Dyslexic daughter in SEN tutor group

[lrjb40]

My daughter has just started in year 7 at a large academy in south east London. She’s dyslexic (diagnosed in year 4) and had a v small amount of extra help at primary school. She has said a few things which make me suspect that she’s in a tutor group of children with SEN, eg there are a couple of kids with visual impairments and at least one other with a dedicated one on one assistant. I hadn’t expected her to be in SEN class as although her spelling and maths are dreadful I don’t think that she is far behind the expected level in most things. Are others’ dyslexic kids included in general SEN tutor groups? I’m just a bit surprised and don’t know if this is a good thing (more support) or a bad thing (inappropriate for her extra needs) . I’d be grateful to hear others’ opinions. Thank you

Teacher here. I have never heard of SEN tutor groups.

The school I teach in is very large so it wouldn't be uncommon to have 2 or 3 children in each tutor group with some form of SEND. We don't make a SEND tutor group and put them all together.

Are you absolutely sure it’s a tutor group exclusively for children with additional needs? It’s unusual to structure it like that.

I’d meet with school to clarify what the situation is. It is common to have lots of children with extra needs in the mainstream (🛴especially if the school is known to be good at inclusion) so it might be that your daughter has just noticed those particular children.

I don’t know why a scooter appeared in my post!

Ive never heard of this either. Tutor groups in all the achools ive workes in are mixed ability.

What do you mean by tutor group?

Oh right, thanks, in your experience would it be unusual to have four children with one on one support in one tutor group?

I think at bigger schools they tend to group children with lower additional needs in with those who have more significant additional needs as a way to give them extra support that they otherwise wouldn't get in their own right. Because schools have to pay for the first £6000 of additional support, it isn't cost effective to put in additional support spread across a lot of different classes. It's much more cost effective to put the children in together and provide them support in one class.

Talk to the school. My dd is severely dyslexic and gets a great deal of support. She has numeracy and literacy support and probably within those small groups there are children with different additional needs. Her form is within the mainstream and she is making good progress. She is very bright but literally cannot write and uses a laptop as she can touch type.

Form tends to be everyone together and then off to lessons according to what set they are in.

I agree that it's unlikely to be an SEN tutor group as such however there maybe a group within that class who would all benefit from LSA support (but don't qualify for 1:2) so they have been put together to facilitate that. If that's the case here I think it would be a positive for your daughter because there are more likely to be additional adults who can give her a little bit of extra support when needed.

Oh and ive just thought. My dd's school specialises in supporting children with additional physical needs but these children will be integrated within the school.

No, I’m not at all sure, that’s why I asked! I thought it was unusual to have four (or it might be five) children each with one on one support in a tutor group (they are all together for wellbebing then do all their lessons together too - they call it a tutor group ) but maybe it’s not. Thank you 🛴 !

well OK some were there because they were underachieving and had low test scores. Is that better?

Anyway I come from a family of teachers, and you should hear how they talk about children....at least I am not working in a school....

FourFriedChickensDryWhiteToast no child is 'just thick'. That's a really unkind thing to say.

at least I am not working in a school Thank fuck.

trust me, there are plenty of people who are, who will use a lot worse descriptors than 'thick'. and that is just the parents they are talking about...
Sorry to divert.

I agree that it's unlikely to be an SEN tutor group as such however there maybe a group within that class who would all benefit from LSA support (but don't qualify for 1:2) so they have been put together to facilitate that. If that's the case here I think it would be a positive for your daughter because there are more likely to be additional adults who can give her a little bit of extra support when needed
That's what I was going to say.
Not a SEND group, but sometimes some students are allocated to a group with a TA because it means there's an extra pair of hand to support (most secondaries tend to avoid helicopter TA-ing so there are times when the TA's named child is working independently and they could float to have a look at another child, but obviously their first and foremost priority has to be their named child. Their named child's needs come before anything else).

I work in a pretty big school. We don't 'set' in tutor groups. I have three SEND pupils in mine. It's not uncommon

That’s how it worked at her primary school, the TA gave a bit of help to my daughter and a few others but was there primarily for one specific child. That doesn’t seem to be the case here, however she’s only been there four days and things will become clearer. I’ll contact the school but didn’t want to make a fuss so early on.