Sorry, this is very long. This is the letter I have written to the school ( names changed ) - do you think it is too strong? Opinions please.
I extremely unhappy with the way in which X's ISA, Mrs T, is being used within Class 1 as I am aware that she is increasingly being given general responsibilities within the class instead of having X as her primary concern. Her duties as a general Classroom Assistant appear to be increasing and I feel this is incompatible with the requirements of X?s Statement of Special Needs. It is my understanding that she was employed to support X, and is paid for using the funding which we secured through X?s Statement, so it is scandalous that she is routinely being used in this way.
On the morning of the school trip to London Zoo I was comforting X because Mrs T was too busy to give her 1-2-1 support. X was unhappy being in her buggy and was very anxious about what was going on, especially as there was a lot of noise in the hall, apparently a lot of confusion over who was doing what, and the children were in the hall waiting for nearly 30 minutes. During that time Mrs T was extremely busy getting everyone ready for the trip, collecting money, checking who was being supervised by whom, handing out sun-hats, collecting children's money, getting the First Aid bag and answering all the children's queries about what was happening. Why were all of these tasks allocated to her, when in fact she should have been supporting X? X?s Statement refers to her unease in new situations and the need to reassure her, and this should have been Mrs T?s only concern.
On the trip to London Zoo I saw that Mrs T had a group of 5 children allocated to her. Mrs B said that in fact Mrs T would just be looking after X and they would all be making up a big group with Mrs B's 6 allocated children. So, either Mrs T was supervising a group of children when she should have only been supporting X, or, Mrs B was in fact supervising 10 children. I would like to know what actually happened and how this was planned in the school?s Risk Assessment, because both possible explanations seem totally inappropriate.
Whilst they were on the trip I understand that X remained in the buggy all day even though that is obviously terrible for her posture and mobility, not to mention her confidence. Mrs T had previously assured me that there would be plenty of opportunities for her to get out and walk with Mrs T holding her hands, and she specifically told me in advance not to worry that she would be sat down all day because there would be so many adults around that getting her out to stretch her legs would be easy to fit in. Why did this not happen? Were there not enough adults or was Mrs T too busy supervising other children?
The school trip is not an isolated example of Mrs T being used as a general classroom assistant instead of being X's ISA. I have spoken about this before with SCHOOL SENCO who reassured me that Mrs T is only given other tasks when X is settled doing something else and does not need her. Unfortunately I do not believe this to be the case.
Mrs T has designated responsibility for changing the reading books for the entire class, 3 times per week, and she also organises and hands out homework each weekend, and then marks it the following week. Miss B openly confirmed that these were her duties, and this is also confirmed by the fact that whenever Mrs T is absent these tasks are not performed. I am concerned that the class teacher is apparently unable to find time to do these things, and unhappy that this problem with time and staffing is being resolved by using X's ISA. If the class teacher cannot cope with all her daily duties then the school need to find a better solution, and not just poach X?s support on such a regular basis.
I am aware of many occasions when Class 1 is split into separate activities inside and outside and Mrs T is in sole charge of one group. I have seen this for myself and also had it confirmed to me by other parents and even by Mrs T herself. How can she be fully supporting X when she is also supervising half of the class? Again, I appreciate that in a tiny school with limited resources it must be hard to always provide a TA in the class, but I do not see why X?s ISA should be called on to ease the school?s staffing problems.
Sometimes in the morning Mrs T is late to the playground because she is doing photocopying for the class or setting up the classroom, even though it is agreed that X should be collected from me so that she is not nervous about being left unattended. On a couple of occasions when I have walked X into school we have stood in the corridor for several minutes with X asking me what is going on, because Mrs T was not there to help her into the classroom.
On several occasions when the class have PE at the end of the day X has come home at the end of the day still in her PE clothes because Mrs T has explained that things were too hectic for her to get X changed. If all the other children had time to get themselves changed, how is it possible that Mrs T did not have time to change X ? unless she was busy helping the others or doing something else? Getting X dressed and undressed is an obvious requirement of her ISA and I fail to see why this does not always happen.
Over the last academic year it is clear that Mrs T has not met the requirement in X?s statement to do dedicated physio with her 2 ? 3 times each week. I doubt they have even averaged once a week, even though we have all agreed the importance of this and both I and PHYSIO have gone over what type of physio they should have been doing. Is this because Mrs T is too busy doing other things or is their another explanation?
I understand that there are times during each day when X is occupied and does not need Mrs T right next to her, at which times she is obviously going to be used elsewhere in the class. But to specifically give her roles and responsibilities within the class each day is unacceptable and obscures the fact that her primary role is to support Gabby. There seems to be a real reliance on her to support the teacher as a TA and I think this is completely inappropriate as she was employed to be X?s ISA.
As things stand I feel that Mrs T?s role as X's ISA is being abused by the school, and as a result the school are not fulfilling the requirements of X?s Statement. I am determined that this is resolved before she moves up to Class 2 and hope we can achieve this without the need to involve the LA. With that in mind, I would appreciate it if you could give me your written response to this matter at your earliest convenience.