P scales and level w key stage 1

[maddiemo]

Would any teachers out there be able to explain to me what these actually mean in terms of a childs ability. I am particulary interested in Speaking and listening but any info would be helpful.

Thanks very much

Jimjams Are there any special schools that your local NAS could suggest you look at. Most of these schools seem to have waiting lists just to look around let alone get a place. I know you are not thinking of this for now but perhaps it is best to see whats out there.

Hope the review goes well. We have just had ours and as usual remembered lots of questions after the event.

Not much around here maddiemo. Only resedential- and the children there are far more severe than ds1. Also a lot of the children have quite "challenging behaviour".

DS1's SALT (the private one who is excellent) thinks the school should be more pro-active and just get on with it as ds1 is actually very easy and "not a problem" (her words). Everyone who works directly with him is very good. His classteacher is absolutely clueless and the head is beginning to drag her heels a bit. So although I'm very very happy with his LSA (who is simply brilliant) and the autism outreach team- who know their stuff and are based at the special school I'm considering- I'm not sure the school itself will remain happy with the situation. Maybe his class teacher next year will be happier with the situation but I kind of doubt it.

OTOH I'm thinking of asking the LEA to fund ABA at the next meeting. ROFL I know they won't but I would love to see their faces (kind of wonder if we'll get what we want school wise then if they think we may go along that route )
Alternatively I could move to Cornwall where they have some very good schools and they do fund ABA!

Fio2 Sorry to confuse you as well. My son is expected to attain P scales at the age of 7. I think at the age your dd is at P scales is what is expected. She is four?

Jimjams One of the reasons the LEA are changing the units here to to try to stop people having what they call "add ons" (ISA support within a unit.) When our unit becomes "complex" we will have 1 teacher and "2 LSA to 9 children. The SSCD uinits will have 1 teacher 2 LSA to 7 children. The theory is that there will be no need to fund add on staff to individual children. However this is already not working and I know of an autistic child who has been suspended from school for 25 days. The LEA are now offfering him an ISA within his unit.

You would probably have to fight all the way for it but it may be an option for you.

yes she is four and has SEN. Apparently they dont like to use P scales now for pre-schoolers because they shouldnt be aiming for level 1 yet (or something like that, my brain isnt in gear this morning!)

Yes its the same in the unit maddiemo- suppsedly there is a high enough staff ratio. No account taken that a non-verbal child (and many verbal autistic children) cannot work in a group full stop.

The LSA business was the main reason we accepted mainstream in the first place (not that we were given a choice!). DS1 just does not have enough adult directed attention for anything less.

M

P scales were introduced a few years ago so that children working below level 1 of the NC wouldn't just receive a W (working towards) in a paticular subject, as some students would be at this stage for a few years. P scales are a number that start at 1 and can go up as high as 17 in some subjects, but the only subjects covered right now are English, Maths and PSHE. (and then each of those subjects are broken down into specific areas as well, ie speaking and listening, writing, etc etc)
So a student might start the year as a P scale 4 in speaking and listening and by the end of the year moved up to an 8. IN the old system, they would have been a W towards level 1, and the same at the end of the year which might imply they haven't progressed when in fact they did.

Levels 1,2 and 3 have also been broken down, into a b and c just to further confuse parents! For the same reasons as the P scales.
Hope this helps.

Thanks Hana It is starting to make sense to me now

P scales are the levels before Level 1 (the old working towards level 1). In Hampshire they are generally onlyused for special needs children in any educational situation. At the end of Key Stage 1, the average child is expected to reach Level 2B. All the levels are graded C, B and A; C being the lowest. So if a child gets 2C in their SATS in Year2 they are still below national average. 2A and above is above national average. But bear in mind the anomoly here - SATS are usually taken in May (when they get their level) but the guidelines say by the END od KS1 - which is actually 2 months later at the end of July. Which makes me always think that SATS really are a load of tosh and have never told me anything about a child that I didn't already know! And I had to administer the damn things for 4 years on thr trot!!!