Reception child having to leave school at 2pm rather than home time

[RueDeWakening]

Hi,

My friend's daughter has autism, and has recently started Reception. She has already turned 5.

Her school has said she can only remain in class until the afternoon break each day until she is of statutory school age as they don't have money to fund the 1-to-1 TA that her statement outlines as her funding doesn't start until January.

Questions really are: does this sound right? If not, where can I point my friend towards to gather some information and fight it?

Thanks.

I have absolutely no experience but

I would assume they probably are being truthful as I can't see why they would lie for the sake of an hour a day but obviously that needs to be checked out.

even if she is already 5 she presumably wasn't by 31st August so therefore there may well be some link to funding not starting until the term after her 5th birthday as legally she doesn't have to be there full time yet. sounds a bit odd but possible.

there is a change this year with statementing isn't there? someone will know but I am sure I have seen people say that the school needs to fund the first £7000 or some similar figure of funding for support for a child before they are allowed to claim extra funding. No idea where they are supposed to find this £7000 a child (if I have the amount right) so it may be that the school are trying to say that 'she doesn't legally have to be full time yet and we aren't getting enough funding for her and we can't pay that extra money for the additional term'?

sorry that probably has been a completely useless reply but I personally would think there is some element of truth in the schools reason somewhere and that she will probably have a hard time fighting it but she should certainly try.

Thanks, I will ask over there too, forgot about that!

She can contact her local Parent Partnership Service who will be able to inform her of her child's educational rights and who to contact at the LA to clarify the situation.

IPSEA are good but hard to get through to.

Children in pre-schools can have statements so there's no reason why this child's funding cannot start until January.

She is entitled to a full time education like all the other children. It is an illegal exclusion.

Why does the funding in her statement not start till Jan?

They need to request more from the LA if they can't fund the extra needed.

The school is expected to fund the first £6000 but this is expected to come out of the pot of SEN money that schools receive every year. It's not that they are suddenly expected to find it and if they find that they have many children needing this level of funding they can request top up funding from the LA.

www.sossen.org.uk/
www.ipsea.org.uk/contact-us

A couple of charities that give great advice.

As a previous poster said prob worth you posting on SEN board as some really knowledgeable people on there.

Thanks - I'm not sure whether the funding really does start in January, but my friend says that's what she has been told. However, English is not her first language, hence trying to help her out a bit.

Will post in the other board as soon as I can get near the computer.

There are a few issues here that need to be sorted. How does the ASD manifest itself? How does the school cope up to afternoon break? Does the child need 1:1 support at all times?

From what I know (which obv isn't everything!) she needs routine, and copes better with it. She sometimes bolts/escapes, but IME is generally happy and cheerful and so far gets on well with other children - I've looked after her in creches before now and as long as she has clear boundaries and a focus or activity there's been no problem at all. Her parents and the school nursery last year did a lot of work with her on social stories, explaining and spotting different emotions etc and she made loads of progress in social situations.

As far as I can work out, the school seem to think that she needs 1 2 1 during the afternoon as that is when the free play chaos bit of EYFS is happening - she's managing OK with the slightly more structured phonics/morning activities.

Will check with my friend how they're managing the first part of the afternoon though, good point.

When mine first started school and I was young and naive their school conned me into this too.

Truth is that they have a legal obligation to offer to our children the same education that is available to children without disabilities. To treat them differently and offer them less because of their disability is unlawful.

The true nature of equality is equality of outcome. How that is achieved is really for the school and the LEA's to work out.

If a child without disabilities can start ft school before their 5th birthday then a child with disabilities must have that same right.

all children are entitled to full-time education from the beginning of the term following their 4th birthday, regardless of sen or disability. the school are wrong or there has been a communication failure.

I'm a bit that the children only get to play freely in that classroom during the afternoon. Reception children should be doing far more learning through child led play but that's another issue.

This child is effectively being illegally excluded from school and denied access to the curriculum in comparison with her peers. She is being treated less favourably as a result of her disability and the school is falling foul of the DDA.

Has the parent contacted Parent Partnership, IPSEA or SOSSEN?

I replied to this last night and it got lost, so trying again...

The parent has contacted parent partnership and is meeting with them early next week I believe. She's not been in touch with the others yet, but I'll have a chat with her again to recommend she does.

I'm sure the children don't only get to play freely in the afternoon by the way, it's just that all the more structured activities are done in the morning - PE x 2, music, French, ICT, phonics, numeracy etc, and she copes better with those than with the (sometimes rather chaotic) EYFS free play.

Thanks again.

Hopefully PP will give her good advice. The others are hard to get through to but would give her good advice if PP can't offer much support.

That reception class seem to take an odd approach to play. The whole point of the EYFS is that children receive a large part of the curriculum through play, not that play comes in between the curriculum being delivered in structured sessions.

I suppose this is good for your friend's child as she could struggle to learn through a play based curriculum but it's not that great for the others.

Tell her to get everything in writing, put everything in writing, and keep copies of everything. Paper trails are important.

Free play should not be chaotic!