Is delegated SEN Funding ring fenced now?

[JsMum]

Do you remember the farce last year where headships where spending SEN money on other equiptement, because SEN money wasnt ring fenced and if they wanted they could spend the money on a brand new tennis court or something similair rather than spend it on a sen child.

 

So if there is new delegated SEN money given directly to school to reduce STATEMENTs been required, is it now ring fenced so they dont spend it on baseball stadiums or what ever takes there fancy.

 

JsMum

 

 

[Kathryn]

No - is the short answer. There is still no proper accountability for SEN funds given to schools.

 

K x

[JsMum]

if its a No, could Delegated SEN money be abused again then, wont some schools just use the SEN money to polish up their gold acalades and say what a wonderful school they are yet not provide SEN support to jimmy* in year 4 who cant read and understand.

 

JsMum

 

Edited November 7, 2008 by JsMum

[julieann]

if its a No, could Delegated SEN money be abused again then, wont some schools just use the SEN money to polish up their gold acalades and say what a wonderful school they are yet not provide SEN support to jimmy* in year 4 who cant read and understand.

 

JsMum

In the words of kathryn - yes is the short answer.

Our school cut out 15 hrs of learning support work and cancelled the very sucessful paired reading scheme to send our unqualified senco on a �2,000 course from the delegated SEN money so that she can save the school money in the long term by diagnosing pupils with dyslexia.

Edited November 7, 2008 by julieann

[daniels-mum]

if its a No, could Delegated SEN money be abused again then, wont some schools just use the SEN money to polish up their gold acalades and say what a wonderful school they are yet not provide SEN support to jimmy* in year 4 who cant read and understand.

 

JsMum

 

I have serious concerns about how my sons funding is spent, he has 6 units a week of E band, Level 2 funding which if I understand correctly equates to a significant amount of cash a year, the school are very happy to take the money but it is near on impossible to pin them down now to how Dan directly benefits. They have a classroom assistant in his class which they would not have otherwise had but it is hard to see how he gains from this as she doesnt seem to spend any time with him individually.

 

I think schools should have a legal requirement to state exactly how they are using the money if they are so reluctant to issue statements, goodness knows how many kids aren't getting their due help. It just p****s me off to be honest, sorry for swearing. I am actually looking forward to Dan going up to secondary next year as his school seem very geared up for special needs kids, I have yet to have an appointment with their SENCO to discuss transition but that is coming soon, I have just lost all faith in his current primary school.

[Karen A]

if its a No, could Delegated SEN money be abused again then, wont some schools just use the SEN money to polish up their gold acalades and say what a wonderful school they are yet not provide SEN support to jimmy* in year 4 who cant read and understand.

 

JsMum

 

Could they ??????? They have. What is more the child had a Statement so there should have been more safeguards in place.

Yours.....raving mum whos son got an excellent report in year 5 last year.Son's TA was effectively used as the class TA for all of the year so son got little support for much of the year.There is no legal obligation to provide LSAs in class and Ben's TA was in theory there.There was nothing we could do about it despite several attempts.

As I said excellent end of year 5 report that looked so good if the LEA had noticed we could have lost the Statement all together.

Now after major complaints and DS being so stressed he couldd not get to school....with a new class teacher we find he actually needs help in numerous areas.

In maths he was supposed to be a high level 4 but appears to need an awful lot of TA support to do much at all.

I know Ben has a new AS diagnosis but the only change to his Statement is a change of wording from ''Social Communication Difficulties'' to Asperger's Syndrome.The provision was always there in theory.

Yes....we know we should have moved Ben when you told us three years ago......and some of you did tell us.He is in year 6 and finally has a chance of a better time.We have an excellent class teacher and SENCO. But it does not take away my anger at the last two years.Karen.

 

 

[Kazzen161]

All schools have a SEN Governor who monitors how the budget is spent and that children's needs are met. You can always ask to talk to them.

 

I am an SEN Governor and I know that we spend a lot more than our SEN budget on SEN. We are supposedly in a well off area so we don't get much in our SEN budget.

 

Schools are also checked to make sure that children with SEN make as much progress as other children.

 

 

[JsMum]

All schools have a SEN Governor who monitors how the budget is spent and that children's needs are met. You can always ask to talk to them.

 

I am an SEN Governor and I know that we spend a lot more than our SEN budget on SEN. We are supposedly in a well off area so we don't get much in our SEN budget.

 

Schools are also checked to make sure that children with SEN make as much progress as other children.

 

 

Another intreging question then, what happens if the sen budget is less than the children requiring the support, say 25 grand to share between 25 children but all require at least 5 grand each?

 

My sons statement last year was 16hrs then this year 16hrs and then increased to full time. would my sons school found this a burden to their sen budget?

 

JsMum

 

[Kazzen161]

Short answer - yes.

 

In our CC a few Statements bring extra money with them (still never the full amount needed), most do not. Different CCs work differently. If a school has several children with Statemented hours, then they must be given priority re: the SEN budget. What is left, if any, is used for all other children with SEN (which can be around 25% of the children in the school). Often the schools have to dip into the ordinary budget to cover SEN costs, or not offer all the interventions that they would like to.

[chris54]

Hi Every one.

 

In a document dated May 2008. our council states:-

 

"--10 Hours = �4500--."

 

"--32 1/2 hours = �14677--."

 

"--funding follows pupil directly as part of statement --- is added to schools budget immediately---"

 

This is on the councils web site.

 

Chris.

[JsMum]

Hi Every one.

 

In a document dated May 2008. our council states:-

 

"--10 Hours = �4500--."

 

"--32 1/2 hours = �14677--."

 

"--funding follows pupil directly as part of statement --- is added to schools budget immediately---"

 

This is on the councils web site.

 

Chris.

In some areas though you wont get a statement under 15hrs, as the lea say the school already has a delegated sen budget.

 

Personally statements are still required but leas are telling parents there not required to get support at school if it below 15hrs.

 

So how can the 4 and half grand go directly to the school budget if there is no statement to follow the child.?

 

JsMum