School refused ds to be in school earlier

[Mother in Need]

My eldest NT missed the bus this morning, so I had to drive him in. I have to bring my AS son in at 9.45 every day, but as we were there by 9.05 this morning, I was hoping I could leave him at school earlier.

However, I was told to wait with him for 40 minutes, as his TA was with another child, and this was not part of the arrangement. There appeared to be no-one else who could be with him.

 

However, the LEA is funding the school (pre-statement and for re-integration) with 30 hours PER WEEK of LSA support FOR HIM PERSONALLY. So for the last 4 weeks they've received 120 hours of LSA, even though he was only in school for 60.5 of those hours. School is not doing too badly out of this, are they?

What I would like to know, for future happenings etc, is, were they within their rights to refuse him this morning, considering someone should be with him full-time anyway? I can understand that school uses their LSAs as best as possible and if he isn't there they can give this help to other children, and I was willing to wait a little for them to rearrange schedules etc, but a full refusal was not what I expected...

 

On top of that, the morning being out of routine didn't help him at all, but school blamed his bad behaviour/attitude fully towards this only, that I wasn't sticking to his routine (blaming me very clearly, even though this was an exception and my eldest son's bus was early instead of late and this was only the first time ever he had missed it in years). However, AS son came home yesterday and was in meltdown for over an hour and didn't want to go to school at all this morning even before we knew we had to go in earlier. But will school listen....ofcourse not.

[phasmid]

If his statement gives him these hours 1-1, in writing the school are misusing the funding, or at least being liberal with it. However, if the arrangement with them is currently such that he is not expected at school before 9-45 then they had a point. I would get this sorted sooner rather than later as currently he is missing out on time in school he could be getting if his support was being used for him (as it should be).

[jen]

Is this the provisional statement which states this. If the LEA are paying for 30 hours and the school are refusing to allow him in then I would contact the LEA asking them about the provision.

 

Jen

[Mother in Need]

The provisional statement only mentions 15 hours 1-2-1, BUT mentions additional funding for his re-integration. PP told me she had received notification from the LEA that they are giving him 30 hours 1-2-1. When I asked if I would get this notification as well, she mentioned that that was ONLY for her and the school...

 

Because they are refusing to put on a taxi (though LEA has now agreed to refund me for my costs) I cannot normally bring him in earlier as I have to get a younger child to school as well. This morning was an exception for us. So I don't myself want him in earlier than 9.45 due to the demands on my own time.

[Zemanski]

I tend to go with Phas on this, if it was unexpected then they can't just change things out of the blue. Your son obviously should have his LSA full time but getting him into school full time is not something you can expect the school to cope with at the drop of a hat, it needs to be managed, both for his benefit (dealing with the change etc) and so that the school can organise his support properly, poorly organised support is often worse than none at all. This isn't quite as simple as refusing to provide the support.

 

It does sound like their response was a bit defensive though - perhaps they felt a bit put on the spot but it doesn't help when you feel stressed by a situation anyway, things happen unexpectedly sometimes, you can't be expected to plan for everything and school should know that as well as you do, it's not very fair for them to hassle you about it like that.

 

If you want him to be in school from the start of school now he must have that support in place and ready for him as soon as it is requested but it may save a lot of hassle and agro if you do it in stages - arrange a meeting and discuss with the senco/head when he is to return to full time and how it will be managed to meet his needs best, a gradual increase in hours, or a quick change for which he has been prepared carefully beforehand are two options to consider, you, or school, may have other ideas better suited to your son. That gives school time to get things sorted properly and your son time to adjust to the changes

 

good luck with it all

 

Zemanski