Would this put you off applying to this school?

[KeyboardplayerXXX]

Just wondering if anyone had any views on this article?

www.brentwoodgazette.co.uk/Mum-s-outrage-headteacher-s-strapped-comments/story-23177791-detail/story.html

DS2 has the same dual diagnosis as the boy featured in the article.
What a peculiar expression for a head teacher to come out with.
The newspaper has obviously gone for the traditional 'sad face' shot.

If he actually said it, then yes it would.

It was a very unwise comment to make and I hope made inadvertently in trying to explain the SEN policy of the school. I can understand why he might say it because in many secondary schools there are much fewer TAs. It is also true that if pupils get to dependent on the TAs for support that they often do not progress as well as they could with other means of support. Having said that the whole purpose of the special needs system is that the pupils get whatever help is most appropriate for the pupil to make good progress and if that is a TA then that is what the school will be (mainly) funded for and should provide. That is what he should have been saying.

It would concern me very much, and I would want to know exactly what he meant by it, and what they do do to support children with SEN relevant to my child's needs.

I would then make up my mind about the school and if I thought they were not offering what they should, not offering what any school should offer in order to support my child, or if his comments were discriminatory I would go to the governors - or probably ask on MN what to do, and Admission or Tiggy or prhbridge47 would give me some very good advice, which I would follow.

I doubt that advice would involve posing outside the school and making my DS's personal circumstances available for all to see and comment on in the local rag.

There are some interesting comments on the Gazette's Facebook page (Scroll down for story posted on 18th October).

www.facebook.com/gazettebrentwood?fref=nf