[senco-forum] coursework and a statemented pupil

From: WrayJanice Wray <jwwray14 at hotmail.com>

Janice

I would ask why this has only come to light so late on . The teacher should 
have been checking this at key points throughtout the year and if gaps were 
there should have alerted the TAs .

I had a similar situation before the Easter break. We have introduced 
monthly Assertive Mentoring sessions for all year 11 students and teaching 
staff are required to fill in in school information system any concerns they 
have about effort/grades/attitude/coursework.

A week before Easter we got the info and suddenly one of the Statement 
students who is severely stressed out already shows as having outstanding 
coursework in two subjects yet the previous months  no concerns. In my 
capacity as SENCO and his Mentor I asked why I was being given this info a 
week before the deadline- response - we have only just collated all the 
pieces together and found bits missing - duh - should this not have been 
done earlier I asked - yes with hindsight but he is not the only one with it 
missing. One of teh teachers had forgotton to set the missing piece!

Result one student on the brink now gone over the edge,mad panic as TAs pull 
out all teh stops to fill the gaps- did teachers say thanks ? I'll leave you 
to fill in the gaps.

Responsibilty for coursework and ensuring it is done is the job of the 
teacher not the TA It is after all the teacher that gets the credit for the 
pass . Unless you are a science teacher and know exactly what the student 
needed to do I dont think you can be held accountable and the TAs take their 
direction from you and the class teacher. Were they told that the work 
needed to be done? Were you provided with a copy of the syllabus with dates 
that key elements had to be done by, this would be useful for use as a 
checklist in future.

I had a teacher who told this student that he would lose marks off his 
coursework because the TAs were giving him help with research and 
organisation- yet they were careful not to do the work for him. Useful as he 
subsequently refused all help in other subjects.

We keep copies and records of exactly what we have done to assist - just a 
few notes on a student support sheet and any completed work is kept in the 
students file just in case they(or the teacher)lose it. This way we can 
track back to see if the students were told about deadlines etc but again it 
depends on the TAs being given a checklist of things to do. If we dont know 
about it we cant help with it.

I would beg for a coursework extension and try and get as much done as is 
possible even if this means pulling her off timetable for a day or two to 
get it done. If she doesnt like the idea of this then suggest a couple of 
morning sessions with the TA but find out first from her science teacher the 
most important elements that need to be there and get these done first.

Good Luck.

Gaynor

>From: WrayJanice Wray <jwwray14 at hotmail.com>
>To: senco forum <senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk>
>Subject: [senco-forum] coursework and a statemented pupil - 
>who'sresponsible ?
>Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2007 20:48:51 +0000
>
>Advice gratefully received.Here's the scenario.
>Science teacher e-mailed me today - this girl in Yr 11 has some big gaps in 
>her coursework - applied science -  missed some experiments etc and write 
>ups. May be too late to fill in some of the gaps as it's really all due in 
>now.
>She has had full cover - 30 hours (don't ask how I managed that) and a TA 
>in every lesson since year 7 - she has epilepsy and non-verbal learning 
>difficulties ( result of hydrocephalus). Same teachers for her subjects too 
>- no changes.
>She's had the same TAs throughout - more or less.
>Now - coursework is supposed to be done by the students I know but she has 
>had loads of help with finding information, organisation etc. So how come 
>there are gaps - well, I'll have to call the TAs together for a meeting 
>next week. We may have to explain to her Mum how this has happened.
>But I want to ask you all - should we have done more, should we have kept a 
>fuller record of what she had and hadn't done, kept copes maybe, who is 
>ultimately responsible - the class teacher, the TAs, me ?  What do/would 
>you do in this situation.
>I want to make sure that if possible this won't happen again with pupils 
>lower down the school with statements who are also difficult to support, 
>disorganised etc but none of whom have full cover.
>I'm open to all suggestions and criticisms.
>Cheers
>Janice Janice Wray Secondary SENCO, Herts
>_________________________________________________________________
>Try Live.com: where your online world comes together - with news, sports, 
>weather, and much more.
>http://www.live.com/getstarted

_________________________________________________________________
Download Messenger. Join the i’m Initiative. Help make a difference today. 
http://im.live.com/messenger/im/home/?source=TAGHM_APR07