[senco-forum] Fw: [SENco-forum] Advice Please- use of EP service

Hello Brendan

  I agree that more EPs would be a good thing, but otherwise, I dont think that things are actually all that far away from what you propose. I work a patch where I serve 1 secondary school and 13 primaries  - (some of my time is centrally funded and some bought in by schools)  - but all recommendations are genuinely totally independent - of course we all work within general realistic constraints, but I certainly have no eye on meeting LA budgets -not least because I have no idea what these are. 

  I love my job and would have left years ago if it had any sense of the party line- towing by which some seem to think it is constrained- (we were recently asked to try to reduce LA travel costs by car- sharing and I have been trying to do my bit here! but thats about all). 

  I and many other colleagues I know just have a genuine passion for psychology  -  for applying it to support children and schools in the best way we can - and really dont want to get involved in budgets of any kind. 

  Julie

kngbrndn at aol.com wrote:
  What about taking the employment of EPs away from LAs? Making it an independent central Government Agency? And increasing the numbers by at least double (what abut trebeling?). So that clusters of schools -- 1 central secondary and several primaries / specials -- have their own designated EP. And stating in the job description that the role is truely independent, and recommendations (quantifying specific type and amount of provision) are based on professional judgement in terms of need -- with no eye on meeting currrent LA budgets -- just to bear in mind a general duty to advise in accordance with reasonable use of public expenditure. Needs led as statementing law requires and the criteria used by Tribunal Panels to make their decisions. Brendan King  

-----Original Message-----

From: Philip MacMillan <P.Macmillan at exeter.ac.uk>

To: Sophie Langley-Chappell <sophie.langley at talk21.com>; Mary Kelly <mary.kelly4 at ntlworld.com>; 'E Olson' <elzo15ns at dsl.pipex.com>; 'senco-forum' <senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk>

Sent: Mon, 7 Apr 2008 18:54

Subject: Re: [senco-forum] Fw: [SENco-forum] Advice Please- use of EP service

I wish I knew your plumber, here it costs around £50- 60 an hour plus callout charge so I do my own. The defintion of what is a necessity is open to discussion and will differ from person to person. I know of low income families who have saved and paid for private EP reports (not from me) so it can be done if the will is there. Perhaps we should have a better financed IPSEA financed by a small charge on all state schools. I have worked for IPSEA in the past when it could endanger your employment opportunities and presently I give my time for free on a weekly basis to a local homeless charity and no I am not rich just concerned for my fellow human. Perhaps we could ask TESCO to put its voucher system into EP time rather than computers etc. that are of dubious value. It takes around £100,000 of grocery spending to generate one belt and braces computer, that amount of could employ an EP for the day and probably more. The present government is not going to raise taxes on the
 rich (that would hurt them and some of their supporters too much) resources are going to shrink as the government has run out of money, so it may be time to define what and what is not important. It is also time to start taking a detailed look at exactly where all the money goes and what it produces in terms of cost benefit analysis. That could be a double edged sword. Philip EP ----- Original Message ----- From: Sophie Langley-Chappell To: Philip MacMillan ; Mary Kelly ; 'E Olson' ; 'senco-forum' Sent: Monday, April 07, 2008 5:41 PM Subject: Re: [senco-forum] Fw: [SENco-forum] Advice Please- use of EP service Sophie Langley-Chappell <sophie.langley at talk21.com> wrote: Maybe I have misinterpreted comments and I am definitely hormonal so apologies if I have.. 500.00 can be a huge amount of money to spend!!!!!!! That isn't to say that it is not worth it to find the answers to a child's issues but putting it into perspective by comparing it the cost of things such as
 Game-boys, is at best - presumptuous on the lifestyle of others. It is the kind of comment that you would expect from those that CAN afford such bills. To many, many parents that is a HUGE sum of money. Many children do not get game-boys or holidays. Cars and plumbers are necessities for most people and the cost of them are not luxuries of choice but necessary costs of everyday life. I paid for my own children's assessments and I had to save for both, but I would never presume that every other parent in the country could do the same because there are far too many that cannot. By the way, where I live a plumber cost 1/4 of where you are.Philip MacMillan <P.Macmillan at exeter.ac.uk> wrote: Philip MacMillan <P.Macmillan at exeter.ac.uk> wrote: As always the Scots are in front, "here's tae us - wha's like us?, damn few and they're aw deid". Is £500 really such a huge amount of money to get the answers you need?. How much is spent on vehicle servicing and repairs, holidays etc. Put
 it all into perspective, what is really important to your child may need to be paid for just like the less important things like gameboys, toys and all the rest. As I said before a plumber will cost you £500 a day and maybe more. Philip EP ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mary Kelly" To: "'E Olson'" ; "'senco-forum'" Sent: Monday, April 07, 2008 2:06 PM Subject: Re: [senco-forum] Fw: [SENco-forum] Advice Please- use of EP service It makes sense to me too! Perhaps I should move to Scotland ... Mary :) -----Original Message----- From: senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk [mailto:senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk] On Behalf Of E Olson Sent: 07 April 2008 13:52 To: senco-forum Subject: [senco-forum] Fw: [SENco-forum] Advice Please- use of EP service ----- Original Message ----- From: "E Olson" To: "Mary Kelly" Sent: Monday, April 07, 2008 1:51 PM Subject: Re: [senco-forum] [SENco-forum] Advice Please- use of EP service > Dear Mary > > In our Scottish LA it was taken
 for granted that the children in private > schools had rate-paying parents like everybody else and as such they were > entitled to the advice of LA staff when needed. This of course meant that > the private schools could call in EPs, and also ask for help from those > running services for VI, HI and for children who needed specialised ICT > equipment. ( The only difference was that kids who needed ICT equipment > would have a trial of authority stuff if appropriate, but if it worked out > private-school parents were expected to buy a set for them.) > > Made sense to me. > > Elizabeth > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Mary Kelly" > To: ; "'Becta Senco'" > Sent: Monday, April 07, 2008 9:23 AM > Subject: Re: [senco-forum] [SENco-forum] Advice Please- use of EP service > > > Dear All, > > I originally asked for advice about how to make best use if this service > and > I am grateful to those of you who responded. > > As it now seems to have become a request for me to
 justify why I have > taken > this route, I will respond as follows:- > > 1. I do have the training to understand the recommendations in an EP > report, > that's not a problem for me/us. > 2. I have already established a local mutual support group of SENCos and > SLTs and others in the independent sector, who meet half-termly to share > ideas and support each other. > 3. All or most of these people share my wish to have access to an EP who > will come into school, employed by the school, and work closely with us. > None of them have achieved it, I don't know the detailed reasons why. > 4. I expressed this wish to the LA EP who comes in to work with us in > connection with a child with a statement. This person has a private EP > practice but felt that if we obtained private services then there could > potentially be a conflict of interest. A discussion was had with the LA > and > my HT and an arrangement has just been made. > 5. I am looking forward to being able to better
 support a greater number > of > children at a lesser cost by this route. > > That's probably all I want to say on the subject for now. > > Mary > > -----Original Message----- > From: senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk > [mailto:senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk] On Behalf Of > SEN at tringham.net > Sent: 07 April 2008 08:48 > To: Becta Senco > Subject: Re: [senco-forum] [SENco-forum] Advice Please- use of EP service > > Perhaps we should approach the problem the other way round and ask EP's if > they would be willing to spend 6 hours in school and write 3 reports for > £600 a day and all could benefit. > > Currently around £400 per report if done independently by a parent and why > it is not often done unless said parent is in pursuit of a statement. > > EP reports do not necessarily give all the detail one might hope for > especially if you are hoping to get a simple list of all the support a > child > needs to access education on a equal footing with peers. Or they
 drop > hints > such as 'handwriting is untidy and referral to OT ....or any other > agency...could be appropriate'. This ends up as being a multi agency task > and why it is imperative that SENco's have better (and free) access to > training on identification and assessment to rule out or support lesser > problems. This way few actually need the services of an EP. > > Even if the report is excellent with a plethora of test results and > encoded > paragraphs of support needs I have found the schools do not know how to > decode the report for detail or know how or what to implement unless it is > spelled out in black & white - did I mention more access to training? > > If you are getting an EP in spread the cost and make it a SENco cluster > training a day on EP report reading and then a 2nd one on assessment test > application and interpretation. > > Sharon Tringham > > > No virus found in this outgoing message. > Checked by AVG. > Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database:
 269.22.8/1362 - Release Date: > 06/04/2008 > 11:12 > > > > > > > 

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