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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be fuming that other mum is asking my son why he has extra time?

169 replies

Folicky · 16/10/2024 07:31

Son is due to sit transfer test in a few weeks. We went to familiarisation session recently at the school where he is due to sit the exam. My son is getting extra time. The children with extra time had to sit in a different part of the assembly hall away from the other children in their class. Another melter of a mum who I normally dodge on the school run, and who is maniacally competitive, asked my child (out of earshot of me) why he was getting extra time, also said to the facilitators that he shouldn't be in the extra time group, waited for us outside and then rang me afterwards (I missed the call). Fact of the matter is, (a) it's due a mixture of mental health and a few neurodevelopmental issues; and, (b) it's none of her business. Nonetheless, I'm worried she's going to try to do this all over again to my son outside the school. I only collect him once per week, so can't fully protect him. What response would be appropriate?

OP posts:
perfectstorm · 20/10/2024 19:13

thankyouforthedayz · 19/10/2024 16:45

39% of privately educated students get extra time. 24% of state school.
The number of pupils granted extra time has increased by 42% in 4 years. Extra time is usually 25%.
If we assume that privately educated children are no more likely to have learning difficulties than state educated pupils, the posters here who claim the system is fair, and every child who get extra time "needs" it, and those such as XelaM's don't, are derranged.
Either pupils at private schools are getting an unfair advantage because they don't need the extra time they are granted, or there are pupils at state schools who don't get the extra time they need.
So @XelaM if your child is at a state school, give it a go. 15% of state school pupils are not getting something they "need" and should "qualify for".
If 39% of exam entrants need extra time, employers really need to know who they are so they can get the adjustments they need to perform to the best of their ability at work.

It isn't that the private school kids don't need it - the cognitive testing to secure that is scaled and peer-reviewed. It's that the state school kids by definition have fewer affluent parents, so fewer who can afford the testing.

It's not state or private: that's a proxy for affluent and non-affluent.

SEN is spread amongst the population pretty evenly. But if you can't afford the testing to prove it, you can't prove it. Same applies to EHCP application and provision - state reports carefully sidestep identifying the needs in full, all too often, and rarely make any recommendations that actually cost anything. Good private assessments will be more detailed and then come up with recommendations based on needs. There's actually legal aid for private reports for very low income families who appeal, so it's the lower end of normal parents who can't get any at all, unless they are lucky enough to get charitable support for the funding of them.

The SEN system is a mess. But it isn't that the kids of more affluent parents are privileged - bluntly, any kids with SEN are less privileged, by definition: the gap in employability and life expectancy for autistic people is much, much wider than that based on class for the typically developing, and if anyone thinks the SEN system works well for the more affluent, I have a bridge to sell them. It's the intersection of class and disability that is truly toxic.

SEN kids from lower income homes (which is not all kids in state schools - some attending the top notch state schools are better off than many in smaller, less glam private schools where I live, as the house prices in catchment are so obscene) are doubly disadvantaged. But all kids with SEN are, and the crisis in SEN provision makes the NHS look luxe.

I wish people cared as much about that as they do hating private schools, frankly. That much attention, focus and energy, and their life chances would transform overnight.

Pixiedust88 · 20/10/2024 19:32

YANBU. Extra time is there for kids who need it for whatever issue they have. I went to school with a girl who has dystonia and she got extra time because of the spasms she gets. I got extra time in an exam I sat last year for work as I have tenosynivitis in both hands and struggle to hold things for long periods of time. The point is regardless of your sons issues, the extra time is there to make sure that the kids who need it are given the chance to finish their work or exams and given the same chance of doing as well or better than the kids who don’t need the extra time. I’d tell the nosy mom to butt out. Your son has a reason for needing the extra time. What’s her reason for being a Karen?

SacreBleugh · 20/10/2024 19:55

Soontobe60 · 16/10/2024 08:47

What’s a transfer test, why does it need a familiarisation meeting, what’s a ‘melter’ and how does she actually know this info?

Jeez it's not that hard. Just think. What could a transfer test POSSIBLY be. What could a melter POSSIBLY be. Is the OP deliberately irritating you by using regional terms @Soontobe60

HammerTimeNC · 20/10/2024 23:19

I've heard that some private schools test all their Y7s for access arrangements, whereas in our state school my daughter was only tested and granted extra time because of my concerns which I raised.

Her teachers never suggested she be tested but then they rarely take in her books so don't see her work...

WaitingForMojo · 20/10/2024 23:22

Our state school tests everyone in y9.

HammerTimeNC · 20/10/2024 23:32

My DD's friend has extra time but doesn't know/understand why and isn't interested in knowing more.

My DD was granted extra time and we paid £800 for a formal diagnosis. My DD doesn't identify with the diagnosis so hasn't told anyone. She'd be very embarrassed if another parent asked her about it.

Feckingwrecled · 20/10/2024 23:59

Ah the good old transfer test! Turns parents into psychos and turns the dial up full blast on the ones that were already were psychos ! Glad I have a break for another couple of years. Good luck to your boy.

Delphiniumandlupins · 21/10/2024 00:24

I wouldn't even tell her it's medical information. It is quite simply none of her business. Email the school, message her and tell her you have informed the school and make sure your DS tells you if she asks him again. If anyone asks him he should say "Ask my parents".

User100000000000 · 21/10/2024 09:15

What is a transfer?

Coffeeismyfriend1 · 21/10/2024 09:37

I’d mention it to the school and say you are concerned she will approach him again when you aren’t there. Quite frankly she has no right to question or interfere or ask your son about it! The schools will have your medical reports/assessments so they aren’t going to question and it and are clued up enough to spot batshit parents like her!

I had similar with my final uni exams, I’d had major spinal surgery 6 weeks before and was under medical orders not to sit for more than 30 mins at a time. People were questioning why I needed medical rest breaks as it ‘gave me extra time to think about the questions’. Quite honestly I was disadvantaged anyway from missing 6 weeks of classes and only going back a few weeks before the final exams! 10 extra minutes where I was walking around in pain wasn’t going to help!

My son is likely to need some adaptations in the future too due to neurodiversity and I’m all too aware of the issues other parental have!

hopeishere · 21/10/2024 16:01

User100000000000 · 21/10/2024 09:15

What is a transfer?

It's explained further up. In Northern Ireland kids of 10/11 sit a test to try and get a place at a grammar school. It's called the transfer test.

Deeperthantheocean · 21/10/2024 19:44

Really?! Surely most parents should know by now some kids need extra time and it's none of their business as to the medical reasons behind it. It's hard enough for them to do it in an obvious separated way, which many don't understand why themselves. Tell her, tell the school, to concentrate on her own child. Xx

UncleBryn · 22/10/2024 10:55

HammerTimeNC · 20/10/2024 23:32

My DD's friend has extra time but doesn't know/understand why and isn't interested in knowing more.

My DD was granted extra time and we paid £800 for a formal diagnosis. My DD doesn't identify with the diagnosis so hasn't told anyone. She'd be very embarrassed if another parent asked her about it.

What do you mean by doesn't identify with the diagnosis?

WaitingForMojo · 22/10/2024 12:13

UncleBryn · 22/10/2024 10:55

What do you mean by doesn't identify with the diagnosis?

Doesn’t agree with it? Doesn’t feel it describes her?

LastNight1Dreamt1WentToManderleyAgain · 22/10/2024 12:19

Speak to the school and follow up with an email to them. Perhaps let your child know to disengage from her at most to tell her to speak to you or a teacher but also have a conversation with him about bullying? And that he can/should physically get away from the person and go to stand with a teacher or someone safe. She sounds like a bully. Ask her not to contact you, and screenshot everything.

Countmeout · 23/10/2024 10:41

Sorry just place marking as I had lost the thread and wanted to read it in full and also to know what the outcome if any was.

Countmeout · 23/10/2024 11:57

Righty so @Folicky
I am surprised that the children having extra time are in the same hall. I think I would contact the grammar school and tell them what has happened. While you obviously cannot dictate how they organise themselves I would hope they would find it concerning that this has happened. I am also surprised that children who have had their allocated time would have to get up and leave while the extra time people are still working. I would keep a record of their response. I would have expected children like your son to be in a separate room/hall.

I would also speak to your Primary school’s class teacher to make him/her aware and hopefully nip any chat in school.

I would not engage with the mother behaving like this.

Access arrangements in the SEAG test are not given easily and a great deal of documentation has to be provided I understand. It also has to be the child’s normal way of working in the preceding year in school. There are various access arrangements for which you can apply and extra time is just one of these.

May I ask if you have a statement? I have a good understanding of access arrangements but I cannot fathom the arrangements for a child with a statement seeking access to a grammar school and the impact of a transfer score should it all go pear shaped on the day.

I have not encountered a child with access arrangements appealing successfully should something happen on the day. In fact I think in the admission criteria of some schools they make it clear that if you’ve had access arrangements that’s your lot!

HammerTimeNC · 24/10/2024 20:38

UncleBryn · 22/10/2024 10:55

What do you mean by doesn't identify with the diagnosis?

She has a mild form and doesn't have the stereotypical traits.

AmIEnough · 25/10/2024 08:29

Bloody hell, what an awful woman! I would be calling her and telling her in no uncertain terms to back off and that she has no place speaking to my son about this. If she has an issue with it, she needs to speak to the school and you will be speaking to your son i’m making sure he lets you know that if she ever approaches him, he must let his teacher know and me know . I wish you all the best.

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