Should school have said provision isn’t working?

[CobaltRewind]

Or is it my job as parent?

Quick details:
My child is in last year of primary school and has had a 1-1 throughout.

No mention of a change of provision being needed ever, though I have repeatedly raised concerns about my child’s overall school experience, social skills, anxiety at home, finding the work far too hard, targets not being in line with statement.

End of primary school is approaching and I say I don’t think he will cope in mainstream post primary.

EP review and she is concerned by behaviours he sees, new amended statement issued recommending a specialist unit for social communication.

Have I failed here by not pushing it? Or should someone at school have said I needed to consider changing child to a specialist provision?

Secondary school must have been chosen by now? Is it a mainstream? Will they follow ehcp?

You can visit schools yourself - Sen and mainstream - and speak to the sen team in your local authority if you want to request a different one.

So you have an EHCP naming a school with a unit from September but you want a special school?

I am a bit confused. Secondary places were allocated this week. What did you choose? Did you choose mainstream but now recognising you need specialist?
Several primary school pupils who manage in a mainstream primary need to change for secondary as it is so different, so don't feel guilty for that. In primary all staff will know the high need pupils and support their needs (little things like saying hello, checking where they should be if it's noticed they aren't with their 1:1).
Conversations about this should have happened at the start of year 6 at least when making your choices.

If you expressed preference for a mainstream school the LA will be very happy to give it to you whether it is suitable or not. Many LAs put pressure on schools no to suggest to parents that their child needs special/ist. It's all about saving money. There are not enough special/ist places so the fewer parents asking for them, the better (for the LA).

It's normal to do a review coming up to secondary

Many pupils who cope in mainstream primary do not cope in mainstream secondary

So it's common to recommend a change in provision at this stage.

It doesn't mean mainstream primary was the wrong choice.

It's quite common for children to cope fairly well further down primary school but start to struggle more in years 5/6. If it were my kid, I probably would have left them where they were, for stability and continuity, especially if they were actually getting their 1-1 provision. I wouldn't feel guilty about that (unless your child has been totally miserable for several years, and you had a viable alternative that you just never pursued/investigated).

Secondary is completely different I'm afraid, and it sounds as though he does need more specialist provision. Are you happy with the place he's been allocated from September?

Schools can’t really tell you that you need to change placement, but they should have led you along that journey showing which targets he was struggling to meet there etc. I would presume they felt they could manage your child’s needs there and they were making some progress, despite not meeting age related expectations. Hopefully you have got time now to find a resource base place, you may need to be prepared to fight the la

There should have been a transition review in Year 5, so that plans could be made for transfer.

Have you applied for and been offered a secondary school place? The EHCP should name the provision. Has this happened?

Unfortunately, primary schools don't always seem too concerned about how their SEN pupils will cope in secondary school and only concern themselves with doing the bare minimum to get them through primary.

I am a SEN TA in secondary school and some of the children who get sent to us are clearly not suited to mainstream secondary but unfortunately once they are with us it is really hard to get them moved as specialist places are so limited the LA would rather leave them with us even when it is wildly inappropriate.

My advice to you is to be prepared to fight for what your child needs. Nobody is just going to give it to you if you don't. Meanwhile, speak to the SENCO at the allocated school and make it clear to them what the difficulties are and how much support your child needs and that you don't think mainstream is the right place. Hopefully, they will be able to help by saying they can't meet need, putting pressure on the LA to find a better place.

Good luck.

My experience is that primary schools are shouting loudly that children with SEN need more support and funding but it just isn’t there and there are no where near enough places in specialist provision. I think most primary schools are very concerned with how the children will cope in secondary schools but are pretty powerless.

I agreed though that you have to fight for what your child needs, often parental pressure has the most impact.

What was said at the transition review last year?

Sorry, can only reply by quoting- a glitch on an iPad!

I find the opposite, primary schools are desperately concerned about where their primary charges move on to in secondary, especially as mainstream secondary SEN provision can be so woefully poor, children that we have fought for 1:1 provision for are left with a variety of levels of support or simply access to a " provision room" , the majority of local secondary schools claim " we don't do 1:1 support" and children who have , with the right levels and type of support , managed well in primary suddenly find themselves unable to cope. Many parents unfortunately believe that, as their child has managed well in mainstream primary, they can manage just as well in mainstream secondary, so will not consider specialist provision. And conversely, where we KNOW they will not manage in mainstream secondary, the LA disagrees as they have managed in mainstream primary!

We get a mixture of both: parents insisting on mainstream even though it is not a good fit and children who clearly need 1:1 support but don't even have an EHCP (which I do think is a failing from a primary school). I have worked in primary and seen both the levels of concern you report and children that are very much just given the bare minimum. It depends a lot on the leadership of the school.

It's actually heartbreaking trying to support children being put through GCSEs in mainstream when they have little to no hope of passing. It really destroys their self esteem.

The phase transfer review should have been held in the autumn term of Y6 and the amended EHCP naming the secondary placement should have been finalised by 15th Feb. Has this not happened?

Have you not had annual reviews? These should have discussed progress, what is working/what isn’t, provision required, amendments etc.