Who has a child starting a new school in Sept?

[call me jaded]

I took my son's current special school teacher and son to his new school today. His current school have struggled to teach him much in the last couple of years. He is very difficult to engage. She observed for half a day and has made a couple of comments in the car as I took her back to school, one of which was 'I wonder what they will have achieved with him by this time next year?' She seemed shocked at what was expected of the teaching staff, especially as they only get four weeks summer break. In her defence the new school starts with one-to-ones for all pupils. He's possibly getting a male support worker, which he will love. I'm now soooo excited about September, though realise it will be quite a shock for my son, who took himself off to bed an hour and a half early tonight.

 

Anybody else looking forward to September?

[Lesley]

I am definitely looking forward to it - maybe once James is asked to do something he doesn't want to & he bites the teacher THEN THEY WILL LISTEN

 

Maybe then we'll be understood

 

Maybe they'll start giving us some support & support for sibling when she has to go to school with huge bite marks on her arm (I actually took a photo for evidence this time)

 

L

xxx

[call me jaded]

Had a phone call only last week to say my son had attacked a member of staff. It's the pits.

[Surrey]

Im def looking forward to it. Hoping that secondary school will help my son to grow up a bit and take responsibility for his actions. Feel he has been slightly molly coddled at primary because of his problems. Seems to use them as an excuse now for not doing anything much at all! LOL! Does anyone else's child use the 'Ive got problems and I cant help it' excuse?

[LKS]

I know I'm going to sound a bit pathetic here but I was really sad to see my son leave his primary school on Friday Although the head has been a complete pain and the SENCO less than helpful, his teacher this year has been great. She managed to persuade him to go on the week long residential trip(L.S.A. went as well) which he really enjoyed and he also took part in the year 6 production. Watching him take part with some of the other boys" moving" to Saturday night fever is something that wil stay with me forever :lol:They all had year 6 leaving book with photos of all pupils and staff and quite a few of the kids had written a little message for him telling him to look after himself and thanking him for his help with maths! At the end of the afternoon they all stood in the playground and did one more performance of Saturday night fever, thank god for my sun glasses, I was crying like a baby. Anyway he has been a bit quiet since then, he says he will miss a lot of the people at school as they understood him. I think that has been the most change this year, the fact that the other pupils began to understand what he was about and also to appreciate him. We now have to start all over again as a lot of these children have gone to other schools. Sorry to sound so negative but although I have had 2 other children start secondary school (both with no problems) I have never felt quite so emotional before.

[Colin_and_Shelagh]

Much of what LKS says rings true for us. We are dreading September. The first day is Patrick's birthday as well! Patrick had a great class teacher this year - one of the best he has had. She was very understanding and very tolerant.

 

The children had a good send-off. They were given a booklet with photos of all the children and staff. They had a special assembly where certificates were handed out for achievement. It was a proud moment when Patrick was given the certificate for achivement in Maths. He got a really loud cheer, which was lovely.

 

We have met the Senco at his high school. It took several attempts to set up the meeting, which didn't bode well, but it went much better than we expected. She said that, given what she had heard, she couldn't understand why Patrick doesn't have a statement. (Easy - because he achieves and is not disruptive, so there was no incentive for his primary school.) She said they would put him in for a statement and that he would be in the same class as another child with ASD who does have a statement and has a teaching assistant.

 

We have written a profile of Patrick on one side of A4, with a photo, which we gave her and asked to be distributed to all his teachers and other staff who may come in contact with him. The profile briefly lists his strengths ('he is very intelligent, very logical and has a phenomenal memory for facts') and then details the main issues staff should be aware of and strategies for dealing with them. We got the idea for this from the Help! course run by the NAS. We wrote a longer one for primary school (several of his teachers said they found it very useful) but we reckoned that at high school one side of A4 is as much as anybody is going to read.

 

There is a form for creating a profile is this excellent booklet (though we reckon it's better to write your own):

 

Breaking down barriers to learning

 

We gave a copy of the booklet to the Senco, who said she hadn't seen it. If you are approaching transition, read a copy!

 

Colin

[nellie]

Thanks Colin,

 

This is a great booklet, I particularly like the Iceberg Analysis. I have used this before to show how the 'Jekyll and Hyde' behaviour of some children presents itself. Where a child shows one behaviour above the water line but hiding the other behaviours below the surface.

 

Nellie xx

[Guest flutter]

we are looking forward to change, for a new start

 

i have had a quick look at leaflet and it looks good, but the get out card they suggested, i asked at "big school" if we could use on and they said no, that is a primary thing

[mossgrove]

Our two eldest boys (5 and 7) are starting at special school in September after a nigtmare experience trying to get them into mainstream.

 

We are looking forward to the fresh start, but a little diappointed that timtable differences mean they will not see each much other at school, even at breaktimes.

 

Simon

[baileyj]

Max starts Reception year in September, and I am very nervous about it.

 

His TA is wonderful and has been with him through nursery, (the class next door) and will stay with him in school, but its such a long day for them, and hard work, so I am very worried, also he is supposed to eat lunch, and snack time, and he's never done that either.

 

His TA has made him a scrap book with lots of photo-grahps and a story of the school gate, door, classroom, teacher, snacks, lunch, drinks, and then a picture of me and hubby fetching him, Max likes it, but I can't help but worry.

 

Oh gosh.

 

Jo

[hev]

steves been out of school for about 18months and is starting at a special school in sept,im VERY VERY excited,nervous about how he will get on,but its got to be better than our mainstream experience so im very hopeful and happy about it,ROLL ON SEPTEMBER!

[CarerQuie]

I've got mixed feelings.my son is staying at his (excellent)Special school but he is moving up a key stage.This means someone else will be at the annual reviews because of staffing changes.xx

[Viper]

Ben starts reception in September and I am dreading it. He still wears nappies but his school says he can't wear them a t school so his phsyc said send him without one and let them deal with the accidents.

 

He is my last child so I will miss him like crazy and worry all day. He will worry about me due to his seperation anxiety. All in all a recipe for disaster, feels like we are hurtling towards a masive pile up and our brakes have failed. Only time will tell.

 

Viper.

[Carol]

Well our schools went back today but Andrew just couldn't manage it . I am waiting for the school to call back to confirm what days he will be attending - I told them I couldn't remember what hours/days he attended so they are calling back once they have spoken to the autistic base ( which still has the main person off sick and are also short staffed and have the intake of the other new children to deal with as well) so I am not sure anyone there will actually remember:( so quite relieved that he is not in today.

 

I have also told them that I have made the decision that I am no longer going to drag him along to school and that since I have stopped virtually forcing him to attend appointments and sessions he is so much calmer and the aggression has practically dissapeared. If the ed psy & phsychaitrist have actually said that the educational system has failed him don't see why I should send him to an environment that is so detrimental to him. ( no point regretting not doing it sooner at least I have now )

 

This is the month the SCORG is meeting ( Senior "something?" regional group) to decide what course of action they will take with his education, so going to go round to WHSmith and seeing if they have any suitable math workbooks sso he does not think being at homes means magazines & telly lol ( well once they call back)

 

Carol

[Rabbit]

J starts back to school in September after having a year off and being home educated.

 

We received confirmation of his school transport this morning. He is being collected at 8.20am from home in a taxi which he will share with a friends daughter who also attends the special school. He will arrive back home at 4pm.

 

Our eldest is starting at the secondary school in Sept and he too will be using transport arranged by the LEA.

 

No more school runs for me anymore.....what am I going to do with myself all day....Im feeling very redundant

[call me jaded]

As next Thursday approaches I'm now feeling a lot less positive about this. My DS came out of school for the summer very stressed and at odds with the world (I did a post called Jaded's holiday blog about our first day of the holidays). At the moment I have a calm and 'with it' boy. I don't want to lose him. This school is going to be a challenge.

[nellie]

My thoughts are with all families with children going back to school, especially those starting a new school. It's a tough time.

 

Nellie <'> <'>

[call me jaded]

Woo! New school rang me this evening supposedly with a list of things they want me to send in, telling me that he's going to love coming to school - they'll make sure of that, how brilliantly he did during his taster day and generally making me feel a whole lot better about everything. So now I'm wavering between he'll be fine and they have no idea how difficult he really is. LOL I'm sure they do know.