Question about statements & funding please - Voluntary Aided School

blue_monkey_2

I need to be pre-armed with some info please.

Can someone tell me where funding for a statement comes from please.

My child is at a voluntary aided school - would money for an help come from their budget or would money be given for this help.

Thank you.

CountryGuy

blue_monkey wrote: »

I need to be pre-armed with some info please.

Can someone tell me where funding for a statement comes from please.

My child is at a voluntary aided school - would money for an help come from their budget or would money be given for this help.

Thank you.

Once a child receives a statement the school receives funding to support the child. The child's statement will tell you how many hours support the child can have. It is then up to the school to advertise for a support worker. The LEA would pay this person and would not directly come out of school funds.

The process is quite complicated and as I haven't been working in this field for over 12 months, I might get some things wrong (foggy brain)

However, here is a link that will explain the whole process.

https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DfES%200581%20200MIG2228.pdf

blue_monkey_2

Thanks country guy, that is most useful.

Would you also know if I homeschooled whether I could get extra help - or is that pushing my luck.

I've bene thinking about homeschooling for a few months now.

CountryGuy

blue_monkey wrote: »

Thanks country guy, that is most useful.

Would you also know if I homeschooled whether I could get extra help - or is that pushing my luck.

I've bene thinking about homeschooling for a few months now.

In all honesty I wouldn't go there!

Your son wouldn't get the social skills he needs if taught at home.

Fight for the extra support, involve your local mp if need be but please don't choose home schooling unless it is the last resort.

emg

My understanding is that if you choose to homeschool (or send your child to an independent school without LEA agreement) then the LEA do not have a legal obligation to provide the support that's on the statement as you are opting out of the LEA system. Having said that, some of the agencies involved (for example, speech therapy) may still be able to offer some kind of support to home-schooled children.

blue_monkey_2

Thanks for clearing that up. I thought I would be but was not sure.

I have thought a lot about this over the last few months and the only thing stopping me from doing this today is the social skills he will miss out on. I know this. I was trying to find out if there was a home school network in the area that would be of more use.

I've just been on the phone to the Parent Partnership for ages (since my last post beleive it or not) and she is going to help me with going to the school and spelling out what it is my son needs if they are not listening to me.

I feel a lot more positive after speaking to her and feel like a massive weight has been taken off my shoulders, just for someone to say they'll help me if I need it. Sometimes it feels like banging your head against a brick wall - this was not one of those times. She said the same as you though CG.

daska

CountryGuy wrote: »

In all honesty I wouldn't go there!

Your son wouldn't get the social skills he needs if taught at home.

Fight for the extra support, involve your local mp if need be but please don't choose home schooling unless it is the last resort.

I can understand why some people might believe that home educating means children at home all the time becoming increasingly isolated but the reality is that most parents link together for joint projects, outings etc. They often pull on each others skills to boost areas where they feel less confident; everyone has different strengths, some love a kitchen full of messy artwork, others see beauty in algebra. And most of the home schooled kids I know have excellent social skills, the exception being one who has underlying problems that were increasing during the period he was attending state schools. If anything, the home schooled kids I know tend to be more confident and mature than their peers.

Having said that, home schooling isn't for the faint hearted, not least because the parent doesn't enjoy the 'respite' that they would get if the child attended school. I would suggest getting in touch with your local home education group and getting a feel for the level of commitment involved. Education Otherwise is a good starting point.

munchings-n-crunchings

The SENCO at my sons secondary school referred me to The Parent Partnership.
These were great in advising me on what to say to the school, and what budget the funding for support should come from. He had a clinical diagnosis of Asperger's with a severe semantic / pragmatic language disorder, on an IEP with action plus but no statement.

Regardless of the information, school, just turned around and said that they considered they were supporting him sufficiently. I was just asking for 1 hour a week of TA support.
After hos mock exams, he refused to return to school, and they had to fund a place on an Entry 2 Employment scheme-far more in cost than the TA support.

With his younger sister, also autism, she has funding to attend an independant school. Children there are far more understanding and supportive, where she is accepted as she is.
There is funding out there for school places, especially on the basis of medical need, and also schools can themselves offer assistance even if not publicised.

Homeschooling will have so many drawbacks. It was suggested to me, but on seeking further advice, I understoood why I needed the education system to work. It's so much about learning from their peers and gaining the social interaction. You also need to think of yourself in this.

Regards

Munchie

QuiteNice

I don't know if or why it matters but just so that you have the correct info - a statement will set out your child's specific needs and detail the support your child requires to access their education at a named school.

The funding for the statement will be delegated to the school meaning they will receive it from the LA into their locally managed budget. The school then advertises and employs an SEN TA who will provide support for the statemented pupil. To get a statement you will usually have high level needs and so require support full time - the funding schools receive rarely (if ever) covers the cost of full time support, often not even part time support. The school will have to use some of the funding delegated for the education of rest of the pupils to subsidise the cost of the TA for a statemented child unless the statement only required part time support and they chose to economise - reasonable given that school budgets have been slashed and hammered this financial year.

amberjade_2

You could flexi-school if you feel that would work.

Dainty1976

I do Flexi Schooling at the moment with my Autistic son. It has its benefits and drawbacks but the primary benefits I have seen have been that my sons anxiety has decreased and as he is not statemented yet (being drafted up as we speak) he is still on School Action Plus which essentially means he is only entitled to up to or around 12 hours support a week. As he is in school for less hours, it means that he has a full one to one TA whilst he is there as it fits in with the hours he attends school. These are a couple of the main reasons why the school agreed to do this as they do acknowledge he needs extremely high levels of support that without funding from a statement they just cant provide.

Guidance is a problem at times as well but there are good resources on the dfes curriculum websites that give you ideas for lessons etc. As flexi-schooling is different to homeschooling, you cannot follow your own curriculum, you have to teach what is being taught at the time in the class lessons. Home schooling officers, and resources that are available to full time home schoolers are not applicable to flexi-schoolers however, you may be able to find a local parents home school network who will allow you to join and support you - unfortunately in my area I havent been able to find one BUT as I say, there are good pointers on the approapriate websites for guidance. I find that school is a little unhelpful but I think thats just this particular school, you may find it different if you were to try in your case.

The drawback has been that on his "home school" days, he finds it hard to differentiate between Mummy the teacher and Mummy the caregiver and so getting work out of him is hard at times - having said that, as little as I have managed to do with him, it is considerably more than he has produced in school over the last 2 years (I've only been doing flexi-schooling since January) and is of better quality as well. However, I do find that there are some days where its just not worth trying with him and we end up going to the park instead. Plus as DD is also at home its a bit of a balancing act between the two of them on home school days.

Hope that gives a bit of a rounded picture for you - I would definitely consider it as an option as if it works for you its certainly a step in the right direction for the best of both worlds!