To just let you know (re, SEN funding)

[theqentity]

That TA in the class that does 1-1 with the child that had additional needs is not funded by the school, but the LA, and a parent had to probably go to tribunal in order to get that level of support for their child.

What they are NOT doing is taking away from the school funding and the education of others. They are not there to support other children, although many do despite it not being in their job description.

Sorry, just the pass gag What's App group has really depressed me today.

With the complaints the LGO helpline can be helpful, depending on who answers. When I complained that LA hadn't issued a response they did contact LA and tell them that they needed to respond within twenty days, but then gave them another month (different person) when they didn't. It took a whole year to complete the LA complaints procedure which supposedly should take twelve weeks and another six months with LGO but I did get almost £2k from LA.

If he has a medical emergency, she can step back and attend to him surely? If his condition warrants needing someone to be looking at him and not stepping away from him, he must have some kind of device or have been shown how to make his medical emergency apparent, like asking for help by saying the TAs name?

But why should a child be put at risk when he has a funded 1 to 1 for his sole needs so that another child can get help with their spellings, tie their shoelaces or whatever? If a parent feels their child needs more support than the school is currently providing then they can always fight the same fight as the parent whose child does have that support has undoubtedly done.

And what if the child is non-verbal, has SM, the medical emergency renders them unable to ask for help or one the many possible reasons the child has 1:1 applies.

Your posts speak volumes about your understanding of the needs of pupils who have 1:1 in their EHCPs and the fact EHCPs are statutory documents - adhering to them is not optional.

And you assume my child can speak because????
And you assume my child understands their own medical condition because??

Do you know how difficult it is to have the LEA fund full time 1:1 for a child in school?

Is there actually a risk though to go to a different part of the same room? Without sight and earshot of the child you are assigned to?

Within sight

It makes no difference whether or not the child might be ok if left momentarily if the EHCP states 1 to 1 for that child at all times that is what must happen.

My child's 1:1 is for them and them alone. The risk in the 1:1 being distracted by another child could result in my child's medical needs being missed.
Yes the 1:1 will talk to the other children on my child's table....no she does not leave my child alone - ever. The TA in the class is there for the rest of the children. Simple.

Do you also have a home care package, so there is a paid carer available to be constantly in a room, looking at him without stepping away?

There can be a risk, but as others have posted it’s irrelevant.

Using 2 different examples, neither are my DC.

1. Y1 child with GDD and ASD. Part of the reason for 1:1 was to prevent other pupils touching the child or getting into their space. 1:1 was helping another child open their banana when another pupil tapped child on the arm, child had meltdown during which they hurt themselves, other pupil and 1:1.
2. Y5 child with ASD and ADHD. Part of the reason for the 1:1 is because the child is known to bolt, which they did when the TA was helping another child. It gave the child enough of a head start that they managed to scale the fence and get to the end of the road.

Many DC with medical needs do have carers, either via CC funding or via social care. Others just have parents who have to give up work and are exhausted, but all is OK because they can receive the ever so generous carer’s allowance.

That's neither relevant or your business.

School have a legal duty to keep my child safe while educated. The LEA have decided that they can do that by providing my child with a PA or 1:1 assistant. They are legally entitled to that person at all times while in school. End of.
That person is not there for the other children in the classroom.

Some of those incidents sound too risky for mainstream school

Incidentally it is cheaper for the LEA to provide full time 1:1 than to place my child in a 'special school'. One with nurses, OT, physio etc on hand in case of medical emergency.

Thankfully parents always have a right to mainstream, CinnamonJellyBeans and deserve to be supported, with risks mitigated.

If I were you I’d sit down and think quietly right now.

Special schools are so expensive, and considered non inclusive that they were shut, and are now few and far between. Only the most severely disabled children are usually given a place at a special school
(Where I live anyway).

£62 per week carers allowance.
Parents who mostly cannot work around our children's high needs.

Enjoy your pondering cinnamon

Well luckily you aren’t the one deciding what type of school is right for DC. Both DC in the examples I mentioned are thriving at MS now they have the correct provision in place and it is actually provided.

Parents have the right for their DC to receive a mainstream education unless it is incompatible with the efficient education of others, and there are no reasonable steps could mitigate this. Neither example I posted would fall in that category.

In the situations described by imitatingdory; the risks have not been adequately managed by having a 1:1 TA

It's nigh on impossible to keep a child from having zero physical contact in a mainstream school.

Most mainstream schools are definitely not secure enough to prevent a child who is determined from absconding

The risks can be adequately managed by having 1:1 if the (trained, experienced, good) 1:1 is actually providing 1:1.

Schools don’t need to prove £6k of funding before they apply for an EHCP, although LEA will try to push for that, but they do need to provide the first 6k of funding from notional SEN funding, which is well below £6k per child before they get additional funding from the LEA, this means often in mainstream schools there is only a tiny amount to support kids on the SEN register after the schools portion of the EHCP funding has been allocated. This situation encourages more EHCP applications and results in the children of parents who fight for funding getting better support than the kids of the parents who don’t. It’s utterly shit and not how things should be but it is reality.

Some of these stories are truly heartbreaking. As both a parent of a child with SEND and a primary teacher, I have a pretty good overview and I'm sad to say that the system truly is broken. From a parent's point of view, IF you can get a referral to CAMHS early enough (and it's a big IF with GPs, HVs and schools all passing the buck over whose job it is to refer as they're all too swamped and have so little capacity), you may have an 18 month to 3 year wait to be seen. IF you are "lucky" enough to receive a diagnosis for your child, you will then be cast off and left alone without support ("Congratulations! Your child has ASD. Now off you go!"). If you need support for issues connected to the diagnosis you need to re-refer in many cases. It's desperate, hopeless and I know many families who have been advised to ring the POLICE when they are at breaking point due to meltdowns or a child in danger as there is no effective community mental health provision.

From a teacher's point of view, IF you have a child in your class with an ECHP, they MAY come with hours of funding, typically 15, 20 or 30 hours. But many do not and in these cases, we still have to keep the child and everyone else safe so the TA would be funded from the school budget. The vast majority of children with SEND do not have an ECHP, as these can take years to get. In infants especially, it is common to have 3 or 4 children without ECHPs in a class of 30 with severe behavioural needs. There may be 1 TA between two classes. So much of my day is spent supporting and dealing with challenging behaviour related to SEND that I can often barely teach at all. There is no support from anywhere. It is dire and I'm not sure what the answer is :-(

@CinnamonJellyBeans

If he has a medical emergency, she can step back and attend to him surely? If his condition warrants needing someone to be looking at him and not stepping away from him, he must have some kind of device or have been shown how to make his medical emergency apparent, like asking for help by saying the TAs name?

I just snorted with laughter at this!

We have children with TA all the time in case of medical emergency, it’s unusual but definitely needed sometimes. Had to fight school transport for one kid who was getting dropped off before the TA cover started, you couldn’t make it up how much of a fight it is to keep kids safe.

My son had a dedicated 1 to 1 in primary, she sat with him at a table out of throwing distance of all other children. If she had left him to see to another child he would have launched whatever he got hold of at the head of whoever had annoyed him at some pont in the past or believed might annoy him at some point in the future. Annoying him could have been speaking, breathing, coughing, moving if he didn't want them to. If he didn't launch something he'd have gone to attack, usually with something in his hand, he'd always get three hits in before anyone could get to him. It was safer for everyone pupils and staff included as he didn't discriminate (sports day, beanbag race, he grabbed up the bean bags and got three to HTs head because her blowing the whistle annoyed him) to have a dedicated member of staff at his side. With incredible support from his 1 to 1's in Y10 in mainstream secondary he got HT award for behaviour and attitude to learning. Proof I suppose that the right support changes lives.