Qs for senco at possible secondary school?

[lottiemungo]

Tomorrow I'm going to meet the senco at the secondary school that I might select as my first choice for DS (9yo with asperger's). Of course I'm sure they'll say all the right things about inclusion but does anyone have any suggestions for the kind of questions that would really give me a truer idea of how good they are with children with asd?

Do they have a safe haven? And is it staffed at all times of the day!

I visited an additionally resourced provision that had a safe haven that was only open at lunchtime.

The school Dd3 is going to has a safe haven that is avaiable to vulnerable students any time they need it!

Do they have an Asd lead, can you meet him/her?

What provision do they already have in place for students with Asd/Aspergers?

Good luck

Ooh thanks Ineed, they're going on my list. Is a safe haven a room that is available to vulnerable students at any time? Presumably staffed?

Do they have visiting SALTs and do they run any sort of SULP programme during tutorial time

What type of asd training do the school routinely offer staff have as part of their CDP

Is there a buddy/mentoring system whereby new pupils are matched with Y11s or 6th formers

Are the tutor groups vertical or horizontal (ie will your ds be mixing with all years or just one?)

Do you have 1:1 support sessions during lunchtimes?

How many pupils are there approx to one TA/LSA, do all the supported students work together in a small group or is the support more discreet and the LSA works their way round the class

If your ds has a statement then I would be asking if the LSA support would be in class or out of class

What are the current arrangements re transition - would there be an opportunity to come in before the taster day to meet the teacher

How does the dinner hall work (depends on how your ds copes with noise and queuing)

Do the packed lunch people sit somewhere different - That wouldn't help any socialising

Could the senco send the timetable before the first day or at least a temporary timetable to set out what will be happening on the first day

Can the senco send you a list of the teachers (with photos if poss) your ds is going to have

there are some other questions here and the autism education trust has a transition transition toolkit you may find useful

This is awesome, thanks eatyourvveg. What is SULP though? I haven't heard of that.

Do they issue exit passes so that they can leave lessons a couple of minutes earlier than everyone else to get to their next class?

Do they have LSA's for PE? How is PE structured, how much time is allocated to changing back into uniform at the end of the lesson?

Can your DS change in a cubicle or somewhere private? This became a huge issue for my

DS as he became more body aware.

Does the school have lockers? This will make a difference to how they organise themselves.

Ask for a copy of the behaviour policy. They should be able to lay their hands on one quickly. If one is not forthcoming, I'd be a bit dubious. It doesn't have to be all neat and bound, but they should be able to print a quick copy off.

Ask how they deal with children who have special needs, but are also gifted or talented,

Good luck.

When I was looking around schools with DS2, I just had a sense. I know that doesn't sound logical, but as soon as I walked into the Learning Support department of the school we chose, I just knew it was the right place for him.

Some actual questions:

What sort of transition programme do they have for those with SEN?

Where can he eat his lunch if the canteen is overwhelming (crowds, smells)?

Do they have a friendship club or somewhere to go at breaktime?

Yep, the meltdown one is very informative as to attitude and experience and eliminated a couple of schools for us. One school told us they did ALL their teaching via group work so might be worth enquiring about that - I don't think it was true but they just wanted to put us off applying. Also homework is often an issue so could ask policy on this or if there is a homework club.

SULP stands for social use of language programme. A lot of schools build it into their curriculum, others offer specific sessions for children with Speech and language and communication difficulties.

Thanks all- so helpful! Will print this thread out to take with me. Very pleased your DS had such a good taster day Polter! I was interested in the 'shadowing' your DS will have at first in corridors and breaks. Can you tell he who will be shadowing him- a TA, senco? And is the idea that he won't know about it, so they see how he copes independently?

Yes to homework, ask if there is a homework club or somewhere it can be completed at school.

Dd3 currently does no homework and we have told the new secondary that it is a huge issue for us. They have said it will be sorted!!

We will see, Dd2 was completely overwhelmed with homework in the first term but the SEN team have come along way since she started 7 yrs ago!!

Yes, DS2 is convinced that he is the neurotypical one and everyone else is neurodiverse.

Homework club question very pertinent for us. Homework often a huge trigger for problems/meltdowns here. Wow I feel quite armed now- was a bit blank before. Thanks! It's all quite terrifying though...

The English teacher often writes the details of DS2's homework in his planner for him. Then at least I have some idea what he is being asked to do.

He is allowed to type nearly all of his homework, as the teachers (and I) struggle to decipher his handwriting.

Homework was a real stress-point in primary, but somehow since starting secondary, he seems to have developed the ability to manage it nearly independently.

That is promising first!

Great idea polter to get homework club written into the timetable

Our local Indie school for dyslexic children does prep everyday after school so no homework comes home, I wish our school did it too

I would be able to tell a lot from the way an IEP was written. The level of measurability of the targets and the general level of care.

Can you ask to see an anonymised one?

Went to meet the senco this morning. It was a really productive meeting, thanks to all your suggestions - thanks so much!