Support assistant - not my place but what would you do? Parents/Teachers?

[bubbakin]

Hi
I started working at a local primary school two terms ago with a yr 5 boy with SEN on a 1:1 basis for 2hr a day. I have established a great bond with him & this has reflected in his work, his concentration & general well being. The head of the school is really shocked & pleased with how well he is doing. However, his parents thinking about the future (he would probably struggle with main stream high) looked into a special needs school. Cut a long story short, last week they found out they've managed to secure him a place this Sept. Having been told the school is already over subscribed & the ed Psyc. has told head that she has other children who are much more needy of the place. But both myself & the head (& other teachers) do not think the special needs school is the best place for him particularly as he is doing so well now & has some great friends and siblings at his current same school. We cannot understand why his parents have opted to put him in special school now, they seem to have been blown away with the facilities at the school...a hydrotherapy pool, a sensory room(neither of which their son needs!!) he basically struggles with concentration, retaining information, recalling info etc but this has improved dramatically & he now can spend over an hour doing maths with me without the need to go for a wander! No behavioural issues as such but I would say he is somewhat socially vulnerable. He is borderline on the special needs school acceptance policy! He has a fantastic personality & in his eyes is a normal little boy who needs a bit of extra help with school work! I'm really worried about what affect being amongst more severely disabled children & those with behavioural problems will have on his confidence - surely he's going to start to think there must be more wrong with him than there actually is . And I cannot understand why a parent would want to take their child out of a very caring, familiar & successful setting & put them in an environment where there are some very challenging behavioural children etc. They haven't even approached the school head (who is also his teacher) for advice. I see the mum every day at the school gates as my DD is at the same school & she hasn't said a word to me.
I did voice my concerns with the head before he was accepted but neither of us thought he'd' get in. I know it's the parents choice but I just don't think they've thought about the 'whole' picture. Basically do you think I should just let it go & just hope he's ok or should I try to get the head to have a meeting with parents to see if they have thought this through. Please note this has absolutely nothing to do with me now being out of a job come the end of term (the head realises this too), i am a parent & if a member of teaching staff had concerns about my child at school I would want to know, well actually I would have asked the school for their advice in the first place!!
Sorry it's long winded!
Thank you

These places aren't funded on a whim, he must meet the criteria.

I would trust his parents have his interest at the heart of their difficult decision.

It may not be the decision you think you would make in their shoes, doesn't mean it's wrong.

Yes, you should let it go.

I think it strange that the child got a place at the Special School at all. I thought a child needed to have a 'full' statement (ie full time 1-1 support), and there would be at least communication between the two head teachers before a place was offered.

It isn't as if anyone can just rock up to a special school and say 'let me in'. Is it?

I would have thought there is more to this than you are aware of. Surely the LA have had some input into it? Maybe they are aware that he will really struggle in secondary school, and would rather get him used to the special school now, if it will be his only 'safe' option in Y7.

I have a DS who will be going into Y4 in Sept. He has full time 1-1 in mainstream, and if there was any suggestion that he would need to go to special in Y7, I'd be pushing for it to happen asap, to be honest. Maybe this is what the parents of your boy have done?

Thank you for your response, I would like to think his parents have his best interest at heart.

He will be put in a class with children similar to his needs and ability. He isnt going to be put in a class with choldren with severe behavoural problems.

Have you worked in the school he wil be going to?

Amistillsexy, we didn't even think he'd be offered a place for high school there let alone yr 6 - the educ psyc told the head that this sept intake he has autistic children who really cannot go into mainstream schools that need places there. So we are all really shocked he got in, the sen school hasn't even officially told the head at his current school he's got in, it was only through the parents she found out! We have a teacher at our school who has done a lot of work placement at this particular se school & she has commented that he would be seen as easy money for the school as compared to the others there he will require very little assistance. The se school assessor didn't come out until early June to assess him & it was only then that she suggested to the parents they could try to get him in this sept if they wanted!! So it's all very last minute!! He only went to see the school the day after he was offered a place.

A special school would not give a child a place without him/her meeting their criteria. The LA would not fund a place if they felt a child would be better off in MS rather than SS. Its expensive and LAs prefer NOT to do it :)

Also the jump from Juniors to Seniors is quite a social expectation jump for a SN child. They can still be nurtured and helped in a good juniors but come senior school a lot of children have to share different TAs for different lessons instead of the same one right through. The school is usually bigger and can be a social nightmare for them with other peers. Maybe the senior school cannot provide the support you have been giving their son?

There could be a lot of reasons but I doubt very much that they have ignored his best interests :)

cocolepew, this is what i thought but when i asked the sen assessor if this was the case she said no! They try to keep them in year groups.

Although the parents will obviously be trying to do their best for their child, sometimes we (all) need to hear advice and opinions from lots of people to help us make the right choices.
It's hard to know what is going to be the best school to choose for any child (as you can tell from the daily threads on MN about it) , but much more so when your child has additional needs.
What I see happen a lot, is parents looking at one place, deciding they like / don't like it (often for the oddest of reasons, sometimes for very sensible reasons) and making a decision based on that. Unfortunately, there is no service in our LA that has the capacity to take the parents round to several different options, and help them ask the right questions, and to point out things that are going to be relevant to their particular child this year, next year, and in 5 years time. Parents have to make decisions without full information. They will also often have one person (who themselves with have an axe to grind, or indeed, they only have partial knowledge) who is bending their ear, or, sometimes who they have great respect for, and they will listen to them above all others.

Still, in order to move to a special school place in our authority, the provision panel have to approve it, you can't just apply direct to a school because thy have a place to fill. If it's the same where you are, then presumably the panel thought it was a good placement.

It is a minefield though. I think I might just chat at the end of the day if it were me - "I hear he's going to be leaving us soon ?" and see what the Mum says without making it sound like you are criticising. Probably not what others would advise, but I couldn't just watch and say nothing, personally. I get too attached to the pupils, and want the "best" for them, just as the parents do. Sometimes though, you just have to accept that your idea of what's best and the parents' idea of what's best, are just not going to marry up, but at least you've given them things to chew over, and can be contenet you did what you could, while they were with you.

coff33pot, i agree for senior school it is probably the best place for him, he would definitely struggle getting from one class to the next & also struggle emotionally as well as academically!! I just don't see why he needs to go there now though.

Yes Im sure the school took him because hes "easy money" and the teachers and CAs wouldnt have to do anything .

It is incredible hard to get a place at a SS. As others have said he obviously fits the criteria.

Backforgood, thank you for that!! I will try to start a very a subtle conversation with parents in the school yard, i have been told that the se school is a very impressive building with fantastic facilities, but aimed for those physically impaired.

There are a quite a few things that I find strange with this.

Children very rarely get a SS placemnet without a Statement - yet this boy has.

2hrs 1:1 daily is not a high level of support when compared to many in mainstream who are on full-time 1:1 support - so whay does this child merit a SS placement?

The Head of any school, SS or otherwise, must be sent a copy of the child's Statement before agreeing to admit. This is to ensure the school can meet the child's needs. yet this child has no Statement.

There appear to be more 'deserving cases' yet this child effectively leap-frogs these other children. I would have thought the LA would have ensured the most deserving went to the SS - but not in this case.

Very odd.

Ok I am totally surmising here :)

I am going to try and look at it as if this were my child (odds are it will be when we get to senior level)

I would be thinking this way......he is in Yr5 now summer hols then Yr6.

Thats only one year to go before he hits senior transition move. Yr6 is heavily SATS orientated, expectations are higher and the children are expected to take more control in their organising for this last year of Juniors. If it were mine then right now I would say I would also be hunting a special school early and avoid the necessity of the anxiety for DS as he would be being reminded this is his last year and believe me he would start worrying come this sept!

It sometimes can take months and months for statments, pannel meetings and SS school placements to go ahead so I can understand why the parent felt it necessary to start the ball rolling now :)

I can understand why you are confused as to why the parents want to move him when you see him doing so well. But as you said yourself he wont cope in Senior MS so going 12 months early wouldnt hurt.

can i just add we live in a very small town, his current primary/junior school has 60 children in it nursery - yr6. In his year there are only 9 including him! Because of the size of the school & funding (lack of it!) yr 4-6 are in the same classroom, they are taught more by ability than yr. We are also in wales so sats don't apply.
Sorry if i didn't make it clear but he does have a statement for 10hr funded 1:1 at present.

Good points from Coff33pot
Wet August - why do you say he hasn't got a Statement ? I would assume to get his 1:1 support he must have a Statement, let alone to be offered a place in a sp school.

x-posted!

You can have 1:1 without a Statement funded by the budget that the LA delegates to schools to support SENs.

I don't know why I assumed he didn't have a Statement. Perhaps the OP can tell us if he has.

Oh, right. You can't in our LA

OP has now confirmed he has a Statement though.

Still very odd.

I think that it's highly likely that you and the Head don't fully understand this child's needs.

He may not be the same at home as at school, eg kids with pDA can often cope at school but are v difficult at home. In which case mainstream high school might still be stressful enough to make life at home hellish, even if his actual educational needs are relatively few.