Primary sen any sencos around

[cansu]

Can anyone tell me what kind of data the school should be able to give me about my child? She is in year 3 and has severe sen. I have received a report with some levels on, but it feels like these have been plucked out of the air really. Should they have some work to base these levels on? Should there be termly levels so I can see where they have drawn these from? I have been v laid back for a whole now but am starting to feel I should be asking more questions of the school who have largely left the education of my daughter to her TA. The teacher seems to know very little about what she can and can't do.

[IsItFridayYetPlease]

All assessment levels are awarded based on the work a child does over the year, so the evidence will be what is in their books and what the staff have observed the child do/say.
The National Curriculum levels will be used or P Scales for those working below level 1. What makes you feel these levels have been plucked out of the air?

[cansu]

When I have been to see teacher at parents evening they couldn't tell me anything about how she was progressing really. I asked about her reading and he didn't know what she could and couldn't do and seemed to imply that her 1:1 knew but he didn't. the school have left TA to deal with my dd as she is v good with her and knows her strengths and weaknesses well. When her end of year report came home, the format was v diifferent from the other children. There was no data at all in with the report whereas the other children had national curriculum levels with theirs. I queried it via TA and it seemed everyone looked confused and seemingly not surprised that there was no data in her report. I phoned again asking for the info and was sent a sheet, but to be honest it doesn't look like she has moved much and I honestly don't really believe it is based on her work as I don't really think they look at it or take any real ownership of it. TA has suddenly left and I realise I am facing an utter disaster.

[IsItFridayYetPlease]

No matter how good a TA is the teacher is responsible for your child. There should be communication between the two. I have had a really strong (actually qualified teacher) TA working with a child with additional needs, but I still planned the work (which she adjusted in the course of the session if the child needed), provided observational assessment sheets relating to the session objectives and got feedback at breaktimes. I think you need to speak to the SENCo about what will happen in September because the current practice is not acceptable.

Is your child working below level one of the National Curriculum? If so this may be useful ?

[mrz]

The school should be providing you with termly information if your child has SEN. You should know how your child has progressed against their personal targets (which may not be NC sub/levels depending on needs) and what they are doing to support your child to achieve the next targets. Targets should be small and precise and achievable by the next meeting.
It isn't acceptable that the teacher is leaving your child to 1-1 support she is entitled to be taught by the teacher as much as as the rest of the class - which may mean the teacher takes on the 1-1 role for short periods of the day.

[cansu]

Thank you both. I blame myself really because I have known for a while that the teachers were not doing what they should but I let it go as TA was great. It is also hard as one of the teachers (it was a job share) has now become the acting head so feel it is even more difficult to complain. I am going to have to toughen up and start asking awkward questions I suppose.

[Pigriver]

Does your child have an IEP? Is it updated at least termly and you have a copy of it?
As of September IEPs will no longer be compulsory but lots of school will still use them.
Do you have previous levels from end of year 2? Can you compare to check progress? Has she achieved her targets (academically and those in IEP/statement?) do you have regular meetings with SENCO e.g annual review and/or ISAR?
As a general rule of thumb (ish) children are expected to make 2 levels of progress from y2-y6 so say p6 to p8 with them making small sub levels progress each year (each p level has 5 sub levels) so 10 sub levels over 4 years. It might be helpful to ask to see her records (we have the relevant p levels sheets that staff highlight and date when achieved) to check what they think she can and can't do.

Teachers are ultimately responsible for all ch in their class and not leave it to TAs (although this happens an awful lot) and you should definitely pursue this with the school.
At leave once a year you could meet with teacher, TA, SENCO to discuss progress and next steps.

I hope this helps x

[cansu]

Thanks. Is there anywhere where I can see the sub levels within the p levels as I had never heard of there being sub levels in the p scales before.

[mrz]

There are no "official" sub levels for the P scales although individual schools/LEAs/private organisations have produced their own (problem being they vary)

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/329911/Performance_-P_Scale-_attainment_targets_for_pupils_with_special_educational_needs.pdf

The lowest P Scales (P1-3) are split into P1i and P1ii and each of these count as a whole level progress for children with the most severe SEN

[cansu]

My daughter is now on p8. From what I can see of nc level 1 she can actually do quite a lot of what is there. She is however pretty non verbal and can only use single words. Her understanding is at about four key word level so she can't talk about stories etc. does this mean that she can't achieve this level?

[mrz]

Does she communicate in other ways?

[cansu]

She is v good with pictures. She uses an iPad with pic communication system as well and is quite adept at using this. They have been using clicker 6 with her at school. She is very visually strong and has a large sight word vocabulary and can also remember spelling of words etc.

[cansu]

She will also use some verbs and can say I want blue pencil etc or mummy car home crisps to say what she wants to happen next!

[Pigriver]

We use a system called PIVATS that was produced by Lancashire LEA and is pretty much used in every school in our LEA (we are not in lancs!) and that breaks down each p level into sub levels and also continues to do this for each NC level e.g p8e>p8c is 2sublevels progress as is 1ce >1cc etc.
Ask school about this.
Also ask for IEPs etc termly, the best way is to put yourself forward and ask.
P scales do take into account different ways of communication so so if she can order pics from story, point to fave character and say why she likes (nice/nasty etc), point to fave part of story, can you find another story about bears etc then she can start achieving parts of level 1 but they will give an overall best fit level.
Does she write at all? Words? Name? Or just mark make? Usually name and 3 independant sentence like structures gives a 1c.

[cansu]

Thanks yes she can write her name and can copy some words but her handwriting is huge and appalling! She can type words though.

[mrz]

Typed work is acceptable cansu

[mrz]

You may find the school doesn't use IEPs (we don't) but you should be involved in creating her EHC plan