To think school have to make adjustments?

[bingbangbongding]

Hi, DD11 has her SATs next week.

She is autistic. Diagnosed last year.

She's been in contact with the SENDCO over the past few weeks after advocating for a space where she can be alone as she finds it hard to understand questions unless she reads them out loud. Obviously she will disrupt other kids if she does this.

Admittedly I haven't been involved (my mistake) as she was updating me every step of the way.

Last night the class teacher emailed me that they would be unable to meet her request because (paraphrasing) they had run out of teachers/assistants/rooms to accommodate everyone who requested or needs adjustments.

I've checked the gov.uk site and it simply says 'children are entitled to adjustments' blah blah, not 'entitled to adjustments if the school can accommodate'.

DD usually scores very well on exams but is so stressed out over the SATs. It doesn't matter that we've told her that they are a measurement for the school there's a lot of self pressure. I think the schoo think 'she's doing fine, doesn't need the adjustment'

Can I push this? I have emailed the teacher to express my disagreement over this approach and suggested that we can provide an independent (my friend does exam invigilation and will sit with her).

Advice needed. Please.

Not desperate around my area, I've applied to 3 different schools, including my daughter's where in very active on the PTA do know a lot of the kids already and not even got an interview 😔

It is hard work isn’t it @RainyReadingDay ? Feels never ending!

OP, I was just coming back on to say that you will have a free SENDIASS service locally. If you make the request yourself (and ignore school if they say she doesn’t need to be assessed) that will be the best thing as she is off to secondary soon so you can keep hold of it instead of waiting for new school, you can ask SENDIASS to check the wording first. I recommend doing this.

Space, supervision and normal ways of working all come into play here.

Increasingly, schools only have legally-required 1:1 support TAs for budget reasons. Those cannot be removed from the children who require them in order . to supervise SATs. So the additional adults to supervise children with additional arrangements will be eg the Head, the SENCo if not a full time teacher (increasingly rare to afford a non-teaching SENCo), receptionist / administrator - a very limited number.

Similarly, space - the school business manager, head and receptionist might supervise children in their offices, the SENCo if available may supervise a group with additional time. 1:1 TAs will work with their charges in any other spaces (stationery cupboard, library if not a corridor, music lesson room if any).

Any arrangements need to be evidenced as ‘normal ways of working’ - usually, evidence collection for this will start in Y5 and will continue through any SATs practice in Y6. If that’s not in place, it is hard for the school to argue that these arrangements are justified if their administration of SATs is inspected, as some are each year.

If this was January, then there would be time to work this through with parents, SENCo, Y6 staff and the Head. Friday before the SATs start? Unfortunately it’s a bit late.

SATs aren't to assess your child. They are to assess how well teachers have taught your child. I really wouldn't stress about them at all.

We cant get TAs, teachers or supply teachers. Nor invigilators in secondary schools. It's just the way it is for many atm. My year 10 son doesn't even have an English teacher.
However, these are just SATs and dont really matter for your child. Seek an EHCP and write to your MP supporting teachers strikes

It is worth being aware that SATs are used by the Government to assess the progress that your child makes in secondary. This is a double-edged sword - a very low SATs score can lower a secondary’s ambitions for your child, while a very high one means they are always judged as ‘below target’. However, other than that, a child’s exact SATs score is irrelevant later in life.

A couple of things:

• as PP have said, push for ECHP statement for when your DD has important exams
• SATs aren't important exams and are of no benefit to your DD whatsoever, so keep her home that day if they aren't able to help. They're a reflection on the school, so if a pupil isn't provided with the support to be able to take the exam I'd say that's a fair reflection on the school!

If seeking to avoid taking any of the tests, remember that:
a) there are, iirc, 5 tests (SPaG - in two parts, a spelling test and grammar / punctuation - Reading, and 3 Maths)

b) the child can be required to take the tests anything up to 5 days late following absence.

So if parents wished their child not to take any tests, they would need to be absent, unauthorised, for 2 weeks of school.

I think there are a couple of issues here.

1. The school need to show this is a usual way of working. A diagnosis isn't enough because not all children with the same condition need the same adjustments also some children without a diagnosis will already be working with certain adjustments. Has your dd been working on this way for some time ?

2. This really shouldn't have been left up to your dd to push for. I do know it's hard to keep all the balls in the air but this is the reality of having a child with additional needs.

3. The school may just not have additional space or staff. They can't magic up a room. Often every square inch of space is used including office space.

However, I think you need to ask the school very specifically why this won't be accommodated.

If its purely space, can they keep her in isolation while the test happens and then get her to sit it immediately after with no contact with other children? Children used to be able to sit a test of they were ill up to a week later if the head was sure they hadn't interacted with other children and the test.

If its because they can't evidence her requirements because of the testing rules, then you might just have to suck it up and get plans put in place for the next stage of her education.

Op you could call the council and query this as well.

Unfortunately teachers and often Senco do not understand the law around legal rights etc.
Ask the couch uk whats going on

Schools, for obvious reasons, WANT the kids to do their best. Yes children with diagnosed issues will take precedent but schools will also make allowances for children who don't and may. struggle.
DH school has large y6 group with multiple behavioural/educational needs . ALL of their TAs and support staff are allocated roles next week, ALL other classes are 'thin on the ground' during the tests.
They don't have spare classrooms now but staff offices etc are utilised.
As soon as your DD mentioned this you needed to have jumped on it, however if she really struggles she could be moved as previously. Your friend wont be counted as independent and if she scored higher than expected there could be doubt.

Regarding gcse's. We foster and our fc struggles in tests. They are in y9 and school are already compiling evidence to show they need extra time/support. They do not have an ehcp and won't get one. The evidence is assessed by higher ip than the school and so you really need to get on top of that.

This is perfect then, if they have to sit the tests, them OP's daughter missing the big day means they'll have to find a quiet space on another day for her to do them

But you obviously hadn't had it confirmed beforehand. You could have pushed this weeks or months before. It's ridiculous that you're getting stroppy about it now, with little awareness of what it means for the school. There will already be children sitting in every cloakroom, office and spare piece of corridor. An ASD diagnosis does not necessitate the adjustment in its own right.

If she has a diagnosis you don't need a EP or EHCP to recommend special exam arrangements.
She can have them as reasonable adjustments to accommodate her autism, which is protected under equality act.

It is "reasonable" adjustments though. Not any adjustment. The school might argue that she could sit in the room with the TA who is reading aloud and "hear" the questions that way. Couldn't she whisper under her breath in the same room as others, or in a small room but not alone? Is there proof that she can't comprehend info taken in visually, and that she needs an aural pathway?

You really won't get an EHCP for the purpose of providing special exam arrangements. There is absolutely no need. Complete waste of time and effort. The diagnosis entitles her to reasonable adjustments anyway, via equality act.

She only needs an ehcp if she has needs that a school can't be expected to support from their own budget despite their best endeavours, and if she isn't making decent progress in her areas of need.

They probably don’t have the staff or space needed to accommodate your DD. They will prioritise the children whose reasonable adjustments are their normal way of working.

The SENCO shouldn’t have suggested it to your DD until plans were finalised.

I think you need to show your daughter that you really mean it when they say “it doesn’t matter, it’s for the school”. And leave it be.

It would be very different if these were her GCSEs. In year 6, if she’s coping in a mainstream classroom every day and achieving well, it’s not unreasonable to have these dame conditions for SATs. She needs to think of them like any other classroom test. Because they are exactly that.

Have caught up with school: unfortunately there is nothing they can do regarding a private space and the ability to read the questions out loud.

They did say that if she was becoming overwhelmed or frozen (this is what happened in the mock exam yesterday, she couldn't move on from a question she couldn't answer and missed a whole page of questions because 'her brain wouldn't let her move on' then panicked and cried after the mock) that she can put her hand up and take a breather outside the room. I said 'but she will have the same time as everyone else and he said 'yes' so I said 'any breather time is included in the exam time?' And he said yes... so that doesn't work.

He hadn't even noticed she was upset yesterday and so I don't think he's going to be softly softly about this.

I challenged on this and he said he's going to raise it with the head.

On another note, is it normal on here to ask for advice (of which I am very grateful) and to be called stroppy? I feel like I've been scolded 😂

You should have not left it to your daughter to sort this out.
It also depends on what is her normal practice. Does she normally need to read the questions aloud?
I would imagine it is easier to find her a smaller room to sit in with supervision than to sort out an individual room where she can read out the questions.

Speaking as a teacher and parent of an ASD. You’re daughter is entitled by law to reasonable adjustments. It’s not your problem that they can’t meet it. They are breaking the law irrespective of space.

Woukd they let a child who couldn’t write due to ASD not have a scribe? Ocn.

Go back to the school. They have to comply. My dd is ASD, she has a separate room. If they won’t comply take it further.

Equalities Comission.

One of the schools I work in has got five sittings of the SATS exams to accommodate all the different needs. They have nineteen children who need some sort of differentiation and/or TA support. They’ve even got one child sitting his exam after school so he has enough time and space to cope.
On another note, my son is just starting his GCSEs. He takes his exams in a smaller room, has a laptop, extra time and rest breaks. He doesn’t have a diagnosis or an EHCP.

SATS really aren't important (except for the school) so I would focus on calming and reassuring your DC and not make a big fuss about it. The important thing will be to get on it ASAP at secondary so you have things in place in good time for GCSEs.

I was a school governor several years ago, during SATS one child needed to be in a separate room, as there were no teachers nor TAs available, I was asked if I would be prepared to supervise in the room. They gave me a 30 minute 'lesson' in how to be in the room, and obviously I was DBS checked. Perhaps you could suggest either one of their governors or an adult who volunteers to listen to readers?

The tests start on the next school day. It is too late to make further arrangements like getting a governor in or changing times of the tests.

Show her that you mean it - the tests don't matter so it's ok for you to be in the same room, because it doesn't matter if you can't answer everything.

were you paid? Or was this just another example of a school scraping around for a volunteer? You cant rely on volunteers, and not should you