Question for teachers. If a child has a statement, would you ignore it if you belived it wasn't justified?

[2boysnamedR]

That, in nutshell.

Son has a statement via winning a appeal. Head of village school said I won it as parents have money and the LA doesn't ( not true or fair I feel. In my case I won with no solicitor against the la rep with law degree ( ex legal firm worker).

My sons in a different school so I doubt my head would say this to my face. But. I'm pretty sure they don't agree with the dessision. They do some things really well, other things not so good but overall I get the impression there's bad will that I didn't listen to the school and did this.

If a child had a statement for ASD would / do some teachers think "he's just naughty, he needs a firm hand"

I am not going to judge or bash any ideas. Surely some people must think like this? I don't want to keep banging my head against a brick wall.

Charis1

we have units, and whole schools that were for only for statemented children, but not now.

Are you saying that in your LA there are no longer any special schools? I find this VERY difficult to comprehend, as of course if if you work for a LA that has SNs schools then you do indeed have school which are full of children with either a statement of SEN or a EHCP as children cannot access a SN's school without one or at the very least are being assessed for one.

Some have statements, some don't, some may have but the school doesn't have access to them, this is the reality.

Of course the school have access to the child's statement, they are named on the statement. Again you either you have no clue of what your'e talking about or the school your'e working at is simply totally incompetent, and the parents of the children with statements need to get them the hell out of there.

see, this is the attitude of posters on here. You just don't seem to get it, if the money doesn't exist, the money doesn't exist. I can't make it exist, I would go to prison for counterfitting! And just as much so, the time doesn't exist. Teachers have the same numbers of hours in the day as anyone else. teacher time isn't an infinite resource that can be stretched more and more and more as further demands are made. Teachers break down, burn out, die, walk out, every day. hence the 40% shortfall in some areas. hence the complaints on here about supply teachers, and instability.

if you think you can do a better job, go ahead.

If you think your'e doing a good job by being totally misinformed about how the SEN system should works, then you are sadly deluded. As for teachers being burnt out!! Sorry but my concerns lie solely with the families who are falling apart every day, if your child was prescribed medication at the age of 7 to help them deal with stress and anxiety caused by school, i am sure your also feel the same way.

Smirks at idea that teachers do not have time to read a statement but have plenty of time to go to hospital appointments! Your fantasies are getting a bit inconsistent there Charis.

Charis claims to have a number of jobs ... I seriously doubt those claims

I'm free lance, Mrz, working for a number of boroughs part time, I also still do some supply in months with less consultancy work, in other schools, mostly in the same boroughs.

Add message | Report | Message poster EmmaGellerGreen Sat 05-Sep-15 10:03:49
So there are dozens of governing boards comfortable with the law being ignored. Mind boggling, said as a governor with experience of monitoring sen.

I have experienced this, the people on the thread I linked to have experienced this. Some governing bodies are more knowledgable/powerful than others.

Yeh! Perhaps you need to be more consistent in your claims and experiences

mrz who are you directing your question to?

A free lance consultant, in what?

I believe charis.
Our senco has so many SEN children that she was off with 'stress' for most of last year.

Was the role filled in that period of leave, Obs?

Well, my school although very lacking some days, do have sen files. Not all information on my son is freely available to all staff. Everyone knows top level stuff but specifics are shared only with staff In direct contact. I would only expect his ct and ta to skim his main statement pages - 6 - that would take me 10 mins to read. Remember the key points then work those as they see fit. With pathway plan targets of course. Our school doesn't have the pleasure of ignoring those. They stick to them.

I would be fine with any ct or ta saying "your son has x learning problems. In my experience let's implement x target on the statement like this on the pathway plan and measure that method"

The question is would some staff just think - I know better - stuff that crap and ignore.

Because in my job. I push back and question things but at the end of the day if some one says do this - I do it.

I keep on being told that teachers take things very seriously and care a great deal. Some may be quite flippant and not care, some do.

But do teachers listen to their heads? Weather you like your boss or not? If he said - this kids not that bad would you pull his party line or follow the statement?

I'm just trying to gadge "look I know better so we're doing it my way" attitude in schools.

My school is nothing like the school mentioned by charis, it's just not. It's a very good school turning out some bright kids who are I believe genuinely cared about and for by people who teach because they want kids to flourish. Which partly is a issue for him as he's not setting the world on fire.

Oh come on - what teacher can't tell the difference between whose/who's? Don't believe a word.

Feenie, the sort of teacher who has an utter disregard and or ignorance of the law!

I think schools have methods that they believe work and should be applied indiscriminately and then it's an uphill battle to get them to consider an alternative method that works better for a particular child.
IME the best schools and SENCo's have always been those who truly wanted to work with each child and their family as an individual rather than as a diagnosis and learning level.
Dd's SENCo in Primary was fantastic he truly saw each child as an individual made sure he knew their quirks and worked with them to get the best from them. Likewise ds's SENCo in Secondary was first class and went the extra mile repeatedly for the children there and even provided the evidence to my solicitor to get ds into an independent specialist school when he could see it was no longer working for ds.
I wouldn't say dd's SENCo is a good SENCo particularly because she never ever thinks outside the box. She has obviously established methods that work for her and sticks religiously to them whether or not they are appropriate, necessary or working for a particular child.
Dd has ASD she has her earmarked as rude, difficult, challenging, isolated, without friends. In actual fact dd is rule bound, polite, friendly and sociable and much prefers her peers to any adult as well as being kind and empathetic.
Regardless SENCo insists on behaviour management being a focus it doesn't matter that dd has never misbehaved in her life. She tried to insist she goes to Learning Support at lunch and breaks when dd has a large circle of friends she spends breaks with. She tried to have the TA seated next to her when dd hasn't had a TA sat at the side of her in years. Because dd has ASD these are her strategies they aren't appropriate or necessary and weren't working but she was resistant to any discussion of change.
Thankfully she screwed up on safeguarding and so now she has no choice but to do things the way that work for dd and how I told her in the beginning which apparently "wasn't possible". HT now oversees dd's support as well so SENCo can't slip back to the tried and tested.

Capsium I was talking to charis who has now added consultant to the long list of jobs they claim to do.

Are you saying that in your LA there are no longer any special schools?

no, I'm saying statements no longer play any sort of role in enrolment criteria

if you think your'e doing a good job by being totally misinformed about how the SEN system should works, then you are sadly deluded

here we go again, personal attacks, because I'm telling you what the reality is like on the ground, and you don't like it!

That may well be how it is on the ground where you are. Nothing like that here, or anywhere else that I know. Maybe "your" schools and borough need to consult with experts from elsewhere in the country as they seem to have a woeful grip on what should be going on.

It isn't how it is on the ground it is how it is in charis's attempt to wind people up!

It's because of terrible attitudes that I have fought to get my DS into a special school. Best thing I ever did for him.

No more judgmental crap for me or him.

...and I think Charis needs to be taken seriously. I don't always agree with her but I think most mainstream schools now are overwhelmed. I can well believe the power-point display with a few bullet points about each child that people won't remember.

It's not the fault of teachers or of mainstream schools. they are doing the best job they can with limited resources. The result is that too many children will fail to have their needs properly met and they will be ground down by the system.

The school might have the Statement but I seriously doubt teachers have much time to read them.

I haven't ever experienced anything like charis's claims and ds was statemented 18 years ago and dd 9 years ago. There have been 8 schools and probably a dozen SENCo's. Yes there have been ups and downs, some teachers, SENCo's and TAs have been fantastic, some less so and a tiny minority poor but never have I experienced any school referring to children with high needs as statemented (regardless of whether they have a statement) nor have I known any teacher be unaware of the contents of ds and dd's statements (even the poor ones knew about them and appeared to try to meet them)

In my LA, a statement is required ( or in process of being approved) as an entry requirement for the special schools. There is no possibility into getting into a special school without one!
I have no idea what Charis is on about

And of course teachers have time to read statements, attending review meetings without having read the statement would be rather embarassing to say the least!!

Alfieisnoisy try reading charis's other posts they are equally ill informed and designed to be controversial ...apparently charis teaches in FE, is a consultant, a tutor, a teacher, a SENCO among other things ...it's utter rubbish

Yes statemented children only for special schools and enhanced resources in our LA even the enhanced resources attached to Academy schools. Also statemented children have priority on admissions to every school in the LA.