My child is being bullied by a Neurodiverse child! Help!

[Shellfoho]

Looking for advice! My child and a couple of his friends are being bullied by a Neurodiverse child in his class, we have discussed this with the school, their response seems to be just too explain to my child that some people's brain work differently! Although we both understand that, this child is being physically abusive towards my child and the school do not seem to be doing anything to stop this! Can anyone offer suggestions on how to deal with this without coming across as insensitive? Thanks in advance xx

No they don't get extra funding for each child on the SEN register. And an EHCP takes significant time, is hard to get, and typically does not provide enough funding for a 1:1.

It's not helpful to spread disinformation.

So a class of 30 don’t have access to a TA employed to aid their education because one child needs said TA to sit with them outside the classroom for the duration of the lesson? If that’s truly acceptable to you then I don’t really know what’s left to be said.

Each child with SEN support can be allocated up to £6000 from the schools budget ?

No they don’t. Where have you obtained this information? An EHCP might entitle the school to some extra funding but it’s a very difficult, drawn out process. Is this where you’re mixing up?

Remind school they have a duty of care to safeguard your child from harm, emotional and physical, and you can escalate if needed. Look at the anti bullying and behaviour policy. Contact the LA's lado if needed

Well in this case the school needs to prioritise something and it seems that they need to make sure the ND child is prevented from harming others.

Apologies if I’m incorrect I was actually told by a teacher friend that children on the SEN register get up to £6000 for support ?

Yes, from the schools budget. Therefore it comes out of the money they would otherwise be spending on other children.

I was going to ask this, as I’m not an expert.

Does that money really come from the general pot that would pay for trips, educational resources etc?

You still haven’t established how a school is able to do this without removing TA provision from a class of 30. That’s potentially 30 complaints from parents of children whose education is being impacted and then the subsequent knock on effect on pupil behaviour, performance etc that the school would be left with. You need to look at the bigger picture

It isn’t additional money from outside the school’s budget

So as I said choices have to be made and a child on the SEN register needs more help and that money is for them to make things more equal and enable them to have adjustments made to have the same opportunities as their peers . Either you want the class to be protected from harm or not you can’t in some situation have both ? It seems a lot of posters just want ND / SEN children with behaviour issues excluded and going from school to school ?

Ask for a safeguarding plan to be put in place. You’re not insensitive. Advocate for your child. You wouldn’t expect to be physically abused at work, so why should your child be physically abused everyday at school. If they don’t do anything, say you will put a complaint in with OFSTED as they don’t seem to be safeguarding your child.

Thankyou for clarifying I wasn’t sure but good to know

Yes, There are 3 strands of funding for mainstream schools:

• A per-pupil amount, which pays for teachers, utilities and not much more
• Element 2 funding, which is sort-of for SEN, but is actually allocated based on other features such as pupil premium numbers (which makes sense as otherwise schools would just say every child has SEN and get more money). It is much less than £6k per SEN pupil. The school can spend this however they choose, but a lot may go into reasonable adjustments for SEN.
• High needs funding that is allocated for pupils with high needs, usually linked to EHCPs.

I think trips are paid for by Parents and the PTA can fundraise for things as well but SEN support is probably the priority as mainstream schools have to accomodate children with difficulties

You're correct, of course. But main stream school shouldn't be the choice at the sacrifice of children who will be our future workforce.

I worked in an old, listed building with several internal staircases and no lifts. Physically disabled children in our catchment were placed in the neighbouring school by the Local Authority and provided with transport. Far from ideal, but the only option and completely out of the hands of the school SLT.

In actual fact, the LA's proposed solution was to close our school completely and to build a new wing onto the neighbouring school. Our parents refused to accept that option.

Once we moved into a new build, of course, we were able to accommodate all of the children in our catchment.

So far as the child mentioned in the OP's post is concerned, if it's impossible for him to be around other children without the risk of harming them, then he needs to have an assistant with him at all times. However, it might be that a more specialist setting would be better for him. It's not possible to tell, since we don't have all the necessary information.

You can’t just write off SEN children because they aren’t the future workforce ! With the correct support they can be just as ‘valuable’ to society

A lot of SEN parents can’t even get a place at a SEN school - mainstream is the only option so it needs to work

Well so far you’ve not established how without effecting the education of the rest of the class so perhaps go back to the drawing board for now

Probably an unpopular opinion but if this child hits your son, he should hit him back. Neurodiverse or neurotypical, a punch in the face is a pretty good deterrent.

The rest of the class if NT will already have a huge advantage so the focus and priority needs to be on the ND child in this case. To bring harmony back to the classroom which is a better learning environment for all

@Samesamesituationso because they have SEN it gives them a green light to physically assault and bully other children? It’s madness!

I used to be completely against this, but now I wholly agree.
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