What support should school provide for a Year 2 child behind?

[Cakeandslippers]

My DS is in Y2 and, in his end of Y1 report, he was assessed at the lowest of the four levels, working towards the Y1 expected level, in reading, writing and maths. He was also working towards in some other subjects, but I’m less concerned about those.

Since the start of this school year, I’ve had no communication from school about how he’s doing or what support he might need. They’ve turned off messaging on the school app this year, and I’m not at pick-up because of work. The teachers aren’t at drop-off either, so I’ve actually never met his new teacher, who is an NQT and also new to the school.

I’m wondering what I should reasonably expect in terms of support in this situation. Would it be too much to expect some guidance from school about how we can help him catch up and improve? I’m particularly worried that he’ll just fall further behind.

He did have a support plan in Y1 and was getting some additional small-group support, but as far as I can tell that has now stopped. I don’t think he currently has a support plan, although I’m not actually sure whether he does or not.
I feel that he needs some additional support, but I’m not sure how this works in practice or at what point a child would normally get extra help. How far behind do they need to be before school would normally put additional support in place?

He has also been referred for an ASD assessment, so he is on the SENCO’s radar, although obviously that doesn’t necessarily address the immediate issue of him being behind academically.

I’m really just wondering what is normal in this situation. I hear a lot about teachers being overwhelmed and stressed, and I absolutely don’t want to be the parent who is constantly pushing for things unnecessarily. But equally, I feel like I do need to advocate for him, and that he does need some help.
My DD is completely different as she’s always been working at greater depth, so I honestly have no idea what is reasonable to expect when a child is struggling academically.

Any advice or experiences would be really appreciated. Thanks!

There is nothing wrong with being a parent who is pushing for things. Sometimes you have to in order to get the best outcome for your child. If he needs support (which he does, from what you've said), then get onto the school and tell them. It's their job to provide him an education. I know that teachers are busy and stressed, and schools are underfunded, but at the end of the day that is not your fault. If they can't meet his needs then they are failing him and honestly, you have every right to keep on at them about it.

I would request a meeting with his teacher, and maybe the SENCO too. He doesn’t need to have a diagnosis to start putting things in place to support him. I would make it clear that you know it is a joint effort - so ask what you can do at home to help too.

thanks, I think I will. It's hard not really knowing what to expect - we aren't sure if he has just been abandoned, or if in fact he is receiving support and we just aren't aware. School this year have really come down hard on communication, it seems to be actively discouraged and it's made me feel quite uncomfortable - but this is not a good enough reason to avoid it. I will get in touch.

How long till the first parents' evening? If it's soon I might hold off till then. If it's not for a while then it's totally reasonable to email and request a meeting to discuss his progress and support plan, especially given that he was receiving additional support last year.

Does he have an IEP? Have you considered applying for an ECHP?

It's at the end of November - this is what I mean, it's hard to know what's reasonable.

I'm not sure what an IEP is so I assume he hasn't got one. He did have a plan last year which was around the support he was getting in class but as far as I know that hasn't continued - he was getting small group support and was sat with the teacher at the front but he's saying that he doesn't' have any of this in his new class.

He doesn't have an EHCP and I assume he's quite far off needing one as he is able to access the curriculum with light support.

I'm not a pushy person and I hate any sort of confrontation.

However, this is the perfect example of a time when you need to stand up and speak up and advocate for your child. If you don't, no one will.

I feel like things tend to just coast along unless you raise your concern loudly.

yes thanks all, I will email. I am happy to get in touch, it's less that I don't want to bother them and more that I really have no idea where the line is - this could be a very normal state of affairs for all I know but it sounds like it's probably not so I will get in touch and see what they say

As he is on the pathway for ASD assessment and he is behind in school he meets the threshold for echna - that’s an assessment to find out if he needs an ECHP. The assessment it’self is worth it because he will be seen by an EP (educational psychologist).

You can do a parental request for an ECHNA

https://www.ipsea.org.uk/ehc-needs-assessments

Hi, I’m a year 2 teacher and I’m still fully getting to know my pupils’ needs. It’s obvious from day one who needs heavy support but sometimes those who require lighter support or extra scaffolding aren’t so clear this early on.

That being said, I received a thorough handover from my class’ previous teacher so I was quite aware of the needs in the class. Your son’s teacher should have had the same but this doesn’t always happen - if she is new to the school then she may have missed it due to not being there in July for example.

I will say that I don’t have a class TA so my children who are working towards do not benefit from that support. They instead have adapted resources, different expectations, additional support from me throughout lessons, scaffolding and lots of practical resources. Your son may well be receiving support but in a different way from Year 1.

As a parent, I would definitely ask for a meeting asap with the class teacher and SENCo. Don’t let the school’s anti-communication stance put you off - they have a duty to you and your boy.
Good luck.

I would say arrange a meeting with the the teacher and SENCO. If anything to build a relationship with them so you can all support your child. My DS was referred for his autism assessment in Reception and just received his diagnosis yesterday (he has just started year 5). The school worked a lot with us to find ways to support him and good communication meant we could keep each other updated.

As both a senco and sen parent id say this :

there isn't enough resources to ho around and some schools / sencos are great dome are not

advocate your arse off but and take all the advice here but at the end of the day you need to tutor or get a tutor and do stuff at home - in time you will hopefully get a good home school rapor

Request a meeting to see what he needs, what support he is getting and what you as a parent can do to help. It’s a joint responsibility to educate a child.

@Cakeandslippers You really cannot do what pp says and get him tutors for everything! He needs to be a child and enjoy other things.

As the very sensible posts have said, make an appointment to see the SENDCO and his class teacher. She will have received handover notes and you should not have had a surprise when reading his y1 report. So what did y1 teacher say to you about working with the school? There should be an ongoing plan - the new teacher should not be reinventing the wheel.

This teacher won’t have done an assessment yet but good Schools give parents an overview of the curriculum for the term or year. You should get this from them but if you haven’t, ask at the meeting. It will guide how you work with the school.

Many schools still do have TAs. A common technique is recap previous learning before moving on to a new topic, eg tables in maths. You can easily recap phonics from last year. Read to him every day too. If he resists this, ask for “games” and how you can encourage him.

Overall, do ensure you have the meeting and establish a strategy for how you can help because it is a partnership. It’s also important to keep DS engaged with school because dc who find it difficult can become disengaged because it’s all too hard. So bite sized learning with some success does matter even if it’s baby steps.

Just because hes in mainstream and only needing "light" support doesnt rule out the need for an EHCP.

My child is thriving in mainstream - because he has an EHCP, which gives him a full time 1:1 staff member, who delivers his speech and language therapy, and who runs social skills groups, and who enables him to do part of his lessons outside, where he concentrates so much better. It also stipulates OT strategies and provisions to support his learning (movement breaks, tactile aids etc.) and most importantly, the funds for school to provide all of this.

We also do a lot at home without making it feel like a therapeutic intervention, as well as pursuing other interests that support the skills he struggles with (music lessons have really helped him sustain concentration and listening, for example)

Id start by asking for a meeting to see whats happening in school, and what you can do at home to support that. Ask the SENCO about an EHCP.

What should be provided and what will be provided (even when you do successfully push), will be two different things, because the funds that are needed to make a difference just don’t exist. This is why teachers are overwhelmed. They do care, they do want your child to succeed, but they just can’t do as much as they would like to in the time they have.

I’ll assume you’re already doing things like reading with your child every day, and that you also did this during the summer holidays.

I’d be requesting a meeting ASAP with the teacher. Let them know you’re wanting to get on top of things so that your DC doesn’t fall further behind.

At the meeting ask about what supports will be available at school and follow this up with the SENDCO too. Also, ask them to think about what two goals for Reading and Maths they think you could work on at home. This can really make a big difference.

If your budget can manage it, I’d also look at private tutoring. Many use this to extend children or prepare for exams, but catching up in Year 2, or even ongoing help, could make a big difference to your child.

I taught for over 40 years and while it would be nice if the school could manage it all, reality is, they can’t and sometimes kids with bigger issues will be the priority. If you’ve got the means to get a tutor, I’d do it sooner rather than later.

@CheeseAndSaladCreamSandwich This doesn’t sound comparable with dc here though. Working towards is often quite subjective and some teachers might have upped it to meeting expectations. The op should have known what assessments were showing last year so I’m surprised there’s no obvious continuation this year. Usually schools review interventions and good teachers do organise appropriate time with a TA but it will be in a group. He’s unlikely to be the only one working towards.

Thanks all, lots of useful stuff here. I'm not naive, I know there's no money and I'm not expecting him to get specific support, but he was getting support last year in small groups and e.g. with easier spellings. I didn't realise this would stop but it seems to have. He told me that he got every question in his maths work wrong today but no adult is available to explain it to him, he says he doesn't know how anyone gets it right as it's impossible and he doesn't know what's going on.

I can't work out the TA situation. I think they occasionally have a bit of a TA maybe, the teacher is an ECT (NQT) so they also sometimes have a different teacher to cover too. They are also on the 3rd senco in 3 years which hasn't helped as the most recent two have taken it on as new to them so aren't familiar with things unlike the original one.

I've emailed anyway so hopefully I can meet to discuss. In the meantime we'll keep on with what we can at home. I'm actually confident in the long run he'll be fine, he's a fantastic problem solver, it's his super power! We just have to make sure he doesn't fall behind in a way that knocks his confidence.

Thanks all

I'm a TA in a school that currently over spends on staff - and even most of our classes do not have in class support as the majority of us are now 1:1 as additional funding does not meet the additional need. We have been told jobs are safe, but the next few that do leave wont be replaced.

We have roughly one TA per 60 children in key stage 1. Nobody thinks the kids are getting what they really deserve but we do the best we can 😢. Do ask for the meeting, by all means. The chances are there just isn't the same TA support available and other support strategies need to be developed and your input should be welcomed and valued.

@MCF86 It’s a management decision to do 1:1 unless dc has a EHCP. It’s totally their choice. No school spends 100% budget on staffing but the school needs to wean itself off 1:1 and do more group work with the TA or try and get dc into special schools. As a school governor 1:1 is rare here and usually when dc need a special school and we are waiting for a place or it’s a fully funded TA in mainstream and paid for by the LA. Schools never pay 1:1 out of their own budget. It’s not sustainable long term and school SEN budgets were never set up for this. Neither is it fair on other dc to have such skewed provision taking up the lions share of the TA budget.

The first step is to ask about him getting an IEP (individual education plan). Schools can call this different things such as “school support” or “being added to the SEND register” but it’s basically the first step for supporting a child with additional need. It doesn’t require a diagnosis, just an acknowledgement that the child is finding things difficult.
An IEP will set out targets for your child and explain how the school will help support them for each one. This has to come from their existing budget, so a 1:1 would be extremely unlikely.
The local authority needs evidence that the school has tried this first before they will even consider them for an EHC (education & health care) plan which would normally come with some funding.

He told me that he got every question in his maths work wrong today but no adult is available to explain it to him, he says he doesn't know how anyone gets it right as it's impossible and he doesn't know what's going on.

Oh this makes me so sad, your poor DS. Definitely ask for a meeting with the school and ask how your DS can be supported in school and what you could be doing at home to support him. I would not wait until parents evening, if he's struggling so much he cannot do any of his maths work then there's a risk he'll stop wanting to try at all and fall even further behind. Does he get homework? If not, ask if he can bring his exercise books home so you can have a look through them with him and see what he's struggling with.

Thanks @VashtaNerada this is what he had last year I think - but I assume he no longer does - well, maybe he still has it but as far as I can tell, the things included are not happening anymore. Last year's senco said they were going to add him to the sen register but I don't know if they ever did or not and they have now left, so I will ask that question too.

Thanks @Natsku he does get homework, it is really hard to get him to do it as het gets quite upset, but when we do, he can do it but needs a LOT of support to do it. That's often because he doesn't understand it and often it's because he still muddles up his letters and numbers and so will read 35 as 53, for example and can't seem to differentiate when you point it out - I think it's just hard work for him - and he's not a sitting down kind of boy. He's also young in the year so I do think that probably plays a part.

I know from my older child's class that there is no support and that the children with 1.1 support specified in their EHCPs have had to give up a significant proportion of that support as it's required to manage the behaviour of children who don't have an EHCP but who need 1.1 to keep the other children safe so as I say, I'm not expecting him to get special treatment. But I also know that he's at high risk of giving up entirely (we almost hit this point in y1 until his brilliant teacher suddenly 'got' him and really turned it around). I've emailed to ask for a meeting anyway, it often takes a few days to get a reply but hopefully someone will come back to me in the next week or so.

A child doesn’t need an IEP before you can apply for an ECHNA. The legal test is whether the child or young person has or may havespecial educational needs (SEN); and

• whether they may need special educational provision to be made through an EHC plan.

You can apply for ECHNA and ask a school to put an IEP in place at the same time.