To think special needs schools need to stay open

[Defeatedbylife]

Im talking about during holidays,summer holidays are coming up and parents like me who are single or home while partners work and have no help in terms of families or friends utterly dread these times.Chilldren attending these schools need routine constantly and most of them arent learning a normal curriculum, instead they are learning basic life skills.
Im.talking from experience.
Ive lost all joy for living,every single day is the same as today,so bloody hard.im a stay at home mum as i have a severly mentally disabled child.he attends a special needs school but the holidays are fast approaching and im filled with utter dread,he makes so much mess ,like smearing food,his feaces,screaming,and its near impossible to go anywhere without someone tutting or complaining at his screaming.i dont blame them. I myself cant bear it.theres no clubs he can attend and family wont have him,every year i have a breakdown and no one knows.in terms of social care help its very minimal,a few hours a week.
Tonight im sitting here contemplating that its better not being here,i have no life,i dont forsee a future with any happiness.im not going to do anything,i know this.

Virtually everyone who even has a small concept of what it is like would agree "there should be provision" but that is different from "the school should stay open".
I agree with this.

Ive knocked on all the doors,theres no further help on offer,covid is a great excuse for everything too now.theres no play schemes,two hours a week respite but even then its only when someone is available,even if we had an additional hour or two allocated,the agencies often let us down.no family support,no friends who can.carers centre has been tried as have all the take a break temporary options.ive researched Everything.bottom line is theres nothing for some people, its s postcode lottery if your sen schools are running summer hubs.
It drives people like me to the edge,to the darkest areas of my mind and places me in uttter despair.
He may be my child but its relentless care and very little sleep,and No i Dont want to chuck him in residential care,i wish people would fucking stop with this as if its an answer to it.
The point if my post was i i do believe that Sen schools need to be open 52 weeks,i dont know why people think im suggesting that the same staff work throughout these 52 weeks?!im not,but if the schools were open and more staff hired it would work.

It would make sense for the school to stay open as they have the facilities. It doesn't have to be the same staff.

The point if my post was i i do believe that Sen schools need to be open 52 weeks,i dont know why people think im suggesting that the same staff work throughout these 52 weeks?!im not,but if the schools were open and more staff hired it would work.
Questioning how a year round school would work isn't suggesting staff work 52 weeks of the year.

Asking when staff (who are usually contracted 195 days a year) will take their holidays if school is to run 52 weeks of the year is a valid question. When consistency is important, having staff regularly in and out on various forms of leave on normal teaching contracts is going to make the whole year disrupted. Does that sound good for students' routines and consistency? It doesn't to me.

Pointing out that it's unlikely to work expecting staff in special schools to have anual leave like other jobs means that staff in SEN would be on worse terms than their colleagues in other branches is reasonable. When there's already recruitment issues in teaching, and SEN already has to come with a SEN allowance as an incentive, are people going to be queuing up to teach in a school on worse terms? Will that ensure people in SEN are the best staff for the children? Probably not.

Asking what happens to the curriculum for those who don't attend 52 weeks of the year when some people are saying there is a need to keep the same routine and consistency year round is a valid question. Do we accept that children who spend their holidays at home miss out on the curriculum? Or do we say that holidays aren't covering the curriculum, so actually there isn't the continuity in routine that is being used to justify calls to keep schools open?

Some people are saying it's not about running a school provision year round and it's about having holiday cover. If the school deviates from their term time offering then it isn't running school for 52 weeks for consistency and routine, it's a school with enhanced holiday provision for those who want it and that will mean holidays look different to term time. As soon as you go to term time provision and holiday provision then that isn't year round school and doesn't give the consistency and routine many posters say is needed, and does cause the disruption in routine and lack of consistency that posters are saying is the problem in school holidays.

These are all valid things to question and raise when considering provision.

Easy solutions are often wrong. The right solutions are often complicated.

FWIW, I do think there needs to be some form of enhanced provision during school holidays. I just don't think 'keep schools open for consistency and routine' whilst avoiding thinking about the big picture is the way forward.

I do think OP has a really good point. Many children in sen schools do require consistency and familiarity. Having these schools run through the holidays would be amazing for many families.

The education system does need an overhaul. I know many families with kids in mainstream that would also love 52week provision (with leave taken when required and agreed).

There should be overnight respite available if you are not getting any sleep due to your child's SEN. I know a lot of things have been cut but pretty sure the LA have a statutory duty to provide certain services. If you are in England does your Local Authority have a local offer for children with SN on it's website - they should do. It should outline what provision is available (and I can't believe that it's none at all). You can then fight for what is available. I know parents who have fought for overnight respite provision and eventually got it. At least if you had one night a week or a couple of nights a month when you knew your DC was elsewhere, you could recharge your batteries and cope better. No one wants to send your child away - least of all the LA (unless there's a serious safeguarding issue) but it does sound like you need a break.

I understand your feelings
However overnight breaks
Residential school placement
Shared lives Foster care for respite breaks
Are all possible options to be considered

That is not "chucking into care"
It is considering dc needs and yours
If you need to recover
And dc needs trained fresh carers
Then all options have yo be on the table for his sake and yours

Typical kids can be packed off (chucked if you like ) to grandparents or family or pgl for a week...our dc cannot so why not consider care options? They can be short or longer.

Dc had direct payments but always issue of finding carers.
Buddy schemes provided small number hours
We were fortunate summer schemes two or three days per week for few weeks in summer
Overnight respite breaks were considerable help.
Hard to let go but once they settle it is a life saver.
Do not dismiss exploring the "chuck into care" option out of hand. A 24 hour break is a huge help. And turns out dc have a good time....

Maybe there is place within 40 miles

Get on wait list for shared lives foster carer breaks can be hard to find right people but they may be there

Schools are not open for six weeks... you have to explore all options when you have dc needing 24 7 care as ours do

Care placement can be 24 hours month or every week . It s not giving up your child any more than sending your typical child to a sleepover is

He may be my child but its relentless care and very little sleep,and No i Dont want to chuck him in residential care,i wish people would fucking stop with this as if its an answer to it.

OP - nobody "chucks" their child into a residential school. For many parents, it is one of the most difficult decisions they have had to make. Many faced a massive battle with their LA, which pushed them to their financial and emotional limits; but they eventually won, because they had to take it to court, often by remortgaging their house. The most I have heard of it costing was £45,000, which nearly drove those parents to bankruptcy. Parents do it, because they have found all the alternatives don't work; or independent professionals have told them, what the LA is proposing is totally inappropriate for their child.

I have known several parents, who refused to make that decision and within weeks/months, their child had been permanently excluded from their mainstream secondary school, and spent a year or more out of school.

The truth is that what you want doesn't exist; I can't see any inclination by the Conservatives to tackle the adult social care crisis; and while they have an inquiry into children's social care, it seems to be about the child protection side; not children with disabilities. There is even less inclination to fund whatever the solutions might be.

My own CCG closed a respite centre for children; and my LA closed two respite centres for adults a couple of years ago - both to save money, and in the face of vociferous campaigns by parents.

I also can't see where the staff are going to come from for schools, open 52 weeks of the year - they would have to be people with term time jobs, because people working full time, wouldn't have time. Some young TAs might be keen to earn more money, but my guess is that many people accept low wages as a TA, because they want to be with their own children in the school holidays, or recharge their batteries?

Agency careworkers, ime can be inexperienced (ie started with the agency the day before); or can barely speak English and literally don't know how to boil an egg; or be experienced say with elderly people with dementia and have no idea how to handle children with complex disabilities, and challenging behaviour. Then they may turn up late; or announce that morning they have to leave early for an appointment. A different care worker every day of the week, does not make for consistency.

The head of a residential specialist school told me, he had no trouble recruiting staff for the term time only jobs; it was much harder to recruit for the 52 week jobs.

Posters have simply told you what the alternatives are now, because all of us would be waiting a very long time, for what we would like in an ideal world:

1. domiciliary care workers - nobody seems to get much of those?
2. respite centres - nobody seems to get much of those either?
3. shared family care
4. a residential school - at least then, parents retain parental responsibility
5. putting the child into voluntary care, whereby the LA may put them in a children's home and send them to the same school, they were at already

@Intercity225

He may be my child but its relentless care and very little sleep,and No i Dont want to chuck him in residential care,i wish people would fucking stop with this as if its an answer to it.

OP - nobody "chucks" their child into a residential school. For many parents, it is one of the most difficult decisions they have had to make. Many faced a massive battle with their LA, which pushed them to their financial and emotional limits; but they eventually won, because they had to take it to court, often by remortgaging their house. The most I have heard of it costing was £45,000, which nearly drove those parents to bankruptcy. Parents do it, because they have found all the alternatives don't work; or independent professionals have told them, what the LA is proposing is totally inappropriate for their child.

I have known several parents, who refused to make that decision and within weeks/months, their child had been permanently excluded from their mainstream secondary school, and spent a year or more out of school.

The truth is that what you want doesn't exist; I can't see any inclination by the Conservatives to tackle the adult social care crisis; and while they have an inquiry into children's social care, it seems to be about the child protection side; not children with disabilities. There is even less inclination to fund whatever the solutions might be.

My own CCG closed a respite centre for children; and my LA closed two respite centres for adults a couple of years ago - both to save money, and in the face of vociferous campaigns by parents.

I also can't see where the staff are going to come from for schools, open 52 weeks of the year - they would have to be people with term time jobs, because people working full time, wouldn't have time. Some young TAs might be keen to earn more money, but my guess is that many people accept low wages as a TA, because they want to be with their own children in the school holidays, or recharge their batteries?

Agency careworkers, ime can be inexperienced (ie started with the agency the day before); or can barely speak English and literally don't know how to boil an egg; or be experienced say with elderly people with dementia and have no idea how to handle children with complex disabilities, and challenging behaviour. Then they may turn up late; or announce that morning they have to leave early for an appointment. A different care worker every day of the week, does not make for consistency.

The head of a residential specialist school told me, he had no trouble recruiting staff for the term time only jobs; it was much harder to recruit for the 52 week jobs.

Posters have simply told you what the alternatives are now, because all of us would be waiting a very long time, for what we would like in an ideal world:

1. domiciliary care workers - nobody seems to get much of those?
2. respite centres - nobody seems to get much of those either?
3. shared family care
4. a residential school - at least then, parents retain parental responsibility
5. putting the child into voluntary care, whereby the LA may put them in a children's home and send them to the same school, they were at already

I have seen lots of threads similar to this though ,and many posters do have a blasé attitude of just put your child in a residential school,I'm assuming those posters probably are not the parents of disabled children,but it's hurtful to read ,I know it must be incredibly hard decision to make ,and it's not one I'm willing to make yet ,and even if that is the decision a parent makes ,getting the LEA to agree to fund that is another matter .

Could you consider a residential school? Tell your social worker you are at breaking point and want to apply for 52 week residential placement.

Also residential schools aren't like "rehoming a puppy"- there's all sorts of arrangements such as 52 week 5 days and nights of continuous curriculum but weekends at home. It's a huge decision but the right one for some families.

@LadyOfLittleLeisure

Could you consider a residential school? Tell your social worker you are at breaking point and want to apply for 52 week residential placement.

Yes because it's just that easy 🙄

@x2boys I know it's not that easy. I have two severely disabled children and the fight for everything is exhausting. If residential schooling is an option a family are considering though, they do have to start by asking for it...

I work in a Special school and quite a few parents have direct payments set up with people from the school to have children during the holidays. Teachers and Tas do it, a lot of them have no children and want to earn extra money. Good thing is they know the children as well. So might be worth asking at your school if anyone would be interested.

[quote LadyOfLittleLeisure]@x2boys I know it's not that easy. I have two severely disabled children and the fight for everything is exhausting. If residential schooling is an option a family are considering though, they do have to start by asking for it...[/quote]
Yes you have to ask.
You have to be willing to consider.

If you at breaking point which op is then all options have to be considered.
There are places
People do get funding
It rakes a while for sure
First step is to ask
A social worker carer assessment
Gp supporting and writing letters
Parent willing to let go and think of it as the child getting a structured setting or even getting used to another place to stay in case the parent needs a longer break

If op goes under - then what?
Child goes in emergency placement with no transition or settling in

@Embracelife thank you! I'm not at the point of considering residential for my DC and I certainly don't get as much help as I'd like but I was a bit at PP's '🙄' at me.

OP - I was at a meeting with other parents with disabled children once and a mum 'confessed' to us that her child was in residential, like it was some horrible secret. It was a very, very difficult decision for the family but (they felt) the right one as the child received structure and continuous therapeutic provision. I have also, in a professional capacity, visited a residential school where the pupils were very happy. No one is suggesting you just dump your child. However if this is not something you'd ever want, it still sounds like your child is high needs and you should be getting more help than you currently do. Could you ask a charity like Mencap or CAB to help you try to get more respite?

I do get it op. I have two with sen but absolutely not. The teachers who work there need a summer break.

Well you not allowed to "dump" it involves visits assessments teatime visits etc before chikd stays over.
visit options
Speak to parents
Or fight for more hours of in home support (but that is not always a break)
Shared Iives sometimes works