Should school supervise better?

[SupercutSchool]

I really don't know if I'm overreacting. DS 6yo, diagnosed with autism. Have frequent meetings at the school and end up keep explaining the same things over and over. They seem kind and have good intentions, I don't think they're uncaring or unkind staff. I feel like I'm always telling the school he struggles calculating risks. For the past 1.5 years he's been at a desk with a TA to keep him on task and presumably safe, he works well in this set up.

Yesterday, the TA wasn't in and the teacher thought it was a good idea to mix the table groups up to experience working with other people. The TA that was covering and the teacher were circulating around the class. So he wasn't in his usual table set up and had no supervision at times and they were doing cutting and sticking.

So, my son cut his fringe and the other children told on him. Nobody told me I just noticed he has a fringe now. I don't mind about the haircut I care that he had scissors near his eyes. When I told them I'm worried about scissors near his eyes they've told me that their scissors probably won't cut skin and that they'll now be more aware with him and scissors.

My issue is that I've told them he has almost zero danger awareness, it's really scary to me. Every time some accident happens I say "yeah, he's not aware of possible dangers and risks. Even when they're explained, he often won't believe something is actually dangerous." They say they get it. Then something else happens. They have replied to me as if they didn't know something could go wrong with him and scissors. I think "unaware of dangers" should cover scissors? I'm worried if I give a list an accident will happen with something I've forgotten to put on the list or something we've never done at home before.

My second issue is that having blunt scissors banged into an eyeball isn't a cut on the skin. I'm worried he could blind himself or someone else. I'm not worried about his hair or skin vs kids scissors, just eyes. But I feel that the school don't think that is a risk.

Am I overreacting and should chill out?

Or should I try to come up with a list of specific dangers and not just say unaware of dangers in general.

Or should I give up trying to communicate about this and look for a different school?

How many times has your ds poked himself in the eyes with stuff in the last 12 months? I don't dispute he has less sense of danger than most but I think you should credit him with just a little more nouse than you think. He has just demonstrated he can use scissors without poking an eye out and, as others have nentioned, the world is full of sharp things to put in eyes.

I teach this kind of age.
In my class, in a very normal average state school, I have 2 children diagnosed with ASD and 2 more on the pathway. I have 3 with a formal diagnosis of ADHD (two are also on the ASD spectrum)
I have a number of children who are EAL including one child new in the country with limited English. I also have other children with varying needs.

This is fairly typical for a class ime these days.

I have one TA who is in each morning only.

We are spending vast amounts of school budgets on supporting these children, on top of the normal daily levels of suppot.

Without a formal education plan laying out the need for 1:1 supervision, or any hint of where funding might come from, it sometimes feels like a massive balancing act to make sure every child gets what they want every day.

I've been on numerous courses and training days. In the heat of the moment, when dealing with 29 other children with their own needs, it can be difficult to put everything into practise every time sadly.

I'd love to do more for each and every child in my care. But the reality is that we have 30 children, limited support staff (and I know we have more than the average school as it is), limited funding, limited break out spaces, etc.

There is very little understanding for kids like this. My own child has taken his finger nail off with another child's pencil sharpener, escaped school and run into traffic and climbed onto school roof. All while supposedly having 1:1 via EHCP. He's at alternative provisions now as school just couldn't keep him safe and it's glaringly obvious they haven't even read his EHCP. I got feedback he had a wonderful session in the snow and the photos I saw he's not in his coat he was fucking blue when I got him and they were taken aback when I said he doesn't feel temperature why wasn't he wearing a coat "oh he didn't want to we thought he'd tell us he was cold"

The SENCO has to hold a masters level SENCO qualification in almost all circumstances. My PGCE certainly did include SEND training, even HLTA training does.

And whilst that is true, many many schools simply don’t have a SENDCO who is qualified to that level, or even someone who is vaguely trained in SEND, I used to be a SENDCO in a different setting and I certainly didn’t do a PGCE for adult education, I had to seek out my SENDCO training by myself whilst I was employed as a SENDCO. Luckily I am a fast learner and completed very very quickly, but I happen to know at my children’s school the SENDCO hasn’t done any formal training, doesn’t actually know the laws and runs around like a chicken missing its head. She came into primary teaching after being a dance instructor for 14+ for a few years so only has a PTLLS and DTLLS. I have reported this to the LA, but everything is super underfunded, what can you do?

That's a shame because it is a legal requirement for the SENCO to hold a qualification within three years of starting the post and they must hold QTS. We get a phone call to check this every year. Unfortunately it's a thankless (and financially unworthwhile) role in schools so there is often a high turnover of people in the role.