4 children with statements in ds' reception class - help!

[ALittleBitConfused]

DS is due to start reception in Sept. The choice we have for our first choice will have 3 siblings with SEN. One with profound difficulties, one with ASD and one with behavioural probelms. All have statements with 1:1 written in them I believe.

My friend has a ds with ASD and has put down this school, so there will be 4 children with SEN in the class.

Is this likely to impact on the education of my ds if he gets in? It's an overscribed school.

Yes I would be hugely concerned, in your shoes.

Not because of the children with SEN, but because of the unprofessionalism of the HT. Shocking, if true. And if that is her approach, then I would not feel confident that the school would be good at meeting the pupils' needs - any of them. Bit of a generalisation, but IME a school that works really well with pupils with SEN is a school that works well with all of the pupils.

I have to say dds classroom is crammed

30 dc
1 teacher
1 TA
3 1to1 people

plus parent helpers and nuns on occasion and at the moment a student.

well if you know enough about sn and education you would know the answer to you own question LOL right bachk at ya

Sorry, is it usual for the LA to consult with a school on behalf of a child? I thought that only happens in the final leg of a statement of sen.
Has your friend's child also got a statement?

Yes, he is the (potential) fourth with a statement.

I would be concerned about the HT tbh. SN provision needs to be planned for and comes from the school budget. Children with a Statement often come with extra funding for the school so that 1-1 support etc can be provided.

It really should not affect your child academically and in any case the Reception year is play based. I think this says more about the HT than about any real effect it has on the class.

As others have said - there may be other children in the class with SEN not identified as yet. My son's autism was not diagnosed until age 7 so his 1-1 was funded purely by his school from their budget. Until he had this 1-1 he was at times disruptive (hiding under the table when noises distressed him ).

I would stay away from that school then....

It depends how the particular LA work the budgets though. e.g. My LA stipulates that the school have to provide 5 hours out of their own budget, but other areas have a much higher threshold - 12/15 before they get any adidtional funding from the LA. Also some statements will say "LSA support to be given on whole class/small group and/or 1:1 basis". You can argue for months with them over that wording and not get anywhere

A school can argue, and ultimately LA refuse to name a school on statement in (very few) circumstances. I think best use of resources/impact on other DC do come under that.

So the HT may not be randomly discriminating against your friend's child. But they could well be. Really have to use your own judgement on it.

My DS is in yr 6 at MS primary school. He is the only one statemented in his class but the children in that class-and the rest of the school-are very close to him and are very upset that he will be going to a different sch to them in Sept. He has been with them since pre-sch and their parents have told me that they have learned so much from my DS-eg tolerence, acceptance and that everyone is different. Important life skills in my opinion?!

tomhardy, I know enough from my friend and her path to statement to know how little regard schools and LAs have for the law.

I know nothing however, of classroom practice and logistics and the capabilities and training of the average teacher.

The school is fantastic and has a reputation for being extremely inclusive. They have part-time attenders with SN afaik.

But this HT is new. The staff are the same though.

Why nilby?

I can understand your concern and I think you should be free to express your opinions.

OOH i have worked in classrooms as a support assistant (senior school) and I am an extra person in the classroom. I would interact with the other students as well so everyone benefited in a round about way. I don't think it made the others particularly tolerant of the SN child though.

I've pursued a statement for my 4 year old son to ensure he's properly supported at all times. Therefore do not see the issue. An unstatemented child might be an issue, though at my eldest's school they were very good on this kind of issue.

I have 3 sons on the autistic spectrum.
If I wanted to send my children to school, I would only do fo if I had confidence in the senco and HT. A HT with that kind of attitude is not really inclusion orientated now is s/he?
It would just be too stressful, knowing the fight I would have making sure the statement was actually applied in practice.
Ultimately the HT will decide how the school budget is spent....

Thank you nilby.

Durham, have I been blasted? I think my post and concerns are reasonable.

It isn't SEN children that I'm bothered about. It is SEN children without appropriate support I suppose.

It is whether the school will be able to meet the needs of all in the classroom given the 'unusual' mix - or is it not unusual, - the HT seems to think it is?

Fanjo, my friend is enough of a friend for me to know the details of her letters from the LA. I don't shun people because their children have SN.

Perhaps this woman is just rude or wierd or perhaps her dad is very very ill or something and her thoughts are always on the next aspect of his care, - I don't know. Why don't you ask her?

oddgirl

'As a side thought, isnt it a positive thing to have your DS meet and engage with all sorts of different people (a bit like real life??).'

yes. It is a good school, with a good reputation for inclusion. The only fault I could find with it was that it wasn't very multicultural which I think is a shame.

But I would certainly like my ds to mix with a variety of other children with other ways of learning and needs. That's the point.

I wouldn't want any of my children (with or without SN) going to a school where the Head had an attitude like that. They also shouldn't be breaking confidentiality by telling other parents about which children have statements or what their SNs are.

I predict this school will lose it's reputation for being inclusive very quickly indeed.

Probably not unusual to have 4 SEN children in a class-whats unusual is them all getting appropriate support...considering most of us with SEN children have had to fight incredibly hard to get even the most basic of support. What is completely inappropriate is the breaking of confidentiality which apppears to have occured here...now as a parent of ANY child,SEN or not, this would concern me greatly...what if there are children under social service investigation for example-would the head be "warning" everyone of this too?

Golin,

'More adults, more support in class, tolerance and understanding positively reinforced, clear rules, good organisation...
You may find that some or all of the statemented children have qualities and talents you would want your child to acquire too'

Yes, that sounds lovely. Is it possible with that balance in the classroom?

oddgirl and coppertop. The information wasn't given to my friend it was given to the LA via letter for the reasons why they didn't want my friends ds.

She asked the LA for a copy of the letter and I read it, that's all.

It might not be quite the breach of confidentiality that it appears to be, but I don't know. I'm not really sure how the HT could have explained her concrens withought mention the other childrens' needs though

Most I had was 2 with statements, plus lots of others on SA+. I had between 2-3 extra adults in the class, it was fine.

4 extra might be a push for space, and then it does mean the teacher has to run a team (although the actual structure might not be that, in effect day-to-day that's what you need to do). The school I was at was very good with SEN, there was a lot of support for all staff, I would have to plan each day to take into account any extra needs and also where the adults would be for each lesson and what the most appropriate differentiation/focus would be for those children. Also I had feedback and strategies from SALTs, OTs, physios, Ed psychs and LACTs (language and communication teachers) to consider/timetable/include.

We had a meeting after school once a week to help discuss this/plan for the week - I'm not sure all schools would think to do this (the LSAs had to be paid extra for it) and it was more work for me, but I loved it. And as I said, many strategies I could implement for the whole class, eg visual timetable, clear routines etc.

As I also said earlier, I felt all this input made my teaching better and therefore was beneficial to all the children in the class. But I never had 4 with statements, so can't accurately comment on that.

lisad, I understand your feeling on this but I assure you that it isn't about a me having a pfb and wanting him away from children with SN. It is about whether, given the HTs concerns this is the right environment for him.

I probably should have put the bit about the HT in the OP, but I didn't realise it was contentious I suppose. I just assumed that she meant it and that 4 children with a statement in a reception classroom WAS an issue and just kind of came on here to understand why.

I think that for me it comes down to this:

Would the Head advise the parent of a child without SN to go elsewhere?

If the answer is no then it's not an inclusive school IMHO.