Pupils' right to one-to-one catch-up tuition ended

[telsa]

Oh great. First they come for the students......and then the little ones.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11718968

Oh, yes, definitely targeted interventions with individuals or small groups. Though they do manage to create some amazing displays as well....

DS1 went to school able to read fluently, count up to 100 and do simple sums up to 20. DD on the other hand has a number of barriers to learning, including absence seizures due to epilepsy and global development delay. She started school unable to count past 3, and only just able to recognise the first letter of her name. She does not have a statement. She is (and has always been) on SA+. Which doesn't mean that she gets any 'ringfenced' help.

At her primary school, there were no reading recovery schemes. With a lot of extra input at home, she left primary at almost 12yo with the reading age of a 6yo. At her secondary school she was put on a reading recovery scheme, with one-to-one help, and she now at almost 13yo has the reading age of a 10yo. SO with this help, she has made 4 years worth of progress in just one year.

I do not have the money for a private tutor, all I could do was work with her at home myself. It wasn't enough. If she had continued without ths help, it would stand to reason that at 16yo when GCSE's are sat, she would have had the reading age of a 10yo. Who would be most unlikely to get a C-grade at GCSE. If she carries on getting this reading recovery scheme help, she may have a chance of catching up by the end of Y11, and getting C-grades, without which she won't even get a supermarket cashiers job, as they are all asking for a C-grade in Maths and English even for min wage jobs now.

Surely giving them the help when they need it will save money in the long run, as it gives SEN dc the opportunity and skills to GET A JOB. Without basic literacy and numeracy skills, these are people unable to even get a cleaning job.

Indeed - I know of a school who pulled all their TAs off timetable before OFSTED so that the displays would all be beautiful!

And small grous won't work for everyone, if you have 3 people in the group reading at a 9yo level and one at a 6yo level!

Loudlass - I feel that you have far more real experience in this area than DP with her comments about thick kids, lazy parents, private tutors etc.

Loudlass - true again

I seem to be agreeing a lot with people today!

So glad I don't live in DP's world. Where everyone is fucked if they can't provide everything for themselves and their own children.

Loudlass What is SA+?

Also, this IS going to affect SEN dc - who do people think is on these reading recovery schemes? It is nigh on imposible to get a full statement with 'ringfenced' SEN money these days unless you are para/quadraplegic, or have behavioural problems that affect the other dc in the class. ANyone else with SN is usualy on either SA (school action) or SA+ (school action plus). Anyone on SA/SA+ does NOT have ringfences money for their SEN help. The HT gets it as a part of their main budget, and decides whether to use it for reading recovery schemes for pupils on SA/SA+, or whether to do what DD's old HT did, and spend it on 'sailshades' for the playground, and re-paving the playground. That really helped my DD to learn to read!

"dp - I would think most people agree with you that children should be sent to school able to read and count."

Eh? Would they? Most people would agree that children should be sent to school able to maybe count to 10 and recognise a few letters. But read? really?

SA+ (School Action Plus) is what used to be a level 2 statement. But about 8 years ago, level 2 statements (where the funding was ringfenced for that dc) were abolished, and replaced with SA+. This means that anyone bar those with the most severe needs (i.e. made it into one of the like-gold-dust SEN school places) does not have the money for their additional needs ringfenced. I'm not sure if this is the same countrywide, but in Essex, this has been the state of affairs for at least the last 8 yrs.

SA+ is school action plus - it means that there is outside intervention of some sort eg ed psychologist.

I think it's disgraceful that the funding for one-to-one is stopping - it just shows how the vulnerable are being attacked. I work in a school and the catch-up scheme where children are taken one-to-one for reading has had a tremendous influence both in raising children's reading and understanding and in raising their self-esteem which feeds back into other lessons.

As for daftpunk comments - well I don't post much but I read enough to recognise a Nazi when I see one - nuff said!

Hopefully everyone will support the day of action on the 24th november.

PS - here in leeds there are hardly any statements any more unless you can prove a life-long disability (and prob not even then frankly!)

Earwicga;

You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear - that's my philosophy.

All children have the right to a good education - but private tuition? - no, sorry - that is not a 'right'

Some children are just not high flyers - and never will be. Send them outside with a football - don't waste £££££ trying to make them something they'll never be.

My DD's outside interventions - Educational Psychologist. Pediatric Neurologist. Pediatric Cardiologist. Audiology. ENT. Child Development Pediatrician. School Doctor. Occupational Therapist. Statement? NO.

Thanks Lousdass and kate1956 as dd in" one of the like-gold-dust SEN school places" (strangely she is not para/quad though) so I don't know about these things, always good to learn though.

kate1956 I have reported your post, calling DP that is OTT

Just read the article - I'm in secondary where the scheme was quite different I think..

DP but I all kids need to read and write though.
but I do think it can be done in a more cost effective way.

To Loudlass - yeah it's really hard here to get a statement - or frankly any sort of intervention - I'm a learning mentor and I spend a great deal of time begging, pleading whatever it takes frankly to try to get intervention for children - I'm also the lead in child protection and with social care being cut even more that's an ongoing nightmare. Getting increasingly angry and definitely want to join the protests!

Given tha DP has frequently aligned herself with the BNP I don't think that's OTT at all - why don't you report her for her disgusting attitude towards children who need extra help?

But Daftpunk - You are saying send them outside with a football. Yet if they leave school without basic literacy and numaracy skills, I assume you would be unhappy with them claiming benefits to survive if they are so lacking in basic skills as to be unable to get a job?

Do you propose that they are starved to death then? If you don't want to support them in getting the skills to work, but you don't want to pay tax that will pay their benefits when they can't work?

That's good, I'll tell my DD that because of her SEN, she should just shuffle off and die now shall I?? She may never be a 'high flyer' but I'd like her to have some chance of supporting herself by working at least in a supermarket etc. Without one-to-one help, SHE WON'T.

DP - can't quite believe what you've posted.

Hey, let's not waste money on children who might need some extra help to enable them to reach their potential, then - what do you suggest? They leave school at 7, maybe, and go down the mines? Up a nice chimney?

2shoes - Maybe where you are is better for SEN school places. In my area, I have been told that 9 years ago, my DD would have been at SEN school. However my part of Essex has shut 2 out of 5 SEN schools for a HUGE area with a huge population in that time, and there were just too many above DD on the list for SEN school with far greater dificulties than my DD.

kate1956 I do agree, but that was OTT and ends up with yet another thread being hijacked.

Daftpunk 'you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear'.....plenty of thick averagely intelligent privately educated children end up with much better exam results than their state educated contemporaries so actually you can make a silk purse etc, i.e someone like Prince Harry (not that he needs his 2 A levels or whatever, but nevertheless...:)).

So, I imagine one to one tuition is of great help to those children who need it. It shouldn't only be confined to those whose parents can afford it.

I imagine one day your perfectly intelligent children may lose out on a place at university/job interview to someone less intelligent but richer. I suspect you/they will feel a bit hard done by then.