LizK Report post Posted March 30, 2009 Anyone know what the legal and practical situations are regarding extra curricular activities held after school on school premises? DS1 is starting to show an interest in after school clubs. He has a fulltime 32.5 hour statement and dedicated LSA at mainstream. There is no realistic way he could manage an hour after school club on his own. He doesn't need much support but does need someone there to prompt him etc. Also he is very clingy and would refuse to stay on his own without someone he perceives to be looking after him. He has done a multi-sports after school club this term which is great for his physical issues and wants to do dance next term. This term either my DH or I have stayed with him for the duration of the after school club. This also entails my four year old having to sit and watch and after 15 mins he's unsurprisingly bored silly. DS1 gets extremely anxious if I go out of the hall to let DS2 run around outside and it's getting worse each week, last week he was screaming and in floods of tears at the idea of me going outside for 10 minutes! I also noticed some of the other children were picking on DS1 and teasing him so he really does need someone within eye shot keeping a watch on the situation Working on DS1 independence skills is an ongoing task but that's not really the point of the post. Realistically we cannot continue to be the ones supervising DS1 in after school clubs, not fair on DS2 and there are changes afoot which will soon make it impossible anyway. DS1 does need someone there though for him for the reasons mentioned above otherwise he really cannot attend after school activites. I have spoken to the SENCO who was sympathetic but said school would not pay anyone. She is looking at voluntary organisations to see if they can help I am wondering what the legal situation is with regards to inclusion and disability discrimination? The after school clubs are run by outside agencies, is it actually their responsibility? If a school was run by the school itself would they be obliged to make sure DS1 could be included at their cost? How have others dealt with this situation? Any suggestions welcome Lx Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
call me jaded Report post Posted March 30, 2009 There are quite a few sources of funding: the extended schools co-ordinator; the sports providers may have an inclusion fund; the local authority should have 'Inclusive and Active' money; the Children with Disabilities co-ordinator may have a pot of money; and, depending on how organised your LA is there may be some Short Breaks money which would support him. Your LA should have a Children's Information service now that should point you in the right direction. Definitely not from the school budget though. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Flibs Report post Posted March 30, 2009 Where I live we have an "inclusive" after school faciltity for children with and without speacial needs .......great stuff only my son has been permantley excluded from it .err no so not so "inclusive" really but perhaps there is something simliar in your area Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sally44 Report post Posted March 30, 2009 Sorry I don't know what the law is. But you could contact the National Autistic Society to find out what the legal requirements are. You have already mentioned the Disability Discrimination Act. My son goes to a couple of clubs. One is for children on the spectrum and is run by a couple of adults that have experience of ASDs and it is held in a community college gym and all the equipment is put out including a trampoline and blow up bouncy castle. What I like about this club is that siblings can also go, and children can invite friends from school to, so you get a nice mixture of special needs and mainstream. Parents go to a Lounge area (like a staff room) and we have tea/cake etc and one of the adults will phone on a mobile if a parent needs to come down. Some parents stay with their child full time is they need that. Mainstream clubs are a different ball game. I have got an organisation called Umbrella and Your Turn involved with my son, and it may work, but nothing is permanent. Ie with Your Turn a Youth Worker will find an appropriate club that your child is interested in and will attend with the child for 10 sessions to get the child 'independent' and the club 'familiar' with the child's issues. Sounds great, and for some children it works. I'm not sure mine will be able to cope on his own in 10 sessions. I tend to need to be there because of his language and anxiety issues, and once he has a negative experience he is likely to not want to go again. Find out what the legal requirements are and post back. It might be that your child simply isn't at a level yet where he will cope independently in a mainstream club, and it might be better to look for special needs groups or even consider starting one yourself, or going to a mainstream club with your son as a helper so that you can oversee. I know it all eats into our time, and it is especially difficult if you have children with very different ages. You could also raise these issues with his SALT and Ed Psych as being areas to work on (as social interaction is part of the diagnosis and these are independence skills that he will need as an adult). Through Umbrella you can get a volunteer who would be available every 2-3 weeks and who could do stuff with him for a couple of hours - but again it is difficult to find a volunteer willing to do a couple of hours every week at a club. But you might find it. Another possibility is to go through Social Services and have him and the family assessed. He might get a Social Worker or Community Worker assigned to him to support him. My son has recently started foil fencing classes, which he loves. But you need to do it with someone. I don't want to become involved, but even just watching I have to observe the moves and what they are called and reassure him and explain to him what he should be doing when he gets confused. So there is no way I could detach myself from him yet (and he is 8 now). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Karen A Report post Posted March 31, 2009 Hi.I have come across this issue but have not found a simple answer.If the clubs are run by outside agencies it also makes the situation more complicated.It may be worth checking the school inclusion policy to see whether out of school activities are included.If the policy states that out of school activities are inclusive then in theory there should be a case for pushing for support to be provided. If the activities are provided by a charity or by the local authority then it may be worth asking for a copy of their inclusion policy.If the charity recieves funding from the local authority then they should have a policy.Again it may not be simple to push for support but at least having something to base your request on is a starting point. If you can demonstrate a right to inclusion then who provides the money should be a problem for somone else. Karen. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Karen A Report post Posted March 31, 2009 (edited) Part 2 of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 amends the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 to prohibit all schools from discriminating against disabled children in their admissions arrangements, in the education and associated services provided by the school for its pupils or in relation to exclusions from the school Hi again.This extract is taken from the SEN COP.I think the important phrase is ''associated services provided by the school''.If you can show that after school clubs are an ''associated service'' then that would support your case.You might need to unpack exactly what the arrangements are re a contract or agreement between whoever provides the club and the school. I could not find anything more specific on the NAS web site.However they may well have come across this if you phone the Education Helpline. I may be able to add something more specific later.Two different groups of workmen have both decided to dig up the road at the front and back of my house so I am finding it hard to think. Karen. Edited March 31, 2009 by Karen A Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sally44 Report post Posted March 31, 2009 My son goes to an Enhanced Resource school, and they have recently appointed an 'out of school activities co-ordinator', and I am assuming that whatever clubs are set up directly through the school will have supports and experience for the children that go to that school ie. mainstream and on the spectrum. Infact, I will email him and get his response to this question. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
