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.

No, it's not.
But you said
You do not have to prove it’s a “usual way of working” for separate rooms or breaks.
You do.

Yes, the pay is rubbish and the hours are very family friendly but TA’s do lots more now than they used to and are also expected to teach. In our area this means you need at least a level 2 qualification in Teaching & Learning in schools but they favour candidates with level 3 or even ex-teachers. The TA interviews involve an observation teaching a small group, an interview with the school council (children) and finally a meeting with senior leadership…all for a job paying little more than minimum wage!

I know it's water under the bridge-but for anyone else-this really isn't something for an 11 year old to deal with.

This is wrong. If she needs a break, it doesn't count towards her exam time-her exam clock should stop. I have had children stop mid exam, sleep for 3 hours and then finish their paper. As long as they don't see the other children who have completed the paper it's fine.

The school and teacher have been really really poor with this and are clearly not up with the guidelines. Children can have a break during the exam, they can put their hand up and ask an adult to read a question if they want-except in the reading paper.

You could play the school at their own game here - don't take your daughter in in the mornings, but take her in in the afternoon. There should be plenty of free space and staff by then Your daughter could start the paper and then ask for a rest break and not be ready to start again until she has a safe space to complete... Neither option is great and your daughter absolutely should not have been put in this position by the school. I'm sorry some schools are so shit at accommodating individual needs.

Her grades will affect her predicted scores for GCSEs using the new progress 8 scores. But again, this and progress 8 is completely irrelevant for your daughter, it's just a stupid data point designed to beat teachers with.

Does your DD have any other access arrangements? Or does this reflect a normal way of working?

Did the school receive an Ed psych report that might have talked about access arrangements?

According to the rules, separate invigilation meant to be awarded when a candidate has a disability which has a substantial and adverse impact on their ability to sit exams in the main hall- or when their disability means that they would distract other candidates (e.g. tics).

Sometimes using a laptop etc means you end up in a small room as in the main hall there is nowhere to plug it in. Or reader/scribe etc.

Even a few years ago it was much easier to get a separate room, but the rules have been tightened up, and the school I work for have become very strict, as they have been checked by JCQ in the past. I think other schools are more lax, but if JCQ checked how access arrangements are being applied, then giving people small rooms on the basis of diagnosis alone would likely be queried.

The relevant guidance from JCQ is:

The SENCo must make their decision based on:
• whether the candidate has a substantial and long-term impairment which has
an adverse effect; and
• the candidate’s normal way of working within the centre.

https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/AA_regs_22-23_May23_revision_FINAL.pdf

On the subject of TAs -many of my son's friends are working as agency TAs-and they can work as many days as they want to. The agencies are crying out for more. It's hard work, not brilliantly paid, and they are chucked in at the deep end. They don't know the kids, and can't really provide the quality of provision that a fully trained and experienced TA can provide. But better than nothing, I suppose.

STA will only consider applications after the deadlines in very exceptional circumstances. Examples of these include, but are not limited to, where a pupil’s needs have significantly changed
That's for extra time OP. (If you ask for the sensory breaks but wanted the extra time. Looks bad on the school but you could say anxiety/panic attacks from the 25th?)
If it's section 4 for alternate room only, and they have no evidence of that being needed in class or mocks, then I'd ask them to flag her needs as having changed due to new noticeable increased anxiety the week preceding.

Who's answering the phone, dealing with emails, ParentPay, first aid, filing, photocopying, trips, visitors, early collections, deliveries and everything else if the 'receptionist' is taken away to supervise a child doing their SATs?

I'd argue that the fact she has previously had to be taken out due to getting upset and that she has then completed her work in a room by herself, then this is her usual way of working a SATS paper.

I think the rise in flexible working from home jobs has had a significant impact- less people need the child friendly hours.

But agreed, it's very hard to recruit TAs. As you say, they are either expected to teach, or alternatively working with very high needs pupils, often taking on a lot of significant responsibility including medical, for very low pay.

So many TAs I know get hurt regularly by students at work.

Potentially, it's not. Often, to run exams in schools, a lot of people are taken away from their "normal" jobs and these are put on hold whilst the exams are running.

She has had to leave the class a couple of times in mock exams, although has never started the exam in a quiet space.
I suspect this is why they are fobbing you off with the separate room but saying they can accommodate a sensory break.

Even yesterday she took her mock grammar paper and completed it in the SENDCO's room as she was feeling overwhelmed.
That's what you go back to them with - as Febb said - they have used that as a reasonable adjustment once before after the deadline, having ascertained she needed it.

The choice is: move the school administrator, who also mans reception, the school business manager and the head (only 3 non-contact staff in school in the mornings) to join the Y6 1:1 TAs to provide specific access arrangements for the children who need them.

Or not provide access arrangements, because there are no other staff who are not either teaching classes or legally tied to a child with SEN working 1:1 .

Those are the options available. Parcels and phone calls can be dealt with later.

Oh yes, absolutely. I wasn't in college that long ago and had to show medical evidence. But the school need to communicate what they need, not just dismiss her.

Make a fuss. He who shouts loudest, gets heard.

My DS has some SEN and will be doing SATs next week in small groups of 3-4 children in a separate room with a teacher, who can read the questions out loud to them if they need it (other than on the Reading paper), and who can and will bring his mind back to the room if his mind is clearly wandering. I’m sure your DD’s school must have other children needing to branch out in small groups for the tests, Is there any chance your DD could join a smaller group of children to make it a bit less of a daunting environment for her, even if she can’t be alone?

The teacher also said to us today that during mock papers she has been sending DS out to the toilet during exams just to give him a chance to have a breather if it looks like he’s struggling, and that any time he misses during a toilet trip is added on to the end of the exam (in addition to the extra time he gets), so it seems wrong that you have been told differently….maybe it’s specific to toilet trips?! You could suggest this to them/her as a strategy?

The thing is, the OP has had all of Y6 to discuss this and sort out arrangements with the school, but has delegated the task to her DD.

SATs start on Tuesday at 9 am, and if the school is typical, the exact rooms, staffing and timetables have been created and refined over weeks, along with evidence in case they are inspected.

It’s hard to make a fuss and shout now.

then it is being done wrong, and if the exam board finds out the schools will be in trouble - ASD diagnosis absolutely does not automatically entitle anyone to special consideration in exams, and nor should it

That argument goes both ways: the SENCO and year 6 teacher have had months to sort it out too, and communicate with Mum. Am amazed those conversations haven't happened if she had her diagnosis last year - it does reek of the OP's DD masking well enough to be under the radar and being allowed to fall through the cracks.

Schools need to be able to justify how all children take the test. If a moderator were to walk in and ask why some children are in smaller groups/ different rooms etc.. the head has to be able to answer. If children usually take part in class and usually complete practise tests in class without additional help and there is no official paperwork either the school would get in trouble and there would be an investigation which would take months. Sounds like your school has already made arrangements for other pupils and seem to think she is okay where she is.

A child in our Y6 has autism but no EHCP. I've applied for one for Y7-he has coped with reasonable adjustments in primary but we feel he will need more support going forward. We've applied for 25% extra time for him and he will complete his papers with me (SENCo) in my office. We're a one form entry school with very limited staffing but arrangements for SATs are prioritised and it's all hands on deck, even if it means other classes not having their normal TA support. If we can do it, they can!

I should add that this has all been arranged in advance and correct processes followed.

This isn’t true - correct practice is to stop the clock for the child who is leaving the room, noting down the time they stopped and the time they restart and then make sure they get this time back. For some of my class next week, that will mean their reading paper is split into 20 minute chunks with 5 minutes of doing laps round the yard in between. They’ll still get 1 hour total.

Thing is if other children are having adjustments for whatever reason then they will need to find a way for your child to have adjustments too otherwise it's discrimination.
They can argue until they are blue in the face that they don't have space/enough invigilators but that's not your issue that is there's.

What is the head up to during the exams? I'm sure the head teachers room would work perfectly

Call the school Monday/go into the school and get it sorted

Your school is very lucky to still have class TAs who are not allocated through legal requirements in EHCPs or through extreme need to children who cannot be without 1:1 support. You must have much lower level of need than our school.

If we reallocated our TAs so that every child with autism or other significant needs in our Year 6 had their own room next week, we would either be breaking the law or would be in the situation where a child would likely be causing harm to themself or to others due to being unable to regulate without 1:1 support as a minimum. We would also run out of rooms. We have prioritised and planned meticulously to give the best support possible, while prioritising our legal and ethical requirements.

I'm very much aware this isn't OK. But it's a much wider issue and needs campaigning for proper funding of SEND.

And it can't be solved in the 20 minutes between school opening on Tuesday and the SATs starting at 9am.