Settling in

[caterpillar90]

We've had a couple of settling in sessions at the school DS will be starting reception at in September.
Yesterday we had a classroom stay and play, which also involved time outside in the playground. Adults were invited for the first part of the classroom and into the playground.
There are a few children in DS's class who are non verbal. They were very agitated by the morning and starting hitting other children, which resulted in tears and requests to go home. The focus was predominantly on the non-verbal children by the teacher and TA and them taking them in and out of the classroom.
This school was oversubscribed and the LA published the schools admissions data and no children were admitted with an EHCP, which obviously means no extra funding.
My concern is that yesterday is indicative of how the reception year is going to be with the focus on the children who are going to need more support and those children who don't will have some of their learning time taken away as a result. I realise that I may sound non-inclusive - that is not the case. I am just worried that DS may be overlooked as a result.

I've actually just moved my ds at the end of reception for a few reasons but one was this. The school he was at was absolutely brilliant from SEND point of view - but because it is known for being so good there are a disproportionate number of children who require additional support - which in theory is fine, but in reality we found the additional staff the funding brought were used for loads of different things and at parents evening the teacher said my ds was doing fine but she hadn't done any one to one stuff with him and had only listened to him read once because there wasn't time with all the other interventions that needed doing.

It will most likely be different depending on the school but this is my experience of it.

I understand your concern but hopefully things will improve. The children may find the transition difficult but settle down when they are used to it. If they have particularly high needs, things might change e.g. getting an EHCP.

This is the COVID effect isn’t it? It’s been widely reported that this is a big issue amongst DCs starting school. I’m not sure it’s avoidable in some areas. It’s less likely in middle class areas. I think you are right. It will be a struggle to help the DC who need it and maintain high quality teaching for the others. If you go elsewhere, would it be better? I think schools are really up against it with non verbal children and behaviour issues. Many parents will be helping DC more than ever!