Someone sent me this today and I thought I'd share

[moosemama]

My mum sent me this quote today and I thought I'd share it with you lot, as after the day I've had (not good at all) it helped a little:

'Courage is going from failure to failure
without losing enthusiasm'
~ Winston Churchill ~

Personally I'd replace the word enthusiasm with drive or hope, but you guys'll get what I mean either way.

I really wasn't feeling very courageous at the time, just desperate and pretty much defeated after yet another fail and it made me rethink things a little.

[Penneyanne]

Moose,so sorry to hear of the on-going struggle. Its rather surreal but your situation is again mirroring ours. Like you,we have decided on the local secondary for ds where all his friends are going rather than another which is very geared up for SN but we are now rethinking this also.Having dug deeper/researched some more we are now thinking that the one we didnt choose might be better for him after all given that he is presenting with a lot more anxiety etc now than he was even 6 months ago.The one we have chosen also has more of an academic focus which I'm not sure will suit ds.But he is having none of it and wants to go to the one his friends are going to.If we push him towards the other one it will cause untold anxiety which will be a terrible way for him to begin secondary school. Also I think that he needs to have the opportunity to have a taste of an academic setting as who knows,he may thrive in it. On the other hand,as zzzzz said,we really want to get it right from the off and not be chopping and changing.Sigh...we thought we had it all sorted.Its hard isnt it?.

[coff33pot]

Moosemama.....I am proud of you, you have it to the senco both barrels with extras

The quote is useful for the day I have had too I am going to remember that one for tomorrow x

Note down that in 2 months your ds is out of there. Cross it off day by day to give you both a sense of achievement that you have sailed through another day and celebrate with cake. It may make you feel better when you see the crosses mounting up and less clear days left :)

[alison222]

moose I am so sorry for your Ds that this is still going on.
I was most dubious about going to the LEA when school were not doing what is in my DS's statement but having talked and e-mailed to death decided that this was clearly the only way forward.
We had a meeting last week and the LEA(or the head as I wrote to him too) seem to have given the SENCO a definite "push" as suddenly they are starting to get things in place.
Is it possible to go to the LEA and cite personality differences with the TA and get them to apply pressure to the school to change her. I have no idea if it would work TBH, am just floundering trying to think of something that could help.

[Badvocsanta]

Moose...time for a letter of complaint to the b of gov?
Contact the LA? Ofsted?
I have zero tolerance for this shit.

[moosemama]

Thanks Penney and Coff.

zzzzz, my dream is a croft up in the wilds of Scotland. Walking on windy beaches, running around in the wilderness etc. I would seriously love to see what all of my dcs would be like given that level of freedom. We even looked into moving to a small island off the scottish coast a couple of years back - small school, only about ten children across the age groups and half of every day spent out in nature, investigating, researching, collecting and generally loving life. I wish we'd done it then, because now it's not an option. The only downside to that one was secondary was on the mainland by daily ferry and to a massive not-so-good school, but I reckon I'd have been more comfortable with homeschooling having lived that sort of life, especially as it's more common there.

Alison, Badvoc, interesting you should say that. Inclusion boss lady called me this morning. Really interesting conversation, she really understands why we are so angry and also the problems with getting the school to do anything about it. Agrees the statement has been manipulated and between us we've managed to clearly identify areas where we have been told one thing is happening, they have been told another and ds has told us neither is the case. She explained funding units vs hours to me and that the school clearly isn't giving the level of support the statement dictates. She's going to try and set up a meeting with school, statementing officer, ed psych who has both worked with ds as part of the crisis team and wrote the statement provision, dh and I, ds's inclusion teacher and of course herself.

She totally understood why we felt another meeting wouldn't be any more productive than the previous ones, but said at least if we bring everyone in there's nowhere for them to hide. Statementing officer can insist he get's his funded hours and also inform school that they are misinterpreting (deliberately or otherwise ) the statement content and EP can spell out to them what they should be doing as opposed to what they are/aren't doing. She said it should be a long meeting to properly thrash it all out and then ensure there is a clear path for us to follow if it doesn't happen.

Not sure it will work, but not sure what else to do that will actually change anything. Inclusion lady agreed that there are problems right the way through and that she too feels powerless to sort things out, as the school are feeding her the line that they are doing everything they should and she has no concrete evidence to the contrary, so is caught between a rock and a hard place.

Good to know that we have an ally and this particular lady was fantastic at encouraging me to go for a statement when the school wouldn't and told me there wa no point and supporting me in the best way to write my request and parental information as well. (She popped round for half an hour to explain the process to me and stayed for over three hours trawling through the evidence with me and offering lots of advice.)

I have told ds to just do what the school asks him to do for now and not to worry about any of it, as it's all just crossed wires and miscommunication that school and I will sort out. He told me he is getting upset at teachers asking him whether or not he wants certain aspects of the provision and with regard to that I've told him that he is within his rights to say "I am not comfortable answering that question".

Can't settle today now, it's all more waiting to see if we can get the people we need for the meeting together and as she's making all the calls, all I can do is wait to hear.