My son was diagnosed with having an ‘Autistic Spectrum Disorder’ (ASD) at the age of four. Although he is only mildly affected, sometimes he can find normal activities in day to day life fairly challenging or confusing.  Not all people with an ASD are affected in the same way, but generally, those who are may have difficulty in the ‘social world’ concerning interaction, communication and imagination.  Because he has this disorder, he currently requires extra support in his learning at school, or in other words has ‘special educational needs’ (SEN).

As a parent of a child with SEN, I regularly discuss his educational progress and development with his teaching staff, as of course,  it is in his interest that we do so and this has always been the case since he started his first educational setting at pre-school, before moving on to primary school. The teaching staff inform me on how they feel my son is progressing and point toward any areas where they think he may need extra support, implementing any practice in the classroom that they feel may help progress within these areas.  These assessments are recorded as ‘targets’ and are put in place to work by over the following school term.   It is an acceptable and satisfactory system.  He is one of many children that are entitled to receive extra learning support and each child has an individual plan tailored to suit them, some children may need more support than my son, or perhaps very little support in one chosen area. On a personal level, I have found all staff to be most helpful in the part that they play in my son’s educational life; we have a good parent-teacher relationship, and I feel that they perform exceptionally well with the resources that they have, albeit very limited.

There is, however, significant scope for improving services for both SEN children and teaching staff involved. A recent discussion with parents further afield who have children with SEN found that it is not an ideal world.  Many think that a satisfactory education in mainstream school was relatively hard to come by.  Some parents feel that they are being ‘let down’ by having inadequate funding or satisfactory procedures in place, inevitably leading to the breakdown of the parent-school relationship.  Of course, the educational need differs with every child; each case is unique and it can sometimes be challenging for both parents and school staff, but from the outset it seems as though this is heavily blighted by lack of support and intervention from outside specialists who can play a vital role in the education advancement of children with SEN.  This is due to government cutbacks.  It is statutory duty for provision to be in place for children placed upon the SEN register at a school, but as government funding is very limited, the support from such specialists as these is minimal. So, everything that could be done to improve the education for these children simply isn’t.

That said, it is all too easy to dwell on the negative aspect of this predicament and contrary to the opinion of the parents who feel let down, I feel very lucky indeed in having a good relationship with the staff at the schools, and mindful of the good work that they do in the circumstance. With this in mind, a means of financial support by way of a charitable trust has been created to help and support the requirements of both SEN children and teaching staff in educational settings and mainstream schools of Middleton Cheney. It acts as a voluntary, independent resource in the endeavour to improve the services to staff and children with SEN in the immediate vicinity, with immediate effect. 

This charity is named ‘The Middleton Cheney Special Educational Needs Trust.’

In short, all mainstream schools have a very limited budget for everything they need to run and perform well.  This includes everything – for example, paying staff wages, paying utility bills, and of course paying for all requirements in the course of educating the children who attend. Schools also receive minimal additional funding for individual children who have Special Educational Needs. You may have heard of the term ‘statement’ which may be defined as an ‘agreement’ set down by the authorities for the school to receive funding for the education of a particular child, according to their needs.

SEN is often thought of as this alone, but this is not the case.  Any child, at any time of their educational life can be in need of extra support in their learning at some stage or another. For example, a little help may be needed with reading or numeracy just for a while or perhaps with emotional behaviour that may be detrimental to their education. Whatever the need, we can be certain that it is crucial the correct support in is place within their learning environment.

Teachers and classroom assistants are the professionals in our children’s learning and it is their responsibility to assess and identify where extra support is required.  MC S.E.N.T work by holding varied fundraisers (and fun-raisers!)  These funds go into the trust.  Each school has the opportunity to submit an application for funding to us regarding any matter in the advancement of educating children who have Special Educational Needs.  Trustees will consider the application, and grants will be made if feasible.  No confidential details are submitted in an application, as MCSENT focuses on the school as a whole, rather than each individual case.

The whole school.  Not just children with SEN and teaching staff.

All children/students are likely to benefit by having a supplementary financial support system in place, as it may provide relief for the stretched budget that schools currently work by. In other words, any funds that are currently used from their budget for the purpose of SEN may be ‘freed up’ and used for other requirements, for the benefit of ALL who attend.