AIBU to now want to go above my DC's school and take things further

[ballerina1971]

I am very angry with my DC's school. My youngest DC, age 13 has an EHCP with 24 hrs support. last summer when it was exam time it came to my attention my DC did not have a TA for support in lessons when I raised it with the the school they stated all TA'S were helping with exams for 2 wks
• I advised that my DC TA was funded for them through the EHCP, a legal document, not to be used elsewhere DC wasn’t to be without TA again. The school stated they had always done this, I advised this didn't make it right. I had the conversation with the SEN Department, Assumed the matter had been dealt with. My DC then came home in September stating there was no TA again As they were being used for the year sevens, I rang the SEN & insisted that my DC had the
• TA in lessons & having had this conversation with them I didn’t expect to be having it again. A few weeks later my DC came home asking why I had been complaining about the TA’s I was quite shocked by this and I said why are you asking, my DC told me the TA had said to her during a lesson that she better not do ,anything wrong (the TA ) as your mom has already been on the phone complaining to the school about the TA’S! Then earlier this year after my child had stated the teachers seemed to be being nice to her, the same TA said to my DC it’s because they’re scared of your mom she’s notorious around here and laughed. WTAF! This is wrong in so many ways such as, unprofessional, breach of confidentiality. now I’m fuming this is just another incident in a long list of incidents that have occurred since my DC have started there. I’m not talking minor, insignificant things, as I would let those things go I’m Not someone who feels the need to complain at every little minor thing. Very significant things such as overdosing my child on paracetamol and not advising me as per their procedures that they had given paracetamol just to give one example. There are only so many apologies I can receive from the school before I have to take it further. I’ve now had enough, I want this to stop. AIBU to now take this further and not go through the Complaints procedure again. I have followed the school’s complaint process on everything and now I’m sick of it I wish to go to the Local Authoritytand further. The school needs to be accountable for what they're doing I don’t feel at the moment they are. I get a sorry but then they go on to do something else

I'd love to see it "my SEND kid can't take their GCSEs cos a parent of a Yr7 says so" 🙄🤦‍♀️

Shouting a hell of a lot louder....

Like the strikes last year over funding?

Like the teachers and SENCOS who hammer the government regularly via letter, meetings, petitions?

Do you think schools have been sat here doing fuck all?

We do not live in cloud cuckoo land (patronising much?) we live in send land. For some, this is a special kind of hell where we fight for the rights of our children for bloody YEARS only for obstacles to be constantly put in our way.

do you have any idea how hard it is to get specified hours 1:1 in an ehcp?

Yes I do

I also know how hard it is to try and recruit the staff.

And also, my dyslexic daughter who gets extra time and a scribe for GCSES also has those legal rights, also fought for.

She doesn't get a full time TA, she has to cope on her own.

But your damn straight i will fight tooth and nail got her to have parity of access for her exams over a Yr7

It’s not my job to fight for the rights of another parents child. I’m happy to give anyone advice but I’ve fought for my child and he or she has been awarded 1:1 support and it’s my job to make sure he gets it.

Proud to be one of those parents!

And my kid doesn't deserve their legally entitled support then.

You're definitely one of those parents.

Of course we have an idea. We fill in the forms, we make the recommendation for assessment to SENCOs, we support parents along the way.

We also know that exam invigilators are gold dust. Last year we were 5 down, despite a huge recruitment campaign.

Those 5 had to be covered by someone.

Tas cannot be magicked up

I am assuming all you SEND expert parents are also volunteering your time and expertise as scribes?

Thought not.

The level of entitlement and sharp elbowed "my kid is more important than yours" is staggering

The pupil in Y7 having their 1:1 which is detailed, specified and qualities in a legal document is not the cause or at fault. Their parent is not at fault for advocating and enforcing their provision.

So it would be, “my DC with SEN in Y11 can’t have the agreed access arrangements because the school has failed to adequately organise staffing”.

It is not just a funding issue
People generally just don't want to be one-to-ones for kids with special needs.Our school advertisesvall the time and no one wants to even agency staff.The y usually trick people into applying for general TA jobs and then deploy them as one to one's......until they quit.

So people complain about NHS waiting lists, no dentists, waiting lists to see CAMHS and there is nothing you can do except wait or go private if you can. However, one organisation that is meant to magic people out of thin air and be able to pay for them just like that is state education. Maybe, we should put children onto waiting lists until schools have enough funding for additional helpers in exams, TAs maths teachers etc and in the meantime children stay at home. Maybe only then will people realise how shit it is in schools.

sharp elbowed parents

Ah, that old nonsense.

This is not true, my DC is in mainstream and incredibly complex, SEN / physically disabled / and complex health needs including Multiple tubes. Autistic/ anxiety / CP.
requires a 1-1 at all times. In a mainstream school just fine.

my DC with SEN in Y11 can’t have the agreed access arrangements because the school has failed to adequately organise staffing

Yet there's plenty of posters saying we literally cannot get the staff, so what do you propose we do?

Ah it's ok, the dyslexic kid can just fail their GCSES

What parents/school staff with little or no experience of SEN aren't understanding here is that when a child's 1-1 is diverted to other areas that child then is left to struggle through the school day by themselves, including getting themselves to lessons and through the corridors, settling at the start of a lesson, encouragement with completing work that they already find 5x harder to access than their peers, deescalation of heightened anxiety behaviours such as shouting or arguing with other students, equipment to allow child to complete lesson. And a hundred more things you wouldn't even think about such as a quick thumbs up at exactly the right moment to boost confidence, a 'tell the teacher that' when a student makes a good contribution to class, a sympathetic face...

If a child loses all that and more in just one day and struggles through anyway, then gets to school the next day and it's not there again what do you think happens inside that child's head?

Because experience tells me it creates a knock on effect of defensive, behaviour, school refusing, extreme behaviours and possibly exclusion.

Every single minute that a TA is with a child 1-1 is important.

That's on the school and local authority NOT children with EHCPs. It's like saying refugees that come over on boats are making our country awful - nope it's way higher up than that.

Yes everyone knows that

There's not enough TAs to cover GCSEs and the EHCP kids. Unless you can split people in half.

So the GCSE kids do have to have some priority during their exam times

@MultiplaLight exactly, even if there is funding very few people want to do the job. It’s not like people are queuing up down the street for these jobs. Where do you think the school are going to get additional staff from

They are entitled. Legally.

Yep, anyone in schools knows this.

My kids GCSEs start in 2 weeks

Where are the people coming from?

So is my kid

25% extra time and a scribe

@softslicedwhite tell me where the staff are coming from

We do not live in cloud cuckoo land (patronising much?) we live in send land. For some, this is a special kind of hell where we fight for the rights of our children for bloody YEARS only for obstacles to be constantly put in our way.

do you have any idea how hard it is to get specified hours 1:1 in an ehcp?

Yes, I do. For the last 10 years of my teaching career I worked in SEN. That's how I know how hard it is to recruit staff. As has been said, the pay is poor and people prefer working with a class rather than a 1 to 1. My former head has been trying to recruit for over a year.