Life as a SEN mum

As we get to the end of the first half term of this school year, I thought it a good time to check in and update you all on where the current schooling situation.

Let’s start with Charlotte as she’s probably the most straightforward. I never really worry at the start of each year about whether she will settle back in. She thrives in the school environment and the staff are all brilliant and have everything in place to make the transition as simple as possible. There were some concerns that with the class reshuffle and her not being in the same class as her friend group that there could potentially be some issues. But thankfully she’s managed to settle in well and it hasn’t really been a problem at all. There has been the occasional day where she’s not wanted to go in, mostly on rainy days as she knows without their outdoor break times she won’t be able to see her friends, but still these haven’t been too much trouble. The biggest problem we have had is with the lying, which I have discussed briefly in another post. Sometimes it’s little things, generally just adding to stories about things she’s done or things she’s going to do, for example where she might be going on holiday etc. But there are times where the lies become quite serious and that’s when I end up with calls from school, or being pulled to one side at pick up to discuss the situation as often in her own head she really does believer the lies she is telling. We have no idea why, but it does fill me with a little bit of dread every time my phone goes or I see her 1 to 1 approaching me at the end of the day.

James as a whole has also settled in really well. Admittedly we managed to avoid any possible difficulties. I’d requested last year that he stayed in the same class. For a bit of background, some of the key stage 2 classes are mixed. Last year he was in the year 5/6 mixed class. So to save too much stress going into his final year I requested he stay in that class, thankfully the SENCO felt the same way and so it meant he has the same teacher, alongside his 1 to 1 it’s just made everything a lot easier to contend with. But now is the time to think about his next steps. Which is probably scarier for me than him, to give him credit, he deals with change a lot better than any of us ever expect. Yes it isn’t always straightforward, but we’ve generally always had pretty smooth transitions. As much as he has always dealt with transitions pretty well, and he has coped in mainstream school reasonably well for the most part. But moving forward there is no way he would be able to cope in a mainstream secondary. The increased number of people, stricter timetables and a curriculum that academically he wouldn’t be able to succeed at would all be a recipe for disaster. There are so many other issues regarding mainstream secondary schools, but I could be here a very long time if I was to go too in depth.

With all this in mind it came to the time we needed to do his EHCP review and name our chosen school. Unlike previous reviews this one was essentially a complete rewrite. There was a lot we were able to copy and paste with the odd rewording, but knowing what the council are like we had to make sure there was no risk of them just sending out the original EHCP which is now 5 years old as they seem to be incapable of actually sending out their approved reviews. The main reason for doing this though is so that moving forward, his next school, will be able to gain a clear idea of who he is, where his strengths lie, and exactly where he needs most help. Now that this has been done it’s all a waiting game to see if he gets our chosen placement and then start planning and preparing him for the transition.