I feel sick. I'm on my way to

[StarlightMcKenzie]

pick up ds' school file. Yes they have used some delaying tactics for the solicitor to edit it found it, and now I am about to get it.

Just a normal day in a SN mum's life of course but it still makes me stressed about what I might find.

Starlight. I'll own up to having a SENCo hat. Please don't hate me.....

Attendance in a social group will or should be recorded in the school's SEN provision map. If SENCo has not got of these then it's not good.

The provision map is the allocation of TAs, support staff and interventions (including Wave 3 stuff) for named children.

Social groups do not do written work , generally speaking, but the SENCo should have made notes of your DC's progress within them.

Spinkle - of course no one's going to hate you for being a SENCO - we might bombard you with questions though.....

So, if a child is on an intervention it should be recorded in their school file?

And, the outcome of the intervention should be recorded in their school file?

Lol Spinkle. No-one will hate you. There are some frustrations towards SENCOs on here but actually you don't see a lot. It is usually the SCHOOL, CT or HT and definitely the LA and all who sail in her.

DS' school record contained very detailed records of all the behaviour incidents he had been involved in (including on the school bus) whether he was victim or perpetrator, information about what had been done to sort the situation out etc, various emails written by me relating to the incidents (but nothing like every one I had written to the school), and reports on all his exclusions etc, but no details about SEN provision (all in IEPs) or academic achievement (already sent in progress reports.) I know he was Secondary and that must make a difference because of the number of staff involved but when I was teaching the same applied;basically three sets of records.

I am a SENCo. This is true.....

If a child is on an intervention then it will be in the IEP (probably) it will definitely be on a provision map (if there is one, no guarantee, depends on how on the ball the SENCo is). But no, I wouldn't expect it to see in the school file as a rule.

The progress from the intervention should be reviewed in the IEP. Again, not something you would expect to see in a school file.

School files are generally for filing correspondence between agencies dealing with the child/school regarding child.

Hope that helps.

My son has full-time Statement & SALT & OT & Autism outreach.

Yet...no IEP for 4 years and I really doubt that they have kept any written notes of the small group work that they do with him.

However, I have Home-School book, which does note improvements/ regressions.

I'm not surprised that records are not in the file, as my experience is that very little gets written.

Trust me. Stuff is written. It's all I ever seem to do!

IEPs should be done with statemented bods. You need to speak to school about it as it's in the SENCoP. It is a good way of writing down stuff that does happen and the upshot of groups/interventions and notes on progress.

I remain 'unsure' about Home-School books. I hate my son's - I hate reading about all the bad stuff he's done. Never ever anything really good in there

Spinkle, I am also a teacher. Stuff is wrriten in some schools by some school staff. Not at my son's school and not at my school does anything like that get written.

I admit, the lack of IEPs is unusual. But not the other stuff.

We get IEPs. They discuss the IEP with us before hand to make sure we agree it or would like to discuss and alter. I then take a photocopy away with me. But I must say at the meetings I dont see a list/notes of if he has made a target, I just get told. In future I will ask if they can photocopy their side of things.

The Home book has been an asset. However what I do is when it gets to the last 4 or 5 pages left. I keep it and dont send it back :)

Read this thread the other day and was wondering about it.

If Star's request does not produce her ds's progress is social groups etc, then how does one get access/information about the provision map?

I just realized that my ds's records did not contain all the recommended interventions by the various agencies - SALT, Autism Outreach, etc. not targets for social/commuication groups - where and how do I access them?

You need to make an appointment with the SENCo who will go through it with you - there may not be a record of it, however.

Not all SENCos are obstructive and useless, honest!

I don't think (but am not sure here, sorry) that the SENCoP requires a written record.

The SALT should have targets and reports produced separately. Autism Outreach should be giving written feedback you should be party to. The stuff within school like the groups would be harder to find out about.

hth.

Spinkle I feel really sad that you have to say "not all SENCos are obstructive and useless". I was a SENCo too (for 15 years before I took early retirement) and I must say that when I first came on here there did seem to be a lot of SENCo abuse. When I was a SENCo I met so many lovely people who really did care about the children they were dealing with, and the SEN staff at my son's Secondary were brilliant. So I'd like to stick up for dedicated SENCos everywhere, especially Spinkle.

Thanks a lot Spinkle.

It was the stuff within school, the groups sessions they said they were doing instead of statemented provision, which they claimed were better, that I have no evidence for and I know they will not have any record.

'Not all SENCos are obstructive and useless' - I believe you Spinkle and you have been very helpful - but ours was. When I queried her decision, she stopped speaking to me, except when there were outside professionals. She was my ds's CT and actually turned her back when asked how ds was that day in class. HT had to act as middleperson and pass information between us despite my collecting ds from her class everyday.

You have been very helpful.

The impression I got of primary school was that not all SENCOs had all that much training in their role. One day ds' former teacher was the new SENCO and though a lovely person obviously hadn't had that much time to get filled in on SN. In secondary it seems rather different: much more professionalism and it looks like teachers/SENCOs find it easier to make demands of the school in terms of training.