SEN TA being used for other SEN kids without statements

[Shropshirelass1]

Hi, son is ASC age 12, yr 7 of large comprehensive with 32.5 1:1 TA. ....problem is that his TA is frequently being poached for other roles, including going away on a residential school trip. The SENCO nods and talks the talk but never actually follows through on any of the IEP stuff, or accepts that she shouldn't poach her for other roles. my patience with her is really wearing thin and I have another 4 years of trying to avoid saying to her "all you do is talk bull" . His TA understands ASC but I sometimes wonder for all her fancy talk whether she has any understanding of the condition atall. Any similar experiences/advice anyone?

Sorry, TA is great.....it's the SENCO that has all the fancy talk!

I wish I had £1 for every time I have heard that!

There was a thread on the mainboard a few months back asking teachers if they fulfilled the statement requirements to ensure a child had a 1:1.

It was almost unanimously stated that of course they didn't as it would be impossible to do their jobs if they allowed the TA to just be with the one child.

Any parent that suggested they were breaking the law was accused of being selfish.

I think teachers and schools don't understand that this MUST happen as they have been flouting this law for YEARS and they are used to managing their funding in this context. LA's don't enforce it as it suits them for schools to be creative as they then require less funding etc.....

Every time you hear of the TA not being with your child when they should be, write an email to the school asking them why this has happened and ask them to ensure it doesn't happen again.

Collect all emails over a period of 6 months, send them to the Local Authority asking for their assurance that it will not happen again. When it does, find a legal aid solicitor and threaten Judicial Review for non-compliance with the statement. It will be the LA that you will be JRing. He is young enough for this to be worth it. JR will be free after a couple of hundred to get the go-ahead. You might get this back.

my daughter is unstatemented currently - there is a boy in the class who is and she is sat with him so the TA can be shared. my daughter struggles to filter out noise etc and the boy is a very noisy child and she finds him distracting. In my tribunal hearing teacher admitted TA was used for my daughter and the judgement even makes reference to it so I have it in writing. the childs who's statement TA is being used like this is actually the child of the SEN governor!

I then last week visited a secondary school who again openly admitted that they would without hesitation use a TA assigned to my daughter (if she gets the statement) for other children within the class and they considered it good practice to do so!! needless to say I walked out feeling rather frustrated!

I have also used JR for my elder son for a different reason and it was quite good fun to watch the LA run around like headless chickens . the £200 was absolutely worth it! really don't understand why my LA don't like me

I certainly know she supports plenty of other SEN kids in the classroom, I have become resigned to that and figured that at least she was in the same room looking out for him and could shoot back to him if needed......what has really wound me up is her being sent on an unrelated school trip with the year above......that is really taking the p*ss.
Just fed up with kicking ass all the time, despite years spent getting the hallowed statement just feels like the battle carries on even with people like SENCO's who should surely know better. Sorry to rant. And fed up with all the bull, jargon used to just fudge the issue and throw mum's off track.
But,thanks for the advice, I will start keeping records.

I am goung through similiar.... dds current statement is crap and unspecified (we are appealing via sendist) but provides the school with funding to employ a TA for 21 hours. This TA actually spends about 7 hours a week with dd .
we had the sendist hearing a few weeks ago and the LA agreed to 27 hours on a 1:1 basis. they tried to say that dd was currently already recieving this amount of 1:1 but the senco completely slipped up when being questioned by the panel and mentioned small group work. the judge clearly explained that if dd was to be part of any small group work she should also have her 1:1 and the other children have another TA for them.
The school are still claiming that dds 1:1 will be provided at the discretion of the TA! I am livid, especially after having to go to tribunal just to get the 1:1! lools like we will be taking the jucidial review route in september ...

Thanks for that......do you know it really helps to know that I am not the only person battling as it feels like I am just trying to be difficult. Reckon SENCO thinks cos he's coping they can use his TA elsewhere......he is only coping because he has right support. When it goes wrong and he's up at night and incontinent during the day, they are never around to see that bit of the wheel coming off....frustrating. Must be an easier and cheaper way than JR!!

A complaint to school gov and council? Has the trip happened yet? Can take council complaint to local govt ombudsman but won't be fast solution but is free. Just threat of doing it may focus minds. Or you could ask LA to make alternative arrangements for that week eg home tuition. (Won't want to do this and will tell school make other provision)
If safety is issue can remind them both of duty of care and if accident happens while your child left unsupervised will be holding school and Council responsible. Sometimes the idea of a negligence case is enough...?

See. It's rife.

It isn't just that it is unfair. It actually means that that child's profile is completely incorrect.

Say for example that at their annual review they only seem to have made half a level progress despite having a full-time TA, it can be argued that the child is not very capable at all, even though their full-time TA is only with them for an hour a week and, should they be there full-time as they ought to would actually facilitate the child to make 2 levels plus.

It is also unfair on the other child, as they move to their next school having progressed well seemingly without any support at all.

The paperwork does not add up.

My ds's written comments for his AR one year when asked 'What don't you like about school?'

'The TA's who are supposed to be helping me going off to do other jobs like photocopying and making coffee!'

Ha,ha! He came up with a classic A.S comment like that this week, I asked him where ?TA was and he said "having another coffee probably".
Not sure why I bothered going to tribunal for statement to be so carefully worded, what a waste of time that was! Steep learning curve being a mum!

Actually, if they are not complying with Part 3 of the statement then that is considered a failure to make reasonable adjustments (has been proven at tribunal). It may be worth gently reminding them of their legal duties.

Star my LA tried to argue that dd is not capable as she recieves 27 (!!) hrs of 1:1 but has only progressed a sub level to a 1C in the last year! it actually infurites me as in reality dd has revieved a max of 10 hrs a week!

When dd was in the language unit, the head told one of their TAs to spend a week painting a mural of the solar system in the entrance hall. He even proudly wrote about it in the weekly newsletter! The language unit parents were incensed!

IMO, the people's elected representatives either through central government or local government have set the criteria for statementing (which are usually severe at local level) and deemed those children as needing help in the classroom - the amount, having been determined by professionals such as educational psychologists, if necessary at Tribunal, another function of the government. Teachers do not have the expertise or right to decide the most severely affected SEN children don't need the support, on the grounds that non-statemented children do. IMO, its theft and misappropriation of taxpayers money!

I imagine teachers would not like it, if their GP prescribed them medication and the pharmacist substituted half the drugs with a placebo, to save the NHS money? Or, if a burglar broke into their home and took all their electronic goods, because he's poor and they clearly have good jobs, money, a home, etc? I bet they would say a burglar has no right to just steal their stuff, they have worked hard for?

If teachers can't cope in the classroom, then the teaching unions should take the matter of the SEN system up with the government - rather than cravenly stealing off the most disadvantaged children!

I've also often heard LA officers or teachers say, as an excuse to parents "Well, those children's parents don't have the wherewithal to get them a statement...." That is emotional blackmail, and the answer from parents should be "Well, I only have the time, energy and resources to look after my own children. It is up to the SENCO to put those children forward for statementing, help their parents with the letter writing, etc!"

tempe48 so so true -if I had a £1 for every time I have heard it said to me 'well there are much worse children than yours in the class' ' other children worse than your child were refused statementing so no point even trying' ' children round here who are not 6 years behind wont get a statement and my LA have told me there no point even applying if they are not as they will not even entertain it'

what saddens me is that I am fighting now - one tribunal to refusal to assess done, and I know that even if she gets a statement it will be dire and nothing will change, no extra staff would be employed - she would be expected to have the same as she currently has, im preparing myself for the battle for specialist and also preparing my poor poor bank balance for what is about to commence

'IMO, its theft and misappropriation of taxpayers money!'

Very Well said.

tempe That is exactly right. The parent of a child with a statement is not responsible for the solution to the failure of a school to adequately educate other people's children.

Wish I could take you all in to my meeting next week!!! Although having said that I have got pretty good at fighting his corner.....relentless,polite and relentless!! Probably helps being a lawyer because I take them to court myself......but fact is I don't want to,I'm tired of the aggro, tired of fighting for my autistic kid and of having the same conversations over and over again each term. "But he is academically fine" .... School haven't noticed that he is still wearing winter fleece in 25 degrees because "that's what I wear for school mum" ....as long as he can do a bit of algebra it's all fine apparently!!!!

Just heard that he will have 11 different TA's next year (ie the class TA for each subject)......like that will work with ASC! And that ratio is 1:30 not 1:1. Not that I am even hearing that officially, just from ds. So back to pulling the statement out of their bin at school and trying to enforce it I suppose.....don't really want to take him out of school until it's sorted as they will then just say great home educating, or fine me plus it would be really bad for him. May be a letter to LA copied to school will help, re concerns that part 3 not being fulfilled but may be they have a special bin for those letters!

I was told by ds pead not to bother applying for a statement because he isnt autistic enough (never knew there was a bench mark )

Paed has probably only seen ds for short time, different when you see a bigger picture as mum as you see all the traits....nothing ventured nothing gained,I am always being told no point in applying for stuff for him....I just go ahead anyway. Reckon they do it to hope that parents won't apply and it saves money and paperwork for them.mum's try and use different "benchmark" ....what is best for my kid!!