Is this true or just a rumour ---- that if you have too many SEN children in schools with statements then Ofsted can mark the school lower as they class it as 'poor teaching'!

[collision]

What are the schools and the pupils supposed to do about it?

I will try and get further clarification from a teacher I know who mentioned it to me!

I think it's rubbish, tbh - we have higher than average SEN, but our teaching was fund to be never less than good, and frequently outstanding'.

I would like to know how an Ofsted inspector can come to the conclusion that an SEN child has been wrongly assessed in two days, yet it takes an Ed Psych months to assess them as such in the first place?

I agree we have a much higher than average level of SEN and were judged good with many outstanding features

Are you muddling up the idea of Statemented children with general SA/SA+ ?
OFSTED couldn't begin to blame Statementing on poor teaching, it's a very long and laborious process that involves a lot of professionals from other agencies.

Are you muddling up the idea of Statemented children with general SA/SA+ ?
OFSTED couldn't begin to blame Statementing on poor teaching, it's a very long and laborious process that involves a lot of professionals from other agencies.

I think that some people should put their brains into gear before engaging their mouths! This report has been out for only two days and already there are totally barmy and unfounded rumours like this one floating around. Spread by a teacher, no less! Jeeeez....

As we are expecting on Ofsted this term I have had to slog through the Ofsted evaluation criteria for all the various areas which they inspect - there is nothing in there about excessive SEN pupils adversely affecting their judgement of the school.

(I do, however, agree with their premis that better teaching would keep some children off the SA part of the Register. On the other hand, if you've ever seen the 'Code of Practice' and tried to work out from that very vague and unsatisfactory document who qualifies for what SEN 'classification', you'd not be surprised at the widely varying criteria schools use...)

It's based on this report collision.

It's largely nonsense, but I'm sure it'll be used as another stick to beat us teachers with .

This is absolute rubbish and very depressing to see a thread on it.

Firstly, there is a difference between being on the special education needs register and having a statement.

Secondly, Special Educational Needs are not the same as Special Needs. It means there is some reason why they need extra help to access learning in the classroom.

Thirdly, there are just a billion reasons why children need to be on the SEN register. There is absolutely no way ofsted would look at the number of children on the SEN regsiter and assume poor teaching. There is just no correlation at all.

Schools put children on the SEN register as they see fit. Most schools would do this for good reason. But obviously there will be some schools who are trying to play games with statistics. Some of these schools may put children on the register who don't need it - and some will do the opposite. Depending on what statistic they're tying to game.

There is a huge variation in the quality of individual teachers and individual schools. And it stands to reason that some kids will have been failed by bad teachers. But that is the same in absolutely every job.

Often the best schools have the most kids with SEN there - because they are actually good caring schools which can cope with a wide variety of pupils. Whereas schools with good league table results have often done that by driving away SEN kids - and generally have far weaker teachers and pastoral care. Anyone can get good league tables if your intake are rich and the kids get tutors etc....

My advice to anyone who is choosing a school - be very, very suspicious about a school which has a low number of kids on the SEN register. It could well be because they were unable to cope with them and they all chose to leave. (My old school can't be the only school to have done this...)

Plus - I'm sure you really hope that if your child was having difficulties the school would a) notice it and b) do something about it. A school without many kids on the SEN register may well be failing to do these things.

OP - I hope you never have to experience the stress and worry and anxiety of having one or more children who have special educational needs. It is not something I would wish on my worst enemy.

The statement is twaddle... and I type as former inspector.

There is no correlation between the number of statemented children and poor teaching, however the number in a cohort doing SATs can and does affect the value that each pupil may have in the stats analysis, in the same way that the number of children can affect the results of a cohort. For example, if you have 30 children in a class they are worth 3.3 points each but if you have 20 they would be worth 5 points each... so if three children did not do as well as could be expected from each group the stats become skewed.

Who was the misguided idiot who told you this?

Twaddle!

DCs school has a high level of statemented SEN, probably more than 1 per class (3-4%). It is always Outstanding.
It has a high number of statemented children, because it does well by SEN children, and welcomes them.

What is looked at is how well a school does by its SEN children and other vulnerable groups.