Can anyone give me info please

[Karen A]

Hi all you wise people.Having got draft statement today I couldn't wait until after cellebration to post first question so here goes.Although more detail is included in educational provision-the draft says that LEA will provide additional allocation of Band C support to assist school in meeting Ben's needs.Information at end of draft states this is = to ?9924.44.Does anyone know how many LSA hours this= ?.Is it a problem that statement does not detail LSA support?Also nothing is included to specify LSA support be provided for playtime/lunch time -which Ben needs-Do we need to ask that is stipulated?

[jen]

Your statement should specify provision accurately and not use wooly terms. See IPSEA web site.

As it is the daft statement you can ask for a meeting and quote what you read on IPSEA about provison being specified correctly. Its also a good idea to look over the statement and make sure it covers your child problems. Look at the appendix which are the documents they have used to produce the statement. If you do not have all the documents you can ask your LEA officer for a copy of them.

 

 

Jen

[Karen A]

Thanks Jen yes will need to check through draft today.I will raise it with the LEA officer .Karen

[phasmid]

Rates of pay for TAs can vary from school to school and LA to LA. That figure could equate to 25 hours in one school but, say, 20, in another. It needs to be hours specified here not wages!

[trance]

They can either use the money for an LSA or a teacher. Teachers cost more money so hours would be alot less.

 

My son was band d and got 15 hrs lsa support, this has just been increased to band e which is about 25 hours.

 

To be honest its probably not gonna be many hours.

 

It should state within his needs when and how he needs help.

 

x

[Karen A]

Thanks for the help Trance and Phasmid looks like I need to chase it up tom.Karen.

[Zemanski]

The funding and where it comes from is actually not your problem, the LEA gives a school a set amount and anything else required has to come from the school SEN budget. If the school doesn't think it has enough then it has to negotiate with the LEA, this is one area you don't have to fight.

 

The really important thing is making sure your son's needs are properly met - if the statement says 'full time 1-1' or xhours LSA, then you know exactly what he should get - so go for getting that sorted

 

Com has full time 1-1 from an SNA plus 1-1 at lunch and breaks. The LEA refused to detail the hours required on specific things but did put in all the different groups and therapies he had and added things like 'weekly' and daily'. At the last amendment it went from half a page of provision to 3 because we insisted on detailing everything

 

Zemanski

[Karen A]

Thanks Zemanski.Need to get some more specific wording sorted I think.Lots of access to,oppurtunities for,programmes,highly structured programmes,support to..... no detail re how often,how long for.I have a bit more work on this I think.

[Zemanski]

try Afasic

 

http://www.afasic.org.uk/

 

they have a section on scrutinising statements that's very helpful

 

Zemanski

[Karen A]

Thanks Zemanski.Really helpful site.Have found several holes in draft now need to get advice re what to get LEA to do about them.Karen

[mossgrove]

As others have said, the staement should set out the help your son requires, and it id wrong of the lEA to set a budget for how much assistance he can have in this way, after all his needs will not decrease if there is a sudden hike in the cost of LSA provision, e.g. the school has to use an agency. I suggest you write back stating how many hours YOU think he needs and ask for them to be written into the statement as a number of hours.

 

Simon

[Karen A]

Thanks Simon.Found out today it will pay for about 2Ohours LSA/WEEK but I will discuss with parent patnership re whether to get draft changed to specify hours of support and who needs to provide it Eg how much experience they need.