SEND and meeting with teacher

[Kazet]

Hi all,
Just wondered if anyone have similar situation. My son(5) is in year 1. Last year in reception his teacher decided to put him on SEND plan. She was concerned about his writing and reading. All the sudden on his end of year report she added communication problems, self regulation problem etc. I strongly disagree with her opinion. He is very well behaved, there is no problem with his self regulation. Writing and reading I could agree. But he was nearly 1 year younger then most of the kids in his group. But he managed to catch up with phonics and his reading is great. This year he have new teacher, and we expect to have a meeting with her about his SEND. I honestly don't want to start negative relationships with her, but I really don't agree with all that previous feedback. I understand that school is getting fund for all child with SEND, but I don't want my child be labelled (when there is no issue) just for sake of the money. I'm really upset about all that situation. Does anyone have similar situation and can share some experience how to get this fix,please? Many thanks 😊

I understand that school is getting fund for all child with SEND, but I don't want my child be labelled (when there is no issue) just for sake of the money.

The school do not get funding just because they add pupils to the SEN register-that’s not how it works.

Go and speak to the staff and express your concerns-find out what’s going on at school and have a proper discussion about your child. Explain what you see at home and hear about what they are seeing at school, and go from there.

I don't understand the concern over "labelling" I have heard this a few times from people in relation to my children who all have SEN and have always been on the register. People have said to me oh you don't want them to get labelled but no one actually treats them any different and it's not like it's stamped on their forehead!

The register is there to help those children that need extra support be it because they are the youngest in their class or they have a diagnosed SEN such as dyslexia, it's a way of making sure children aren't left to struggle.

Your Son's behavior could also be very different between home and school, I know for certain my children are.

Oh and the extra schools get is not really going to cover the extra work needed to help a pupil improve so probably not worth them doing ones unnecessarily.

Snap their hands off.

They've recognised your dc needs a little extra help and they're trying to give it. That is far more work for them and no, they won't get extra money for it. Schools are expected to fund themselves most of any extra SEN support needed.

Be thankful you have a school that is prepared to do that not let him get to a point he's failing so badly he can't catch up.

As PP said: schools do not get any additional funding for pupils on the SEND register. In fact, in some instances, it can cause funds to need to be reallocated from other budget areas, reducing them.

It's not about labelling. It's about identifying a need. That need will be there whether you have an accurate identifier for it or not but the support may not be.

If a school is highlighting potential SEND then you need to listen to them. They see far more children, across a wider range and over far longer than parents do. You know your child best as an individual but they know how your child compares to others in a way that you can't. They know what stands out and what they've needed to access the same learning as everyone else.

Your son needs extra support, school has facilitated this. That's the dream. By all means ask about behaviours you don't recognise at home and ask how they are supporting him. They won't give additional support if it's not needed. And schools do not just get extra funding for Sen children that is a urban myth.

He brought his workbook from last year almost empty (I monitored his work and he did all writing without problem)when I asked him on several occasions if he read today with the teacher he said that the teacher forgot (on many occasions). They told me that they will do reading every day. I work with him over the summer every day and he made bigger progress then on SEND plan.

I agree with all the posters so far.

Is he at state school or private school? Do you read with him most days at home too, in termtime, so any more he does at school is on top of that?

I think I'd be starting by asking for a phone call with his previous teacher, or asking that she come along to your meeting with the new teacher, to find out more. Go in asking more questions about the new difficulties she has documented. I think it's vanishingly unlikely that she has invented problems. It's much more likely that she saw "something" earlier on, and waited to see if it was just because he was young, and whether he would settle and grow out of it before committing it to paper. You can't possibly know what his self regulation is like in a class of 30 without you there to supervise, prompt etc, so it would be prudent to listen more in the meeting and not just tell them they are wrong. Teachers' workloads are massive and another child with SEN gives them more work and no more money. She will only be doing this to help him.

They deliberately don't do a lot of "book learning" in YR. I remember our YR teacher saying one of the targets is for children to write a sentence by the end of the year, and how unreasonable that was to expect from some of the children. Some of those slow starters will go on to double maths A levels and Oxbridge! YR is really very small and children develop at such different rates in infant school. Some seem to skip ahead quickly, others just need longer to mature first and only take off in the summer of Y2. So I wouldn't worry too much but be very pleased that they are flagging him for extra support. It's not necessarily forever - the ideal is that with a bit of extra help now he will catch up. So many children are denied that because mild SEN go unidentified.

Thank you for your response. My son is in state school. We moved the house to get him to that school as is outstanding and have really good reputation. I read with him everyday(books from school+ library books +our own collection of phonics). On daily basis I printing him materials from Twinkl. I understand that school have very high standars and expectation. I could agree with that he is still working on writing and reading. But I completely don't agree with self regulation. When I watch him playing with friends/family he is the best behaved child and I'm not saying that because this is my child. Everyone is so amazed how well behaved and polite he is. So that was pretty suprise when Reception teacher marked him as "working towards" on his end of year report, especially because she never mentioned this before to me or my husband. My son really likes to go to school and he made lots of new friends through last year. Also reception teacher marked him as working towards in building relationships. I didn't had a chance to discuss his end of year report with his previous teacher as my son was sick and off from school before end of the year. He returned 2 days before last day, and we got his report later then everyone else. It's very stressful situation as I see his progress at home. He is bringing back from school practising patterns and joining the dots kind of exercises (in year 1) when he can write sentence independently. Substract to 30 also without my help. At home he read books from yellow, blue band but school still keep him on red. And he is able to read all book at once not only few pages. Is really sad and stressful as I'm currently pregnant and I'm worring if I'm going to be able to work with him everyday as I do at the moment.