded what we all knew and agreed to fund full time 1-1.

He is now much less likely to have issues in class and when he does he is supported by a staff member who gets him and knows how to calm the situation before it escalates.

But by having him in the class is peers have also had a wonderful learning curve in the differences that they will encounter in life even becoming knowledgable on gastrostomy feeding.

He is as much a part of the school community as any other pupil yet people like you would rather have him shoved out and hidden away

I am getting a bit overwhelmed at the scale of the mishandling of the school situation, it must be terribly worrying for parents with children who need additional support.

Op, head over to UsforThem on FB. They are fighting for EVERY child to return to school as NORMAL.

I am not sure we have a right to glide through life unemencumbered by the needs of the disabled.
Hear hear.
So I'm guessing there are lots who'd also be happy to exclude Muslim children/girls having their period/children whose English is poor because the arrangements have been poorly thought out for them.
@Rhubarbpink I'm assuming that primary mainly DON'T face the tables to the front and secondary mainly DO for good reasons.
A fixed position (either way) with a rigid behaviour policy would lead to my DS misbehaving as he can't sit still and gets very upset and tries to get out when he's told off repeatedly.

I get that’s difficult. I don’t know what to suggest, to be honest, because safety does need to be a consideration. But if he can’t, he can’t. So I’m stumped.

I don’t know that primary teaching is necessarily suited to grouped desks, though. Many children hate it and actually prefer the more regimented approach in secondary.

TabbyMumz of course speech and language therapists can work at the moment. There are challenges to that, of course, but it’s not impossible. Many, many people are working remotely and have done through all of lockdown. Therapy can be delivered remotely. The fact that DS has an entitlement to it, weekly during term time, and it hasn’t been delivered since early March is not only due to COVID.

The lack of understanding from some posters is really upsetting.

Thanks lifejacket for sharing your experience of speech and language therapy being delivered. I will follow up on your suggestion and liaise with the senco at school. It will be the end of term in three weeks and I can genuinely see it happening that DS will not have had any SALT input between the beginning of March and the middle of September (EHCP says half an hour weekly during term time).

Well tidy, weve been told by ours that they cant. They cant come into homes at the moment, and we cant go to the hospital either. Its good that some are doing it over zoom, but that doesn't work for everyone.