AIBU to have told DS he can ignore teacher on this one?

[OverExpectantParent]

DS is Yr6, has SN and a 1:1TA 6 lessons a week.
After reluctance to go to school, he finally said why. Yr3 teacher is ill and his TA is covering for her. He has been told he will have to go into the Yr3 classroom for his maths lesson today.

I told him he didn't have to, he could ask to do his work in the corridor or stay in his classroom. That I will back him on refusing to go into the Yr 3 classroom, but he must do his work. He's worried the Yr 3's will laugh at him and ask why he's there 🙁
AIBU to have told him that?

Are you seriously suggesting that the school are waging a vendetta against your son to punish him?
I was warned off making a complaint a couple of years ago, that it wouldn't be beneficial to my DS etc etc. As this time something similar happened again (talking actual physical injury level here) I did complain. I'm going to email trawl, because I'm sure this situation arose before and he was left in class.

I think you need to go in and talk to the SENCO and then follow that discussion up with an email.

He should not be put in this position again.

OMG! I have just seen on the school website that she is listed as
Assistant to D.S. Yr 6.
where DS are his initials.

the other teachers are listed as class teacher / part time / subject teacher

Missed out the Teaching there. You get the idea!

Even though he doesn't need a full time 1:1? Is she part time?

Yes, she is.

YABU. It does sound shitty but you should speak to school. You’re undermining them without knowing the full situation

That’s awful! No need at all for it to be published like that.

You were unreasonable and I think you know that - I agree your DS should have stayed in the year 6 classroom to do his test but you should have made sure of that. The school will then just have to catch up his 1:1 another time.

How on earth could OP make sure of that?

BUT to all the posters complaining about the TA being used for cover, this is almost certainly their only option. They can't take a TA who is fulltime 1:1 with a child with medical or severe behavioural needs because it isn't safe for them not to have that 1:1. The OPs DS just gets 6 hours a week so they legally can, as long as they make it up.

No, it isn't their only option. It isn't an option at all, because it is unlawful.

You're assuming this TA has no other responsibilities. I think that's highly unlikely - it may well be that supports one or more other children when not with OP's son, so even ore children are potentially being severely short-changed.

Lots of pps saying well run schools have cover arrangements. Not any more they don't. There are NO supply teachers. It doesn't matter how well run the school is, or whether they give half an hour's notice or 2 days - there just aren't the staff anymore, supply agencies are telling us they have no one. They can't be magicked. This is the reality of education now.

Then other arrangements should have been made, as pointed out above - e.g. having the head or deputy covering the Y3 class or this child's 1:1, asking a part time teacher to work extra, putting two classes together etc. School have been misusing 1:1 support for SEN children for decades, this is not something new, and they need to get out of the mindset that the law doesn't matter, nor does failing children with difficulties.

I think you need a discussion with the head and/or SENCO where you point out that this was unlawful, and ask for an undertaking that it will never happen again. Take someone with you to take notes, or record the meeting. Afterwards send round a note of what exactly has been agreed.

If they won't give an undertaking, contact the LA to point out that their funding is being misused and ask them to take steps to ensure that there is no repetition, otherwise you will have to start judicial review action to enforce your son's rights.

The OPs DS just gets 6 hours a week so they legally can, as long as they make it up.

This depends entirely on the EHCP. If the 1:1 is specified for certain lessons then no they can’t. OP hasn’t been clear on this either way, she posted it is timetables for certain lessons although that doesn’t necessarily mean it is in the EHCP.

Actually teaching him to politely refuse and advocate for himself is a very good idea. Ask the school what their preferred approach for him to achieve this is.

I agree as this will stand him in good stead for advocating for himself in secondary. However don't leave him to potentially get into trouble without back-up. Contact the school first thing and tell them what you have told him and then ask them as per the comment above.

Primary teacher here
It’s a GDPR issue he’s on the website like that double check the permissions you’ve given for photos etc. there’s no need that data is shared.
it’s not the right decision for him to go into Y3 they should have handled that better.
would he have bought it if they framed in a way to the Y3s and him ”Sam is here to help with your maths today and be the assistant teacher” get him to give out the rubbers then do his own work. We’ve used that successfully with a Y2 who goes to reception for phonics. (He doesn’t have a 1:1 and I can’t teach the phonics he needs in the depth he needs while teaching the other 29 kids spelling)
Your son could have done something independently in his classroom during maths or try to join in with his class even in a “have a go low expectations” method. then work with 1:1 on another day to do the work. It’s not ideal but 1 missed maths lesson won’t do lots.
yABU saying he could ignore the teacher. Much better if you said “ask Mr A if instead you could do your work in the corridor” . If then mr A said no then complain to school. Telling him to ignore the teacher is not going to improve your relationship with the teacher and your son could have got into trouble. Tbh I think it would have warranted a phone call even if it went straight to the class teacher.
advocating for your child means working in partnership which does involve reasonable complaint if they’re not fulfilling his right to fair equitable treatment. Telling your child to ignore his teacher is not part of the bargain.

It’s a GDPR issue he’s on the website like that double check the permissions you’ve given for photos etc. there’s no need that data is shared.
We did give permission for photos but I don't see why they need to list his initials on the website. There is a girl in a wheelchair who has a assistant 100%, I'm going to check with her mum but I think she is just listed at the end of the page under a general heading rather than under the teaching staff.

He was supposed to have TA for 3 lessons yesterday. He was sent back to his class after the maths lesson.

If they are over riding the EHCP to suit the schools needs then that's unacceptable and I'd go mad.

I would teach my child to politely advocate for them self where possible but i would speak up for them if they needed me to.

By his own teacher in the year 6 class I would have thought. If the ta now has 30 extra kids how is she going to be able to act as a 1-1 any better than the year 6 teacher could

I had a child who was disruptive in mainstream and generally what would happen in this situation is that they’d use the 1-1 elsewhere and leave the child to manage on their own though they had full time 1-1 in ehcp, then when the child became disruptive they’d phone parents and exclude the child for a few days, that then frees up ta. Child tends to be not that articulate in explaining so parents don’t find out or only find out by chance that ta was being used elsewhere

I’m in a multi academy trust. Last year I saw a pretty desperate email go out to the trust executive.

‘we are desperate for staff, are any of you qualified or experienced enough to stand in a classroom and supervise silent reading for a few hours? going to have to close a year group if not’

you've guessed it. Not one of them could do that

you need to contact the school to point out politely that they are not legally entitled to use his 1:1 time for the TA to teach another class, and that to make him work in a Y3 class because he has SEN is discriminatory and unlawful.

This. If they are short staffed they need to do whatever they would be doing if they didnt have that TA there supporting a child with SEN.

But please dont assume this isn’t happening in private schools too. It really is

The CEO at our multi academy trust has covered a number of classes over a variety of schools to help out when so many staff have been off sick with COVID

@AmaryIlis no that is incorrect. I've worked in SEN and the school are legally allowed to use the TA for cover if they can still get his 6 hours in a week. Often TAs who work part time will be happy to do overtime to cover absence like that, and there is no reason they can't make up the 1:1 later in the week. School have (so far, and as far as OP knows) used a perfectly legal and reasonable solution.
This is currently often the ONLY way schools can do the cover. We are frequently running out of staff because we can't fill vacancies, and yes, this is with senior leadership all in the classrooms.
Assuming the school can't get supply (who can these days!) and the Head is unavailable or already teaching another class the school has two options:

1. Send home an entire class
2. Ask a part time TA if they will do some overtime and rearrange that week's 1:1s. So actually the school haven't done anything wrong in terms of the DS EHCP and it doesn't help to tell OP that she can claim they have because it will get her nowhere. They might well breach the EHCP if they don't make up the 1:1 and have just moved her hours instead of giving her overtime (and since they have sent him to Y3 classroom that sounds likely) but that hasn't happened yet. It sounds like she is part time given the website listing that OPs DS is her only job.

OP - the massive issue here is that your son's initials are on the website as having 1:1. That is utterly unacceptable. In a small primary school community that is not anonymous. You need to complain about that. And whilst you are at it, explain that you completely understand that cover needs mean things have to be rearranged and ask politely what the plan is for catching up the 1:1 he missed. Don't let them tell you he 'had it in Y3'. He didn't.

AmaryIlis no that is incorrect. I've worked in SEN and the school are legally allowed to use the TA for cover if they can still get his 6 hours in a week

As I haven't suggested otherwise, no, what I said was not incorrect. The point is that here they obviously didn't intend to make up the time later, otherwise there would be no need for OP's son to go to the Y3 class, would there? It looks as if that is confirmed by the fact that he hasn't had his allocated 1:1 time yesterday, either.

Though, as has also been correctly pointed out by @LargeLegoHaul, if the EHCP specifies that the child must have 1:1 for certain lessons then the school doesn't have flexibility to make that up at other times.

The point is that here they obviously didn't intend to make up the time later, otherwise there would be no need for OP's son to go to the Y3 class, would there?

There would if his class teacher didn’t want to deal with him that lesson. I would put money on that being the reason rather than trying to preserve the son’s echp hours. Of course school won’t say that.

Yes, that may be the case, but in that event the school is discriminating against him and is also in breach of its duty to educate him.