Lower ability pupils can't catch up

[learnandsay]

Doesn't it depend on what you mean by catch up? I'm not familiar with Levels and SATs scores. But isn't the point that some schools don't seem to have a strategy for getting all pupils to reach the top level (Level 5) in 3Rs?

Surely some schools start with children who can't even speak English. Presumably those children are harder to teach than the ones who can already read, write to-some-extent and multiply by the time they start Reception.

I also notice that some initially well performing children leave primary school performing poorly. (I'm pretty sure this is a parental-inclusion problem) ie it's the parents and the school's fault not the child's.

Schools performances

And £3K wouldn't even pay for a quarter of a TA in our LA

You may have a better idea than I do what secondary schools get for statemented pupils I know what we get from the LA doesn't cover a TAs wage and we get much more than £3K.

This thread has really upset me. The school can't find 9k out of a budget of millions for this girl.

Aren't they really just saying that they don't want her? With a statement she can choose any school. Can't she find any school that wants to have her and will look after her?

When DS was in y5 I looked round the local school on open day and spoke to the SENCO about what would happen if he needed extra support at lunchtime. She said if he needed extra support st lunchtime this wouldn't be the right school for him!

I came out of there crying. And have been doing everything I can since to make sure he won't need any extra support at secondary school,because I realised they won't provide any help.

And he's come along brilliantly. And I don't think he'll need any extra help at sec school. But god you've frightened me. Reminded me how awful it was talking to the SENCO. And how much I don't know about secondary schools. And how terrible they can be.

It costs far more than £12K for full time support here Indigo (try doubling and you will be close)

The difficulty is that, whilst schools may have hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions of pounds in their budgets, it is not as if they have money lying around doing nothing! Every penny is allocated to running costs, capital projects, etc. To allocate £12K to one pupil means taking it from somewhere ( or someone) else. Of course schools would like to provide as much support as their pupils require, but they can only provide as much as they can afford.