Ferretfingers’ secondary education started in the Communication
Resource Base of a local mainstream school I shall call Hamron College.
The Base was good, set up with the support of
the Local Education Authority’s Special Needs Communications Co-ordinator with
an experienced lead teacher, energetic and enthusiastic second teacher and teaching assistants. It comprised three rooms with an outside
area.
One room was a classroom with
study carrels. Then there was a short
passage to a life-skills room with cooker, sink, fridge etc and door to the
quiet outside area. Off the passage there was an
office for private and individual discussions and a “quiet” or “decompression” room for the times pupils needed to be
separate.
Many little souls who found a
big school hard to cope with found their way to the peace and quiet of the Base.
Sadly, after a couple of years Hamron’s management decided to put all
their Special Educational Needs pupils into the Base and called it The
Additional Educational Needs 'Faculty'.
Sounds good on paper except not all Special Needs are the same.
People with autism might have a problem
dealing with the noise of those with ADHD, or other behavioural and social
problems.
In addition the person who had
set up the Base retired (defeated?) and the second teacher was told that, as
she was an English graduate, it was a waste of her skills being full time in
the Base and she must now take lessons throughout the school. She resigned, mid-term, and was immediately
snapped up by a school in a different county with a better understanding of
autism.
The calm classroom became noisy and chaotic.
The life-skills room eventually became a
staffroom. The AEN Faculty pupils were
expected to ‘access’ the library instead.
The replacement teacher seemed to believe that “being the mother of a
toddler” she could understand pupils with autism.
I assume she’d been on a course but I
wouldn’t put hard cash on it.
I had many issues with the new set up, and I will never forgive myself
for not realising how unhappy my son was there and not finding and fighting for
a better placement.
I don’t know whether it’s just schools in my county but I’ve found the
one thing they are really useless at is communicating with parents.
As these facebook postings illustrate - bear in mind that there was a home/school
diary system where parents could write in anything they thought staff should
know, and vice versa.
Have just learnt that
Ferretfingers' school has a Consultation Day tomorrow:
FROM HIS TAXI ESCORT saying
"See you Friday".
No letter or message has arrived
from Hamron.
The Additional Educational Needs
'Faculty' has Statement Reviews so we don't need to go to Consultation Day.
We do need notice that the school
is closed.
Thank God I don't work and Fester’s
flexible.
Hamron College is to communication
what I am to pole-dancing.
DHG
you may be better at pole dancing
LHS Been there too ... just like we sit there all day waiting
for something to happen .. .and go
mad in the process.
Hamron's done it again! David all
ready, no taxi, phone school, "oh it's a teacher training day - letters
have gone out" - not to this house they haven't. At the start of the year Treegrass
Special School give you a calendar with all the dates on - how come Hamron
can't manage to organise itself!
A H
What a great start - not!
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