Y7 in September

[jools]

G is going to secondary school in September.

So far the Senco seems nice and approachable but is unable to give me any info yet regarding his statemented hours (10) and how he will be supported when he gets there.

She has agreed to a meeting with me in the first couple of weeks of term where i intend to ask for an SEN timetable.

 

i know theings will be very different to primary school but already i have a concern but don't know what (if anything ) i can do about it.

 

his statement is for 10 hours teaching assistant time. 1-1 is not specifically mentioned (and believe me i tried to get it written in) although at primary that is what happened.

i know of another child with ASD (but no statement) who is also going up in september and have heard a whisper that they may be in the same class as it will be helpful with teaching assistant resources.

now whilst i know this other child and have no objections to that other child i do object to the fact that i fought ###### hard for years to get his statement and don't want the money from his statement to be used on another child.

i know that probably sounds petty but i feel as though its my fight that provided the money and therefore it should be used for my child!

 

does anyone have any advice on how statemented hours and support are allocated in secondary and what i should be asking for when i meet with the senco in september?

[Annea]

G is going to secondary school in September.

So far the Senco seems nice and approachable but is unable to give me any info yet regarding his statemented hours (10) and how he will be supported when he gets there.

She has agreed to a meeting with me in the first couple of weeks of term where i intend to ask for an SEN timetable.

 

i know theings will be very different to primary school but already i have a concern but don't know what (if anything ) i can do about it.

 

his statement is for 10 hours teaching assistant time. 1-1 is not specifically mentioned (and believe me i tried to get it written in) although at primary that is what happened.

i know of another child with ASD (but no statement) who is also going up in september and have heard a whisper that they may be in the same class as it will be helpful with teaching assistant resources.

now whilst i know this other child and have no objections to that other child i do object to the fact that i fought ###### hard for years to get his statement and don't want the money from his statement to be used on another child.

i know that probably sounds petty but i feel as though its my fight that provided the money and therefore it should be used for my child!

 

does anyone have any advice on how statemented hours and support are allocated in secondary and what i should be asking for when i meet with the senco in september?

 

 

Hi,

 

Can I ask if the primary / secondary school have not created a transition plan???

This annoys me, as the school know which children will be attending the school plenty of time in advance and know what provision all the children need.

To suggest you have to wait a couple of weeks for a meeting with the SENCO is ridiculous! I would ask for this meeting to be in within the first couple of days.

 

As for the 1-1 - I believe that if 1-1 is not specified, then it will probably not happen especially in secondary when resources are so thin on the ground.

 

Maybe someone else can be of more help, but like you say, you have fought hard for the statement and for his education to be still in a planning stage at this point and it is wrong that you are being kept in the dark.

 

Good luck with it all....

 

Anne x

[marjen]

hi

just been trawling through all the high schools in the area for our daughter in year 5 (seen 6 schools). You need to understand every school delivers special needs in different ways. Some would provide 1 to 1 for the hours allocated in your sons case 10 hours. So they would have to decide which lessons he will be okay on his own in i.e drama, art, sports and use the time for english maths etc. It may be your son is a whizz at maths and would need it somewhere else. When they mean 1 to 1 by an Learning support assistant they mean being with him in lessons to keep on task help him work etc. Some children when they get to high school resent the presence of the support especially if they sit right next to him, it has to be done in a sensitive manner so whilst parents want one to one you have to encourage independence, and the support assistants usually judge the situation and may sit back in some lessons and not in others.

 

You may find if your son is 2 to 1 support he would get more support in more lessons so I would not be adverse to sharing hours, as long as sharing means more than 10 hours for your son. Its really hard to let go of the primary school mentality its very different in high school but should be they are growing up.

 

We have chosen a school that does department based support as our daughter would hate to have 1 to 1 that is recognisable !! she has 25 hrs. When you meet the senco you need to clarify how the support is delivered i.e same person or different support assistants, if you share the time will your son get more than 10 hours, will he be taken out of lessons for extra support with a specialist teacher in problem areas, will he have to do a foreign language ( some parents choose to opt out and spend more time on literacy). I think the best schools are those who are flexible and are prepared to deliver the funded support in a way that meets the childs needs. Some schools will use laptops to help children who have problems with speed of writing things down etc,

 

hope this helps, we have spent so much time and energy in sussing the whole thing out I just wanted to share our findings with you.