LEA guidelines for school action/plus

[mcmama]

Hi

Does anyone know if LEAs have specific guidelines for when a child should be put on school action or school action plus? I was always under the impression that it was to do with "adequate progress" (whatever that means ). For example, I have been told that in my area, the LEA say that if a child who is 8 years old is only achieving a 1a then this is the marker for school action or level P8 this is the marker for school action plus. These levels seem to be extraordinarily low to warrant any extra help. Can anyone answer this?

SA usually means that the child needs an IEP with some targets on it that are not what the school will cover as a matter of course.

SA+ means that there are outside professionals involved with the child. i.e. speech therapist, occupational therapist, autism outreach etc.

As for the rest of it regarding levels etc. LEAs and indviduals withing LEAs make it up.

Starlight is right. You go onto SA+ if an outside professional is involved. (like an EP)

Is your child in Y3 or Y4?
What extra help is she getting?

She should definitely be getting extra help. But SA or SA+ doesn't say anything about the amount of help she gets.

For example my DD was a L1 last year in Y3. She got:

• 1 hour small group phonics a day (read, write, inc)
• Read to a TA every day
• Read to a Y6 girl every day
• Another intervention during assembly every day (memory, or maths, or spelling)

All while being on SA.

Adequate progress is defined as making the same amount of progress as her peers. In Y3 1 sub-level of progress is 'adequate.' Regardless if she was a 1c when she entered or a 3a.

The legal guidelines are in the SEN COP

Basically your child goes onto the SEN register (at SA) if they need any extra help for anything. (Not necessarily academic)

Dd2 was told that they'd like her on school action. She rarely needs extra help, but it's really to be extra careful that any teacher coming into contact with her can see immediately that it's something to watch.
She's missing her left hand, so it's really "be aware" to the teacher, not extra help.

However I'd heard that they were phasing it out, so I don't think anything's being done about it.

They're phasing out SA+?

That is a stupid as saying they are phasing out paying tax.

The law is the law.

DeWe - your DD would only be on SA+ if an OT or Physio or someone was coming in to school to give school advice or to do work with your DD.

If they are then she's on SA+. If they're not, she isn't.

But you're right to be not bothered about it. It really is a meaningless distinction.

And without wanting to offend, I would have thought that a missing hand was more obvious to a teacher than a document held in some office somewhere that states it.

Thanks for replying.

I understand 'what' sa and sa+ are, but it seems to me that the stage at which this intervention takes place is ridiculous. My DS is 2-3 years behind (year 4) and after myself and dh insisting on extra help he is starting to receive it. However, during a meeting with the school they did point out that under the Lea guidelines he wasn't really supposed to be on sa as he wasn't far enough behind! Clearly as Indigobell pointed out sa is not just academic, so what are other LEAs using as guidelines? What are your experiences?

'under the Lea guidelines he wasn't really supposed to be on sa as he wasn't far enough behind'

Fine. Put what they said in writing and ask to see said guidelines. I doubt they are telling the truth, perhaps not intentionally though, sometimes there's a bit of chinese whispers.

However, it is a trick of those involved in SEN to convince parents they are a)lucky to get what they are getting and b)that there are children far worse than theirs that you could be taking resources away from if you complain.

Believe none of it and get to the truth.

Interventions should take place as soon as a problem as noticed. Well before they're 2-3 years behind. My DD has been on interventions since Reception - although she wasn't put on SA to Y1.

To go on SA+ he'd need to be seen by an EP. Now this is probably what should happen. However schools have an incredibly limited amount of EP hours. And there's absolutely no guarantee the EP report will help at all.

Your school is absolutely not right that he shouldn't be on SA. About a third of the pupils should be on SA.

I suspect your school are lying to you to try and get you off their back. And you need to be incredibly proactive and assertive. You need to find out exactly what you want to happen, and ask for it - regularly.

SA or SA+ is nothing to do with the LEA. It's only the school who determine it. It's only a statement which is determined by the LEA.

But also, you probably need to accept that school can't help you. And work out what more you're going to do yourself to help your child.