Hi
I have two hats on so a mum of a SEN kid but also someone who is a teacher of SEN so writes and organises ARs. I'm in a big secondary school and my ARs are very different to my son's (in private SEN school). Essentially it is a bit of a box ticking exercise and frankley the admin is necessary. The aim is to review the statement and to ensure that the needs are still the same and for the school to review how those needs are met and to set targets and ask for provision for the future. Sometimes the parents chose not to attend or forget to attend as happened this week.
EPs are a very very rare beast. They have very limited time and a very short availability. Therefore they will only briefly see students unless there is a spefic matter that needs to be addressed. I think they are more proactive in primary - certainly my son's EPs were when he was at primary. Again trying to coordinate SALT and other professionals in and get their reports in time can be tricky. It all needs very careful planning and forward thinking. We set our AR dates a year in advance - although they obviously do move around a little bit but that means we can book the SALT early on. Often SALTS are only part time and usually have a huge massive case load.
Any way all forms that the LEAs require to be sent in as a report of the meeting are different. I tend to go through the first bit of the statement to check its all the same, then look at what the child has written, then look at general progress - You should be sent a report 2 weeks before the date - without re reading the report, and then go through the target for the coming year taking into acocunt what the parents think. Then we fill in the LEA form and make sure we put into SEN speak (like you do for a tribunal) why we need stuff like extra hours and a greater level of support.
Because The last two I have had have been just me and either one or both parent. The students usually don't want to come but should really once they are in year 8 onwards for at least part of the meeting. I'm not sure how many statemented children your child's school has. It may be that they are really experienced or it may be that the SENCO doesn't do that many.
Your statement might not change in all honesty until year 6 transition (although forgive me I haven't read all the thread). My son's had some daft stuff on it that wasn't relevant by year 6. LEAs very rarely will make changes unless it impacts the level or type of provision in some way. I managed to get one changed last year for a year 7 child who had changed significantly and they did do it which is very rare apparantly. ARs are a HUGE amount of work for the SEN staff and require a great deal of coordination and planning. My colleague and I were wondering the other day if anyone at the LEA ever reads all these reports etc we send and we think probablly not unless we are begging for more money. I wouldn't get too wound up about daft things being on the statement that aren't relevant - as long as the right amount of support is in place and your child is making progress under the right amount of provision I would just go with the flow on that. Only kick off if they are clearly not doing something that needs to be done and remember that the teachers' hands are just as tied by the LEAs budgets as yours are. I would love to have proper SALT provision for all the kids I teach. It's not going to happen unless the parents go down the tribunal route and even then they might not get it. I can ask, and I have and have managed to get a very small amount of provision for one child but there isn't the service within the SALT provision for any more. Instead I do the best I can and try to support their S&L needs to the best of my ability (which is pretty good but not the same as one to one like my son gets).
I think the key thing to remember is for any successful education the parents and the school need to work together so make sure you write your parent comment sheet and get that sent back and word anything very carefully if you are having to ask for more hours or changes in provision. However, I think I, and my colleauge, are very supportive of parents' wishes and view points and I do get the impression that that is not always the case in other educational establishments. I am quite horrified by how some of the pupils and their mothers have been treated at primary level. I was lucky (thankfully) but some of our parents weren't and some shocking stuff has happened which has had lasting damage.