[senco-forum] School donations

The donor and the school can agree, without LEA consent or involvement,
that whilst there is a donation to the school, the funds are to be
specifically applied to cover the costs of a SEN staff post. Charities work
like this all the time. 

It doesn't make the donor responsible for the "acts or omissions" of the
employee concerned, nor does it make the donor the employer of the funded
person. 

My post at BDA, when I worked there (1996-98), was funded by an individual
FTSE quoted company, but it didn't make them liable for my sickness,
anything I might have done wrong, etc.  BDA was my employer and directed my
day-to-day work schedule and my workload as an employee.

As to what happens when funding ceases, its called redundancy, something
which happens rarely in local government, but happens regularly in other
employment sectors.

Colin Redman

SEN Marketing

-----Original Message-----
From: senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk
[mailto:senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk] On Behalf Of Colston's LSU
Sent: 03 June 2007 18:13
To: Amanda; Peter Syme
Cc: senco-forum
Subject: RE: [senco-forum] School donations

Amanda's well made points are the major concerns but there is also an
insurance issue - if the privately funded TA has an accident/incident on
site you may find the school's insurance does not cover them - you will also
encounter contractual problems - sick pay?! holiday pay? training costs...

Lindsay

-----Original Message-----
From: senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk
[mailto:senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk]On Behalf Of Amanda
Sent: 03 June 2007 16:39
To: Peter Syme
Cc: senco-forum
Subject: Re: [senco-forum] School donations

Hi
  I've had a number of offers of money for extra TA support, usually for
individual pupils.  My concern has always been about who is in charge of
those TAs.
  I can imagine a time when the person paying the TA has very different
ideas about what that TA should be doing with the pupil than I do.  It
doesn't happen often but I do have times when I disagree with parents about
how to support a child, what lessons to support them in and what precisely
the TA should do.  I'd want to have all those issues sorted out before I
accepted the donation.
  I can also foresee issues around how long this funding will continue, who
decides if it is effective, who selects the adults to be employed and who
deploys them to work with pupils.  Are the TAs all to be paid at the same
rate and are they all to be part of the same Team?  Who would leave if the
funding ceased?
  Amanda
  Secondary SENCO
  Cornwall

Peter Syme <APAHSyme at compuserve.com> wrote:

Hi All

I think this is a query for those of you who manage SEN budgets and possibly
for those folk like Brendan, who know the legal, technical issues
that might be involved. A friend has asked my opinion on the following.

"A friend has been successful in business and now makes good, thoughtful
donations to various charities. He has become involved with funding things
such as providing coaches for transporting disabled pupils. Through this
he has become more involved with a particular school and has asked what
else he could do to support their provision for children with additional
needs in this mainstream school. (I think we are talking about pupils with
statements here as the needs seem to be considerable). There has been a
suggestion that he provide financial support for the school to pay for
additional TA services and he has asked my opinion on this. I think he is
happy to do this but is aware that it is a differerent scenario from the
donation of funding for concrete "extras" that the school would not
normally manage to pay for.

I don't want to go into anymore detail but would be interested in people's
thoughts on this.

Thanks

Anne