we got the statement 17.5hrs one to one but school says it depends what funding they get?

[miche8]

I'm puzzled my son starts reception in sept, we just heard he got his statement and it states 17.5hrs one to one, when i rang the school to see if they had employed someone as this is what they told me they would do, i was told it depended on what funding they got, they might have to use several existing staff, i think it needs to be just one person, i thought if the statement said 17.5hrs one to one, enough money would be given to cover the costs.

Hi, Im a teacher and SENco in Yorkshire & I have a little girl (2years) who has just been diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Where i work, A statement of more than 15 hours, usually means that the school cannot meet the child's needs sufficiently, so the council provide additional support & extra funding as a separate entity from the schools usual SEN funding. As far as I am aware As soon as the statement is final it is in force, so the L.A should have already paid school the funding according to the requirements of the statement. It will be paid separate from any other funding that the school recieves. School may not have recieved this money yet. (check out the SEN code of practice (DFES website) & the equality and diversity act) Sometimes schools may use staff from within the school (eg.if they are known to the child etc..) But the money is for your child so if they choose to use current staff then they should be using the funding for training that staff member on subjects relating to your child's specific needs, or buying in specific resources that will support your child.

I agree with you & you need to be questionning the need for consistency- this will be a major concern if your child has autism, general learning delay etc..May I ask why your child has a statement?.. 'having several staff' would confuse a 5 year old. The school (by law) must take your views into account. They should not be using hours to support other SEN children or sometimes 'less able' children as a group. your child has an entitlement. May I suggest you arrange a meeting with the SENCo of the school and voice your concerns. You should have been to meetings before, if your child attended school nursery If so transition meetings to support your child in the move to 'big school' should have been adressed. You are entitled to attend all meetings.

I think it depends on your lea and how exactly they work, they may expect the school to fund the first x number of hours out of their existing sen budget. But that's not your concern, statement says 17.5 hours 1:1, that's what must be legally provided, there's no excuses. I wouldn't be happy with being told 'several' either, 1 or 2 maybe but you need consistency. What are parent partnership like where you are, have you been in contact with them?

the school will provide 17.5 hours of 1- 1, but it is up to them how they do it. some use existing TAs, (as long as they aren't being used as the classroom Ta at that point it's fine) and some employ a new member of staff.

dd2's 1-1 was a job share between two existing TAs. the school employed a new classroom TA as the existing TAs were being utilised for 1-1 sn cover.

really it's totally up to the school how they fill the 1-1 position and hours. for us it weas actually better to have a job share - it prevented dd2 being overly attached solely to one TA and also allowed for sickness cover for the TAs as well. i'm a big fan of more than one TA being used to provide support to a child. makes life a lot easier in case the TA needs a day or two off, as it's easier for the child. having one 1-1 TA is a lovely idea, but so may times they end up either not being what you expected, or they go off sick/ get a new job, and the child is left having to get used to a variety of supply staff or an entirely new figure, or not having support at all whilst they recruit/ wait for them to come back off sick leave....

thanks for taking the time to reply, there was a transition meeting but at that point we didn't know if he would get the statement, actually i felt people were quite negative in that we wouldn't get one, luckily i had the support of the pe and everyone else just went along with what she said. Hes waiting to be assessed for autism have been told at least a 9 month wait, he also has a speech disorder, limited eye contact, rigid behaviour, social issues.

i think i'd prefer one ta, it takes him along time to adjust to change, but i can see why having 2 ta's might be better incase of sickness etc. Now its the holidays nothing will be in place for when he starts in sept, you'd think they'd push everything along to have someone ready for the start of term.

my worry is i won't know if he has one to one during the day because he has no or very little speech. I feel very unsettled but nothing i can do until the start of term.

Try not to worry too much. I spent the whole of DS's Reception summer holiday in the dark and worrying (as did he) about what Year 1 would be like and when we turned up on day 1 in the September they had 2 LSAs lined up - one for morning and one for afternoon. He didn't even have full time 1:1 on his statement but the school made up the difference. My point being, it is in the school's interest too that your DS is supported, especially now that there is a legal document saying he needs it, and I am sure they will be doing everything to ensure support is in place in September. If they are anything like my DCs' school, they just aren't very good at letting you know about it in advance!

Hello miche8, I was in your position at one time inregards to the statement and the amount of hours/one to one assistance. I hope for you that it all goes well for your child and yourself. I would like to add as a precaution the following: Although a statement may be written and hours given it does not mean that the LEA who wrote up the statement have to fund it, stupid but true!! Unfair, 'yes'. The LEA therefore in this case leave it up to the school to fund completely. This then follows that if the school cannot afford it then they cannot apply what the statement states. I wish only to warn you of the above, just in case you need to know, hopefully you will be able to ignore what I have said in the near future. It took me 3 years of challenging the school and the LEA inregards to my child's statement and 4 Annual Reviews, with clinic and advocacy involved and a Tribunal before the truth came out about the above info' I've given you. The schools and the LEA do not in the majority of cases inform parents of how the statement system really works/nor the laws. Every Annual Review I had at the school to complain that my child was not receiving the one to one hours, they(the school and the LEA and Advocacy) always said, 'Oh we will make sure it happens in the new school year! Well, it never happened! They lied through their teeth every time knowingly with no thought to what this does to a special needs child. I used the law every step of the way, kept diaries, informed the GP and so forth that is why I eventually won and now my child has won through a Tribunal to attend a specialist school. 3 years wasted and the system couldn't give a monkey about the childs trauma or what the school/Lea system did to him, in that way I found them all quite psychopathic ie without empathy and abusive. So I wish you all the best and hope that you do not have to go through a negative situation. Check what qualifications any support assistant/TA has, many of the assistances have no formal qualifications or are students. Whether they have had any experience yet with this type of work. You have the right to ask and to be informed. Make sure you receive an IEP the timetable for your child for the new school year and so on...it sounds quite odd that they are suggesting several different assistants?? My child was offered far more hours than your own but I realise now, in hindsight, that if a child needs 'one to one' that a specialist school is most probably where they should be going to, just a thought.

Just seen your reply 4sure - i have since spoken with the person dealing with my sons statement and was told that funding would be from sept for the full 17.5hrs, i will try and contact the school near the end of the holidays, hopefully the head will be in school a few days before the term starts. I never know who or what to believe...i did look into a speech unit before he got his statement the problem i had was that i have 3 children and the start finish times clashed and the schools were a good 20min drive apart not taking into account the busy school time rush. The schools said they couldn't be flexible on start/finish times as it was unsettling for all the children, it was possible that transport could be arranged but it had to be for my son with the special needs, would have preferred it for the older one....anyway the drop off/pickup times still clashed. What do other families do?

thats also a concern getting someone qualified/experienced with sen children and not just a mum looking for work to fit in around school, its the start of the day he will need support ie separating from me. Do i have a right to have a say in who they employ though?

I like to think in someways he is quite normal and haven't really accepted there is something wrong for ages i was told he was delayed but now they used the word disorder, to outside people they probably think hes a shy quiet boy. My partner and i did visit a suggested school, well we parked outside and saw some of the children coming out, it was very obvious they had special needs i felt very upset and my partner was angry as we didn't think our son was too different to the average child, how do parents cope when you first realise you have a children with sn, we have had no support really.

I'm a little late to the game on this one, but with DS2 there are 3 TAs that work with him. The main TA, who coordinates everything and spends the most time with him. The second TA, who is with him a couple half days per week. And another TA who is with him 3 hours a week for cover while his main TA does the Fizzy classes. There are a couple of other TAs in the school that he is familiar with and have regular contact with him (over lunch or playtime mainly). This works really well for us, as not only does it give him the experience of working with a few different people, it gives the main TA the time to coordinate and plan things for him based on upcoming lessons and activities (as well as doing paperwork). This also means that in case a scheduled TA is ill, there are still at least 3-4 TAs that are familiar with his needs and that he is comfortable with that can take over for the day. We much prefer this approach, as he doesn't get so attached to one particular TA that in case of illness he has a meltdown due to working with someone different that day. Plus, I think it helps avoid TA burnout - DS2 is quite full-on and active, and I think if there was a TA working full-time with him by herself, she'd be exhausted!

These TAs were already working at the school, and while DS2 has had full-time 1:1 support thoughout the year, his statement (and funding) didn't come through until July. The school made sure he had the full-time 1:1 all year, because they recognised that he needed it right away. They applied to an outside agency to assist in funding it until his statement came through, and provided the rest out of their own budget. He will be having the same TAs this year. I'm not worried over whether or not they hire a separate TA to use elsewhere in the school, as long as DS2 has the 1:1 coverage he needs.