15-20 new DCs in DDs MS reception class today...

[superfantastic]

DD aged 5 (ASD) is in a double class anyway...unfortunatley they decided to combine two classes this year...two teachers and 50+ DCs as of this week in one big room. :( They spoke about it all last week in class but DD is not happy and already finds school hard work. As a girl with ASD she tends to grin and bear it but comes home very anxious, exhausted, face picks and has nightmares. :( Her teacher always says she is 'fine'in school 'all DCs get tired' and 'DD has differerent behaviours at home'.

As she is now 5 Early Years Inclusion have left the scene, we are waiting for Autism Team this month. The SENCO avoids me and is a bit of a nodding dog...but no action...still waiting for IEP review to be rescheduled after the snow delayed us, no support as recommended by SALT in OCTOBER!

This weekend DD was very upset at noises she could normally tollerate, we had her ear defenders on outside. We normally only use them for in the night fireworks or loud wind...weather fear! So now I am worried about today....and the rest of term.

...BTW we are visiting a new school with more SN experience tomorrow...fingers crossed ...even if we have to move house.

I feel better for that rant. Anyone got similar worries as it is January so many new DCs in school.

similar-ish position here. Dd3, not asd, goes to an open plan school, so as you say 50ish dcs in one big open space, they only do september intake here so we've been dealing with this since then. All I can say is obviously from my own experience but for various reasons it really isn't working for dd3 at all. Hope your visit tommorrow goes well

A lot of the parents with NT DCs are concerned too. It was chaos this morning, I dont think the room is big enough.

I hope the visit is good tomorrow too...but DP is not happy at moving house again, or the area the school is in. I will be glad to be on better transport links, closer to family and in a better school...hopefully a secure garden too.

super

re your comments:-

"The SENCO avoids me and is a bit of a nodding dog...but no action...still waiting for IEP review to be rescheduled after the snow delayed us, no support as recommended by SALT in OCTOBER!"

Sounds awful. Clearly as well this school is not working at all for your DD (an extremely large class size even with two teachers sounds bad even for children without any difficulties) and its sounds like they are failing her by not meeting her needs.

IEP is known on here also as Individual Empty Promise. Again it sounds good in theory but the back up is not really there.
There won't be any real support forthcoming unless there is a Statement in place for your DD. You can apply for a Statement yourself to the LEA and I would suggest you do this asap regardless of what school she will go to. IPSEA's website has model letters you can use in this respect:-

www.ipsea.org.uk

Thanks Attila...

The new school..(hopefully)..has an Autism unit that DD can attend from age 8, with a statement in place. We havent applied yet as we are aware of proving DDs need for SA so were gathering evidence/support for our application. As her present school does not recognise her difficulties and she achieves well academically. They reluctantly put her on the list to be referred to the EP.

We figure in a new school our application would be supported and DDs progress documented properly.

(...dare I say I would like to see the green paper too! )

PS. Im a namechanger...was WTree before. :)

Good luck re visit tomorrow-That sounds like too many in the same space even for most NT kids.Your DD IS going to find it really difficult,despite what rubbish her teacher may spout

I asked DD if it was loud/noisey in class her response..'my knee is poorly'. She is very bouncy, lots of jabbering and a short temper...face picking stopped over xmas, keeping an eye on it. She is tired but that is the usual...we shall see how she is after a few weeks of this.

Let you know how the school is tomorrow.

Opposite of yesterday, DD came home exhausted, moody, tantrums/tears and asking to go to bed. Obviously not going to cope in the class. No word in her home diary since day 1 last week...all too busy I expect. :(

But....new school is fantastic!!! Very SN friendly, loads of visual aids for all dcs...DP said it looked like our house! :) Reading support teacher, TAs with experience, lunchtime support...with pictures on the wall so they know who to support, quiet time areas, secure, great outdoor spaces including its own woodland for nature walks, the SN unit (year3 onwards with statement) was great, the staff were lovely, music classes, big classrooms (max 32 dcs)...in fact the reception class was about the same size as the one she is in with two classes in it!

Now I just need to get her in! :)