To want to increase his hours

[Emeraldiisland]

My DS has been attending mainstream primary for about 5 weeks. Due to his SEN (they provide him with 1:1 but still waiting for his EHCP) he has been going for 90 minutes.
He's done a lot better than anyone expected. No meltdowns, happy going in but no actual learning is taking place. He plays alongside 1:1.
I'm not massively concerned about that as he is only 4 but I'd like to increase his hours at school so he does a full morning and I'll pick him up before lunch.
Do you think the school will agree? Will they insist on waiting until his EHCP?

But it doesn’t affect whether the school can insist on DS not increasing his hours.

I'd be very disappointed that the school hadn't already discussed with you their plan for increasing his time within school, realistically he could be doing at least half days by now if they had better supported his transition. I would definitely be asking for a meeting so you all have a clear idea of what is going to happen moving forward. It's simply not ok for him to only be there for such a short amount of time indefinitely.

You can send him in full time, but without an EHCP he has no funding (or not enough to pay for 1-1). So the school may just put him into a class of 30, as it’s mainstream and that’s what you have chosen-that is valid (currently). Is that what you want? if that’s not a problem then go ahead. I’d probably work with them and pester the LA for the EHCP.

Your son has the right to be at school full time, but if they are giving him a dedicated 1-1 and receiving no funding for it then the rest of the school is losing a massive resource. That will have an impact that isn’t fair on the other children or their teacher, but it’s not fair that your son doesn’t have provision appropriate for him either. You can only do what’s right for your own child so if you think being picked up before lunch is what he needs then that’s what you have to ask for.

Whilst the EHCP is being arranged (20 week time limit and complain if it takes longer) the school can access additional funding from the LA to fund a 1:1 if that is needed. It's not easy to get and school needs to be proactive, they won't do it if you keep only sending your DS in for 90 minutes.

What I found as the parent of a child with SEN is there is support and funding but you need to force the situation so you get it.

I've emailed the head now so hopefully he'll get in touch before the end of term to discuss what will happen after half term. They didn't ask us to sign a reduced hours form and nor was there any plan for giving him more hours. I asked and was told let's wait and see.
With the EHCP we're on week 15 but LA are saying they can't do anything because the educational phycologist hasn't submitted their report (we saw her in August).
DS needs 1:1 so I need the school to agree they can provide that before I up his hours. We are considering special school for him longer term but without EHCP we're a bit stuck.
He did absolutely fine at nursery but he really struggled on his school settles which was the main reason we went for part time hours (and I don't think he'd cope with a whole day) but as he's doing so well I'd like him to stay a bit longer but as I said I need the support from the school.
I just wanted to know if it was reasonable to ask and how others have found the process of increasing hours.

Use the relevant model letter on IPSEA’s website to send to the LA. They need to chase the EP. It is the LA’s responsibility to ensure they and their staff meet the timescales. If they are not going to issue they must inform you by week 16. If they are going to issue they must finalise by week 20 and in order to do that they should issue a draft by week 14.

If you have the EP’s contact details it is worth chasing her yourself too.

Complain enough and go direct to the head of children's services. The team which deals with escalations and tribunals is normally able to speed things up, if you complain enough you'll be passed to them.

The law says a maximum of 20 weeks, if they don't meet that they are breaking the law. You are being a good citizen bringing their future breach of law to their attention in time for them to fix it.

Hi, wanted to share my experience. My son is ASD and went to school full time from day 1. He also went to nursery. This may or may not help.

My son struggled at the start of reception with carpet time: he was happy to be at school to play but teacher struggled to get him to come to carpet time for learning consistently until Easter.

My son was a speech therapist who goes to the school and she with my senco helped the teacher with strategies to help keep him there. Like he could take a toy with him.

Thought I would share incase it helped.

You can ask them to draft the plan and go to panel without the ep report or provide interim funding in the meantime as it's their fault they haven't got an ep report yet

Feeling a bit annoyed. Yesterday morning spoke to the head and he said yes let's up his hours so he's doing two hours a day. Absolutely thrilled, thought that was easy. He also said 3 weeks after they would review again and maybe offer half days. Again all good.
That was at 9am.
At 4pm I got a call which I unfortunately missed. Head left a message saying due to staffing they couldn't offer two hours until at least 3 weeks in to term.
Two things have annoyed me. First how can the staff levels have changed that much in a few hours. There was no maybe about the two hours and I signed a learning agreement saying two hours from a week on Monday.
Secondly if he can't start doing the two hours a day for at least 3 weeks after half term then it's obviously going to be even longer until they offer half days
They might offer it sooner as EHCP draft deadline is next Monday but I'm just a bit pissed off.
I'm so tired of fighting for DS. Why can't people just stick to what they say?

I agree it is annoying, this is the reality of how SEN provision is in dire straits that I was talking about earlier. My experience has been one of constant fighting for my DC to get what they are supposed to get as a legal minimum.

First how can the staff levels have changed that much in a few hours. There was no maybe about the two hours and I signed a learning agreement saying two hours from a week on Monday.

The staffing levels probably did not change, the head probably agreed to the two hours and then checked staffing levels. It’s a case of him making a promise he couldn’t keep because he didn’t check staffing levels first. If they did change, then perhaps someone resigned that same morning and it’s bad luck 🍀

Secondly if he can't start doing the two hours a day for at least 3 weeks after half term then it's obviously going to be even longer until they offer half days

Not necessarily as this current delay is down to staffing levels. Yes, it pushes everything off by a few weeks, but I would not expect any further delays of this nature. Head has probably learned to check staffing before making promises, or if it was a sudden resignation then the likelihood of it happening again is unlikely.

I effects whether you should decide to just forge ahead or decide to work with the school to ensure your child is supported before hours are increased.

Yes you can just drop your SEN child off and be all like, your problem school because the law says so but if staffing levels are not ready, then the school can’t keep your child safe or educated and there are knock on effects with other children too. I have a close friend who is a SEN teacher and she has talked of the stress of her 1:1 becoming 1:2 and an incident where one of the two children threw a chair at the other and while she was comforting the one child making sure she was not injured (she was traumatised), the chair throwing child ran off with a pair of scissors and managed to get all the way to the fence outside before she could catch up.

That is why I say as frustrating as it is, the schools are trying their best despite government cuts to Education funding and the reality is you have to work with the school if you care at all about school being a place where your SEN child is safe and thriving.

I think the school could be doing more to get your DS doing more than 90 mins a day. I know it’s different, but my DD is in a mainstream school nursery and the reception class is next door and they share a playground so the environment is similar.

She has significant SEN and started off doing half days for a couple of weeks like all the other children but has been doing full days since then, usually 4 but this week she’ll have done 5.

She has lunch in the school hall, does PE, goes to the library. She’s coping well but only because she’s been given the chance and exposure. And I don’t think 90 mins is anywhere near enough for that to happen.

My DD has an EHCP and additional funding for a full-time 1:1 and I had a few meetings with the school before September to clarify what the arrangements will be.

I would contact the ed psych team directly to query the hold up with the report- we got ours within a week of the observation.

Unfortunately as you’re realising you have to push and fight for everything, it’s exhausting but we have no other option.

Again, one can advocate and enforce DC’s rights and work with the school. It does not have to be one of the other. Trying their best does not involve acting unlawfully.