Want a different teacher working with my child in pre-school

FBaby

summerspring wrote: »

Was she a late developer? :laugh:

ha ha, obviously 12 months

happyandcontented

fed_up_and_stressed wrote: »

It is likely to mark you out as a bigot rightly or wrongly. I wouldn't be surprised if your child is asked to leave.

If the key worker really cannot meet the needs of those in her care due to disability why is it bigoted to say that?

There may well be other areas of the business she could work in but perhaps care of babies may indeed be too much for her, and if there are issues with her medication then they do need to be addressed. Her disability cannot be put before the safety or needs of the children in her care, that is not a "reasonable adjustment" in my opinion of course.

Genuinely, there are loads of jobs that require levels of fitness, skills, or apitude and we cannot all fit the criteria. If the lady wanted to be a firefighter for instance would it be bigoted to say that it was not feasible?

Spendless

GwylimT wrote: »

OP, what qualifications does his alloacted carer have? What ofstes rating does the pre-school have?
I must say it is very unusual for a pre-school to allow children who are not toilet trained.

That was certainly the case when mine were little, my youngest is 12, but I'm pretty sure it was changed some years ago to be inclusive of all children. No idea if that was regional or national though.

bookworm_nat123

“
OP, what qualifications does his alloacted carer have? What ofstes rating does the pre-school have?
I must say it is very unusual for a pre-school to allow children who are not toilet trained.
Originally posted by GwylimT"

Not unusual at all these days - preschools are taking children younger and younger and as a result many children are not potty trained when they start
xx

jackyann

It all depends on the registration of the pre-school, which ages they take etc.
In a community pre-school, someone in a wheelchair might spend time doing some activities with the children, but the staff ratio would be carefully worked out, and there would be no question of her supervising in situations that she could not deal with.

I too think this is a wind-up, but it is just possible it was posted by someone who has just seen a helper in a wheeelchair, was told some rather silly gossip and doesn't know how to ask the appropriate questions.
Some people also get a little confused between a "stay and play" where parents / carers are responsible for the children and "pre-school". Sometimes in small communities they are in the same building. OP may have visited a stay-and-play (where quite often members of the local community also drop in) and thought it the same as the pre-school.

The answer (in addition to those suggestions above) is for anything you are unsure of: stay & observe a session or part of one and occasionally pick your child up early. That way you will see what goes on. Sort out work hours so that you can do this.
If you are unhappy then look on your local council's website to get the Ofsted contact.

stacey1993_2

amistupid wrote: »

It's forum policy to be 'especially nice to newbies' but I can't help thinking this thread is a wind up.

I can understand you thinking that, but it is honestly not a wind up. I did see the lady when I went for a visit but thought she was a retired person who did voluntary work, which I thought was nice. It was only when my son had settling in sessions the end of this week, that she was introduced as his "key person" who would be responsible for caring for him and planning his learning.

stacey1993_2

Person_one wrote: »

I'm glad somebody else said it first! A drugged up old lady sat in her wheelchair surrounded by 2 year olds? Sounds like a Little Britain sketch.

I did not say she was drugged up, it was a previous pre-school worker, who suggested she was on pain medication. I do not necessarily think she was drugged up, but she did seem not too on the ball. I know it does sound far fetched, I think that is why I was taken aback too,. I honestly though when I visited that she was a retired lady who maybe came in to read stories to the children or help with singing for a short time. The pre-school is set up so it is ok for wheelchairs as there is a ramp to the front and garden, disabled toilet and, furniture at the side of the room.

stacey1993_2

jackyann wrote: »

It all depends on the registration of the pre-school, which ages they take etc.
In a community pre-school, someone in a wheelchair might spend time doing some activities with the children, but the staff ratio would be carefully worked out, and there would be no question of her supervising in situations that she could not deal with.

I too think this is a wind-up, but it is just possible it was posted by someone who has just seen a helper in a wheeelchair, was told some rather silly gossip and doesn't know how to ask the appropriate questions.
Some people also get a little confused between a "stay and play" where parents / carers are responsible for the children and "pre-school". Sometimes in small communities they are in the same building. OP may have visited a stay-and-play (where quite often members of the local community also drop in) and thought it the same as the pre-school.

The answer (in addition to those suggestions above) is for anything you are unsure of: stay & observe a session or part of one and occasionally pick your child up early. That way you will see what goes on. Sort out work hours so that you can do this.
If you are unhappy then look on your local council's website to get the Ofsted contact.

It is an OFSTED registered pre-school, that takes children from 2-5 years. I visited it and several in the area and liked this one, it had a good OFSTED inspection and my neighbor who works in the local school nursery worked there in the past and said it was good. Although I take my 2 year old to groups where I stay while he plays, I felt it might be good for him to do a couple of sessions in a pre-school, without me to get ready for school nursery. I visited and saw the lady but thought she was a volunteer. For the first two sessions I had to stay for 1 hour and the next for 90 minutes to let him get to know the staff. I was introduced to the lady by the Manager, when we went for the first settling in session and told she was to be my sons key person and she was responsible for looking after him and doing observations to plan for the next steps in his learning. I was also told she was first point of contact for any queries or concerns. I did stay and saw that she was unable to change nappies and called other staff over to do it. A child got wet playing in the water tray and she had to call a staff member over to change the child. A chlld fell over and another staff member had to deal with this. All the other staff were playing with the children on the floor in the construction area, reading books on floor cushions and outdoors helping build things in the sand pit, giving them support on the climbing frames. playing hide and seek.

I do feel bigoted and unkind for feeling the way I do, but I can't help wishing my son had one of the other staff who can do more as my child's key person. I do like this lady, but to be honest am shocked that she is in the job she is. I can't think off a way of asking for a change of key worker. He will only be going two 9-12 sessions a week, so maybe like another poster says I maybe should view it as a learning about disability experience for my son and I expect he will learn skills from playing with other children.

KiKi

stacey1993 wrote: »

I do feel bigoted and unkind for feeling the way I do, but I can't help wishing my son had one of the other staff who can do more as my child's key person. I do like this lady, but to be honest am shocked that she is in the job she is. I can't think off a way of asking for a change of key worker. He will only be going two 9-12 sessions a week, so maybe like another poster says I maybe should view it as a learning about disability experience for my son and I expect he will learn skills from playing with other children.

Two things you could do:
* If you want him to have play time which is more interactive with a member of staff then go in and ask about that, rather than making it about his key worker. Perhaps you could say something like "I noticed that other key workers are playing more interactively with the kids. As Jane can't do that in the same way, how will you ensure that he gets that same level of interactive playtime?"
* Or, you could see this differently: you spend time with him all day interacting one to one and with other kids, and this is an opportunity for him to get ready for school nursery where staff will be more hands off. He learns to play with other kids without so much adult attention - and that can be a good thing just as much as having lots of adult interaction!

I think it's absolutely fair of you to ask the question, but just make sure you ask it from a "how will he have the same opportunities as other kids?" perspective rather than "I don't think Jane's good enough" one.

KiKi

jackyann

Okay, I don't think that there is any problem about calling over another member of staff to change a nappy or deal with other problems - the pre-school should be set up to allow for this.
It should also be set up to allow your child to take full advantage of the experiences on offer. A "key worker" is someone for you to go to, who observes your child & records what they do etc. She would not normally be expected to undertake every activity with your child.
If you are observing that your child (and any other for whom she is a key worker) are being prevented form accessing certain activities because of the organisation of the pre-school, then do raise the issue. If it is that his key worker does not join in all activities, well neither do all key workers. The issue is not if she is doing the active play, but is your child?

I am not sure as to whether to apologise for thinking this might be a wind-up. I think the reason some of us thought that was the tone of the post (especially the bit about medication). It is very difficult to get over the "tone" on a forum, and some of us mis-read it. I hope that you have found some useful information here, especially on how to approach the pre-school.
I think, especially at age 2, unless LO is being left for long hours, I would just see how it goes. LO will not be disadvantaged by spending a few weeks there, and you will be able to see how it works. If you are unhappy you can approach the pre-school, and if really unhappy, then change to another.
Look on your local authority website (you can usually get the links through your council website, or ask at the library if you can't find the information you need). Good luck.

PS: I would add that in my experience, in such settings where a worker may appear somewhat disadvantaged, it is better for the pre-school to tackle this up front "This is Jane, as you can see, she is unable to join in some activities which other members of staff cover. She is very experienced at observing children and their development".... or similar.