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bjkmummy

school action plus - how many hours do your children get?

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hi, how much help do your children get at school action plus???? joe gets 2 x 20 mins per week - hes not formally dx yet

 

ive just found out that kids at our school should get 5 hours per week help but the funding was based on figures a year ago. the school received �3000 for 15 pupils so the reality is that the school to be able to fund the 15 kids 5 hours per week would need an extra �40,000!!!!!! so there so no chance of the kids getting this unless you really push for it which i havent!

Edited by bjkmummy

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My son is school action+ and on SEN register and doesn't get anything. Not even learning support, which he needs. No 1 2 1 or anything. He isn't dx yet but I would have thought they would get something. So the school get money for the kids on school action, do they?

 

If so I would like to know where the money is spent then because it isn't on my son, that I do know. Unless it includes the countless times he is in trouble, for the teachers to deal with him.

 

Joanne

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the info i have been given was done confidentally by a school governor!!! it also said that unless the child had received the 5 hours per week you would be unlikely to get a statement as the lea would want to see proof that the 5 hours of 1:1 hadnt been sucessful but if you didint know thats what your child should get then thats probably why some many children get refused statements at the first request. i dont know if different leas have diferenent methods of funding but it will be interesting to hear how much children on school action plus get around the country

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Hi.For all support at school action and school action plus and some support for children with Statements the local authority decides how much money a school needs.The local authority then decides how much money it can give the school.The school is given that pot of money.It is then up to the head teacher to decide how to spend the money to support all of the children that he or she thinks need support.

It is worth bearing in mind that there is a very wide group of children with very different types and levels of need who all require support using delegated funding.So support should be provided based on what is needed to support the IEP.The idea should not be just to divide the money up equally amongst all of the children regardless of their needs.

However to answer the question more briefly...there is not enough money,it does not go far and in the current financial climate it can only get worse. :tearful: Karen.

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Can you find out what your school has been given and where they choose to spend that money then? As a parent with a child on the school action+, are you at all entitled to know?

 

Joanne

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Should they get 5 hours a week then? Is that a national thing? My son does not get 5 minutes never mind 5 hours.

 

Joanne

 

No.There are no national levels or regulations regarding the amount of money provided or how it should be spent except for children who have a Statement.Local authorities can provide as much or as little money as they see fit.Head Teachers can use the money as they see fit to promote inclusion...which is a very very broad remit.The only other legal requirement is to have a certain ratio of adults to children depending on the age of pupils.However this is only an issue where class sizes exceed a maxinum number and is nothing to do with SEN.There is no obligation for instance for TAs to be emplyed at all if a HT feels that the money could be used more appropriately to support inclusion by other means.Karen.

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Can you find out what your school has been given and where they choose to spend that money then? As a parent with a child on the school action+, are you at all entitled to know?

 

Joanne

 

Hi.I think you could try approaching the Chair of School Governors to ask how the HT is spending the money.However I think you may well be told that it is a Financial Management issue.I don't think parents are entitled to know.Unless there is reason to suspect that the HT is being negligent or is obviously missusing school funds [like all of the staff having a study trip to some hot climate in school time] it is very difficult to prove a HT is at fault.

:lol:

 

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i think also the problem is that the school is given such a small pot given as to how many children that they have with SEN - i actually have some sympathy with my sons school now and understand how difficult it can be for them to give all the help the cildren need - as is always the case - its down to money

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SA+ just means that the school are taking advice or getting support for the child from outside the school, calling in other professionals for example. It doesn't necessarily mean that the child needs any 1-1 help, teaching support etc. It could mean as little as the autism outreach teacher going in occasionally to advise on support strategies.

 

For the record, J got absolutely nowt at SA+ other than a very occasional social skills group. We got sick of fighting for it and that's why he's now home educated.

 

Karen

x

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Hi J was on early year then school action and then school action PLUS!!!????, the most 1-1 he got was 30 mins a WEEK.

 

On the first year he got a statement of 15hrs, then in Year 6 increased to full time in a mainstream.

 

Year 7 his statement is full time one to one and he is now in a residential special school.

 

From early years to statement took overall 6 yrs because his needs where not met the financial implications are exceeding the support he could of recieved at reception and may of not needed so much support that he requires now if it where given in reception from day one, am I angry at the SEN system, you bet I am.

 

JsMum

 

Edited by JsMum

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According to paper work sent in for statutory assessment under SA+ my son presently gets:-

 

1:1-- 1 hour per day literacy, 20 minutes a day social stories, 15 minutes a day pastoral support, 15 minutes a day fine motor work.

 

Total for week = 9 hours 10 minutes.

 

Plus

 

1:5 - Maths group each day.

1:4 - 10 minutes a day phonic support.

1:1 - Support for swimming lessons (2 hours per week terms 1+2 [or team 1 depending on what system you use])

 

I'm not sure this would be consistent more what is planned.

 

We and his teaches hope to get full time support so fingers crossed.

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I also understood that the school were given money for action plus which would be = to 5 hours.

 

However, in this 5 hours time needs to be taken off for meeting, senco writing IEP etc.

 

 

This could mean the child just has access to a small group setting once a week. This action plus money (as far as I understand) does not need to be spent on the special needs kids. Thats why its so important to get a statement with specific funding, because this can be taken off the child.

 

 

Also 5% of the special needs budget should be saved for emergency. Eg to support a special needs child. This could mean the child get support for a trip or the child has extra input to enable him to stay at the school. Not alot of people know about this

 

 

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You should be able to find the school's budget on your LA web-site.

 

The SEN Governor has responsibility for monitoring, evaluating and reporting on the use of the SEN budget.

 

SA+ is not just about getting professionals involved. CofP says: if the needs of the child cannot be met from the standard resources in the classroom or from additional interventions, then the school should consult outside agencies for advice on further strategies. So you would be expecting the child to be getting some interventions (may be 1:1 or small group)

 

 

 

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Hi bjkmummy,

 

 

I am some what confused here. I work in secondary school so perhaps it's different there. My yr10 pupil A/S who had been statemented for 9 years had her statement finished in September 2008 because the school said she no longer needed it.

 

She did really well in her SATS achieving level 7 in Maths and Science and level 6 in English. As a result of this she has been allowed to do three sciences.

 

I had been her LSA 7 1/2 hrs weekly since yr 7. She had totally refused to write at primary school. Was withdrawn and very sullen. Over the last three years this young lady has come on in leaps and bounds. She has a small group of friends, she has a great sense of humour. The school with no understanding of ASD deemed that she didn't need anymore support because she will get good league table results for the school.

 

She has been put on SA+ since September 2008 which for her means, no support at all, no class support, no social skills support and no chance to talk over minor problems before they become major ones. She has become very unhappy again, isn't doing very well in her higher Maths class and feels "that she has been abandoned by the education system". Her mother has been told that she has grown out of her difficulties. I reported this to senior management over my Senco's head and was threatened with further reduction in my working hours if I continued to interfered.

 

So I am rather suprised to learn that there is a possibility that the school recieve an allowance for this child that still needs support in organisational skills and coping with everyday school issues. I was told that only a pupil with a statement could have 1:1 support.

 

Julieann

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Each school gets an amount of money to provide for sen, It is up to the school how they spend this money, AS, AS+, etc.

They allocate it as they seem fit.

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Information about your LA funding allocation for individual schools is available in the section 52 budget statement which all LA's are requiird to publish. Within the link below is a link to every LA's budget statement.

 

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/localauthorities/se...fault&ID=79

 

Some schools are able to provide a very good package at SA+, of group, individual and specialist support. This is usually down to a happy combination of a clued up headheacher, a good network of external services to call on, and not too many SEN demands on the school. There is no one size fits all rule to say how much a child should get. The Code of Pratctice sketches out what should be available at SA + and it suggests that regular direct teaching from a specialist, or daily 1-1 support, is likely to be beyond the scope of most schools, and might indicate the need for a statement. But this is only guidance as school resources vary widely.

 

K x

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DD is on school action plus and gets one and a half hours of 1 to 1 per week, with the Teaching Assistant, which is woefully inadequate to meet her needs.

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Cam is on school action + and on the SEN register he gets 7 hours 1-1 (on paper thats what he gets unfortunatly working in a group is consideded 1-1 at his school) we are trying to get some extra help for actual learning as he is quite far behinh with the 3 R's.

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reece used to get 5hrs one to one but we kept on and on and now he gets 10 hrs a week u just need to keep pushing and dont get fobbed off about funding and not aving enough money in the pot as our children deserve all the help we can get them.

 

goodluck

 

love donna xxxxxx

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