Parental Choice

Ha!!  Don’t make me laugh!  I haven’t heard something so ridiculous in a long time.  Parental choice.  In this case referring to mine and my husbands choice of which secondary school we would like our son to attend in September.

Callum has autism.  He has a Statement.  I don’t know if you know much about the UK educational system but a Statement is a legal document outlining the special educational needs of an individual child.  They are now like gold dust.

If your child has special needs above and beyond what can be met in the classroom they are placed on the SEN (Special Educational Needs) Register for the school.  These children are considered School Action.  The school is obliged to put into place special provision to meet your child’s needs.  This may be a modified curriculum in the teacher’s planning, or extra support within group work.  The main point being your child’s needs are wholely met within school and mainly within the classroom.

If your child requires intervention from outside agencies, such as a speech therapist they will be considered School Action Plus.  Now your child’s needs are met mainly within school with some input from outside.  Maybe a visit from the Educational Psychiatrist.

However, if your child has even further needs that cannot be covered the school may apply for a Statement.  This involves reams of paperwork, piles of evidence and hours of meetings.  It took two years for my son to be given a statement.  Constant back and forth to doctors and psychologists.  Two years of falling further and further behind his peers both in his academic and emotional development.

When Callum was given his statement it was a huge weight off my shoulders.  Until I read it.  There was a whole A4 page with a list of things that he needed help with.  And they had allocated funding for a one-to-one assistant for 15 hours a week to cover all of his needs.  Not good enough.  So it was back to fighting the authority again.  Eventually he was give 25 hours.

Since he was in Year 5 we have been talking about which secondary school he will go to.  We visited some and discussed his needs, how they could be met and where he would be best placed.  Over a year and a half ago now we informed the local authority of which school we wanted him to attend in Year 7.  We also informed his primary school and the secondary school we had chosen.

Now, with a ‘normal’ child you may discuss where you would like them to go.  You may choose your preferred school, but there are no guarantees they will be admitted.  However, government published admissions criteria state that priority for places should go first to children who are looked after by the authority (in care) and those with a Statement.  They should be admitted on grounds of meeting their educational needs, regardless of catchment or distance between home and school.  These priority children should be given a secondary school place no later than 15th February.  All other children will be given their places by 1st March.

The school that we chose for our son is an Academy.  They have their own admissions officer and do not go through the local authority.  They turned my son down for a place based on catchment area alone. They feel his needs can be met by the school within his catchment. I had to find out via my son’s teacher almost two weeks after the February deadline.  If she hadn’t told me I wonder if I would have known now!!

Autism is something which affects my son in many ways.  One of which is that he finds it hard to adapt to change.  He likes his routines.  The whole idea of going to a new school in September is stressful enough for an 11 year old.  For my son it is a whole lot worse.  He was supposed to be one of the first to be placed, instead he has to go to school every day and hear his friends talking about which secondary they will be going to and he still doesn’t know his.  By now his transition should have started and he should be slowly introduced to the school and its teachers.

Autism also affects his ability to communicate effectively, and how he reacts in social situations.  He cannot tell me how upset he is, but I know it is affecting him because some of his other obsessive type behaviours are worsening.

Finding and maintaining friendships is made difficult by his autism.  The thought of going somewhere completely new is terrifying to him.  250 other children of whom he does not recognise one face?  I cannot ask him to deal with that on his first day at secondary.

When I eventually go to appeal I will have to state my case as to why I want my son to attend the Academy rather than the school which is very handily situated at the end of my road.  The Academy has specialisms of Business and Computing and Special Needs.  It has carpets designed in such a way that as you approach a stairwell the pattern changes.  All the corridors and carpets are colour coded.  They have sound systems in all of the classrooms.  All designed for visually and hearing impaired people but which also happen to help autistic people with the sensory problems they face.  They are also set up for small group teaching, which will help his social problems.  They employ individual assistants which are subject based rather than assigned to particular children which will help with his attachment issues.

As for the school at the end of the road where he may end up, what can they offer?  Well the last thing I heard was that they were unsure if they could meet his needs.

If it was your child, what would you do?  What would be your parental choice?

Yarn bombing in Southsea

Reblogged from ministryofshiny:

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On the Craft Britannia team we were having a chat about yarn bombing. Since I moved to Pompey I’ve seen quite a few yarn bombs, so this morning I went on a treasure hunt. This is what I found.

The first one I spotted, a crochet number on Goldsmith Avenue.

  

Someone’s worked hard to make this tree cosy in Bransbury Park.

Read more… 140 more words

A blog by a friend about some talented knitters

Someone very special!

Have you been introduced to Dayz?  She is a seller on Etsy, and she is very special to me because she was my first customer in my Etsy shop All Needles Great and Small.

She bought this for using at work.  I cannot tell you how pleased I was to make my first ever sale

She also bought some items off me in my first ever BNR.  I was so pleased that someone wanted to buy me out that first time

I have bought some amazing things from Dayz too.  The first thing was a present for my Dad, this key ring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have bought these gorgeous bags from her to use at an upcoming craft fair

All my address labels that I use on my parcels were made by Dayz.

But what I like the most about Dayz is how friendly and supportive she has been to me.  She has given me such great advice, how to improve my shop and my products, that I think I would still be waiting for my first ever Etsy sale without her.  Visit her shops, you won’t be disappointed

Dayzee Love Designs Shop

Dayzee Love Shop

Cheeky Geeky Shop

etsy shop of the week

Reblogged from susan sharpe ceramics:

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Every week the Etsy team I’m with are having a shop of the week.

We all publicise the shop, and when it’s my turn everyone does the same.

It’s good to see the products that other team members make.  And how talented they are.

This is the first shop.

It’s run by Dayz and she makes lovely jewellery.  I bought my daughter some of her earrings at Christmas and they are lovely.

Read more… 17 more words

How did you eat yours?

On Monday night/Tuesday morning I awoke suddenly in the small hours in a cold sweat.  That horrible feeling curling in my tummy that you get when you know you have forgotten something important.  Pancakes.  I had completely failed to connect ‘Shrove Tuesday’ on the calendar with the day that was about to dawn.  I knew from previous years failures that I was likely to find some, but not all, of the things that I needed for this momentous annual occasion.

I had arranged to spend the morning shopping with my Mother-in-Law.  This would not, however, provide an opportunity for the purchase of pancake ingredients.  Instead we spent hours looking in every charity shop in Redcar.  My aching feet were testament to the fact that this particular high street does indeed have a lot of charity shops.  By the time we had inspected them all, collected her shih tzu from the pet parlour (don’t ask) and dropped her off home I had to rush to my kids school.  They had arranged an afternoon of pancake racing and eating.

The first opportunity to find out how much of an epic fail I had been on the pancake front was on the way home from school.  Luckily the local shop did not let us down too much.  We found eggs, milk and flour without any problem.  I was amazed to see they still had some lemon juice.  We chose two types of ice cream – double chocolate and toffee.  Then we hit the fail button.  No golden syrup or maple syrup.  Honey was chosen as a very poor substitute.

The kids did a fantastic job of making the mixture

 

I was in charge of cooking and making sure our pancakes were the perfect shape

Callum was eager to show us his master ‘flipping’ skills

Can you guess how the first pancake ended up?  Yep, making a lovely greasy mess on my kitchen floor.  Callum also declared that he had a brilliant way of picking up the offending mess to put it in the bin.

Yep Son, I have always found a knife and fork to be the best solution to a big gooey mess on the floor!!

However Callum did turn out to be very good at flipping pancakes.  That was his only miss of the day, luckily.  We wanted pancakes, and lots of them!!

Caitlin went for a honey and sugar combination on her pancakes.  Although I would argue that this was more sugar than pancake!!

Callum went for ice cream with his.

I went for the classic lemon and sugar on mine.  Although I did have a sneaky couple of spoonfuls of ice cream in between

At the end of the cooking session my kids and my kitchen were a mess.  We were all stuffed and feeling slightly sick.  And I would have to work hard to argue the nutritional value of the food I had given my kids for their tea.  But we had enjoyed ourselves.  Epic win.  Cant wait to do it all again next year

Can I tell you about Mavis?

There is someone special to me.  And if you had asked me 10 years ago or even 5, what did I think of her the answer would have been very different from the one I would give you today.

She is Mavis, and she is my mother in law.  I first met her nearly 18 years ago.  I was a young 18 year old and I had just moved in with my boyfriend, her son.  It was a Bank Holiday Monday and I wasn’t very well.  We had been driving around Portsmouth looking for a pharmacy that was open.  When we got home there was a man and a woman sitting on our doorstep.  I didn’t know who either of them were.  It was his mother and brother.  I was more than a little surprised considering they lived more than a 6 hour drive away from us and we had no idea they were coming.  Phil introduced us to which his mother looked me up and down.  ”So that’s Emma, is it” was the only thing she said before preceding me into my house.  She then set about cleaning it.  Probably not the best of meetings!

Over the years we have had our ups and down.  When we told her we were getting married she started to cry.  She told Phil he could do much better than me.  Thanks!  Mavis always has an opinion on everything and everybody.  And she is not afraid to tell you.  She is set in her ways with old fashioned views and values, but she is who she is, and if you fight that then you are never going to get anywhere with her.

But over the years our relationship has changed.  From pure hostility through to comfortable tolerance and now I would say almost friendship!  She helped me through University by looking after the children for me and helping with the household chores.  And recently whilst I have been off work she has been great for company and an ear to listen. She will, of course, tell you what she thinks you should do, but its fine.  I just smile and nod now and go away and do what I wanted anyway without a huge argument.

The thing that I really wanted to tell you about Mavis is how talented she is.  I have a few of her things in my shop and I never cease to be amazed at what she can produce and in such a short time.  The first things she gave me were some gorgeous blankets, one suitable for a girl and two that could be for a boy or a girl.  I adore these and they make fantastic heirlooms for the future.

  

Now I know if I was to try and make one of these not only would it look awful because I just am not as good at knitting and crochet, but it would also take me a year to make each one.  The hours not only to knit the squares, but to crochet the edges and embellishments, to sew them all together and to add the quilted back and the ribbons.

She then gave me loads of knitted headbands.  My daughter loves these and wears the ones her Nana made her to school everyday.  I have lots of them, but only listed a few in the shop.  Each one that Mavis makes is different, a one of a kind.  She doesn’t work to any patterns so she just does what she feels like.  So the pattern or colour combinations are all different.  They look fabulous on too.   Here are just a selection.

   

Then she worked her magic with an old piece of cotton and turned it into a handbag.  I love this and am keeping my eye out for some nice fabric so she can make me one.  If you have anything you would like turning into a bag let us know!

  I know she has plans for more bags so watch out for them in my shop!

Recently Mavis has been making hair accessories and she has given me loads.  I have just listed a few in my shop.  Here are some of them.

  

I am hoping that she will show me how to make the fabulous up-cycled bags.  She just looks at an item and knows how to make her own version.  Genius.

She still growls at me, and gives her opinion when I don’t necessarily want it.  Now my only regret about our relationship is that it took me so long to work out what a great person she actually is!

Serendipity

Do you believe in luck or fate? All those little decisions that we make everyday that can change the path of our life without even realising. What if we had chosen differently?

This week has been half term and any parents will know February half term is the worst of them all as far as being able to get out and about is concerned. October is ok because the weather is usually still reasonable enough for outdoor activities. Christmas whizzes by in a blur of family, food and presents. Easter, being in the spring is full of promise with egg hunts & trips here and there much more possible. But February is cold, and it’s dark and there is usually still snow about which can leave you wanting to do nothing but hibernate in front of the tv.

This half term we did try to get out and about a bit but it was a disaster really. We used our National Trust membership to visit a property, but we didn’t get in the house & the grounds were still thick with snow. We ended up wandering around in the snow for a few hours, had a picnic in the car & went home cold & miserable.

We went to the seaside at Redcar another day. We couldn’t get to the beach properly because the council were building new sea defences. There was a biting wind blowing so we quickly found shelter in an amusements. This, at least was great fun. £2 each & over an hour of fun on the 2p machines. The excitement of winning a lolly when it has been teetering on the edge for ages!

So when my son wanted to go to crazy golf later in the week I was more than a little reluctant. It was still cold & windy, it kept trying to rain & I only had a vague idea of where the golf was. I tried to persuade him with a game of monopoly, I tried to cajole him into snuggling on the sofa to watch a movie. But he would not be budged.

We found the golf with relatively little trouble, pulled into the car park & all piled out of the car. At that precise moment a car pulled into the space next to us. I recognised the man in the passenger seat. It was someone I had spent a lot of time with at uni when we were training to be teachers. The last time I had seen him was June 2007 at our graduation. Life had got in the way & we had lost touch.

Through good luck or fate we both just happened to be going to the same golf course on the same day at the same time. 5 minutes earlier & I wouldn’t have seen him, 5 minutes later we would have missed each other too. Is that what they call serendipity?!

I am a bad mother – officially!!

As some of you may or may not know I have two beautiful children.  I have a gorgeous daughter who is 8 and a wonderful son who is 10.  You may also be aware that my son has autism.  It is not too severe, he is communicative and I thank God every day that he is.  But he still has his problems, and as we are a family his problems become our problems.

So why am I a bad mother?  Because I think sometimes I a make his problems worse.  I get distracted and tired and angry and frustrated and anxious and sad.  And all of these emotions, when coupled with my sons problems mean that I do things for an easy life that I shouldn’t.

Today the kids are going on a school trip to the theatre to watch Shakespeare for Kids – Romeo and Juliette.  They came home with a letter saying they could take a drink (non-fizzy) and a packet of sweets with them.  Now, I was pretty good with the drink, they both chose a bottle of flat Vimto.  But the sweets caused a huge problem.  My gorgeous daughter dutifully chose a nice reasonable sized packet of strawberry shoe laces.  Not to big and not too small.  Job done.  But my son point blank refused to look at any of the small sweets and was instead fixed immovably in front of the huge packets that you share as a family in front of the TV.  For ten minutes I tried to persuade and cajole him into going for something along the size of his sisters packet.  He was not budging.  Then he started with the tears.  When they arrive you know the next step is going to be him flinging himself on the floor and rolling around making silly noises.  I just couldn’t face it at half past 8 in the morning in the local Spar.  So I gave in.  The cardinal sin.  I let him chose a big bag of Tangfastics.  And how did I justify this lack of parenting skills?  I told him he had to share them with his sister.  Bah, like that is gonna happen.

Chip, chip, chip he goes at my authority…..

Where have I been?

It has been about two weeks since I last blogged.  Every time I sit down to write something then another task has got in the way.  So what has filled my time?  I took part in my first BNS and BNR on Etsy.  For those who haven’t taken part in one yet your shop is featured and if a shop buys from you depending upon if it is an R (replace) or S (stay) they then take your slot or get one in the next round.  They are very addictive and great fun!

I have been busy stocking my shop full of goodies.  I now have the grand total of 35 items listed.  My plan is to reach 50 by the end of half term which gives me three weeks.

So what have I added? A range of sports inspired mug hugs knitted to order in team colours of your choice, this is the large striped version, but I also make one with smaller stripes.With the London 2012 olympics and Euro 2012 coming up these will make great gifts for any sports fans.  I also made one in red, white and blue stripes if you were feeling really patriotic!!

I have been busy practising my skills on the sewing machine with some fabric key rings and brooches.

I have also been making a range of key rings and brooches in felt and hand sewn.  And some are all about getting ready for St Paddy’s Day

I have enjoyed making some patriotic inspired bunting.  This one was with the forces in mind, or any family where the Dad works away, like mine.  I have also made some patriotic bunting in squares and rectangles.  Ideal for the upcoming Jubilee.  I can just see us all now enjoying a cup of tea and a slice of cake in the street with our neighbours with my bunting flapping in the gentle breeze

I must admit, though, that despite not having sold one single valentines related item I am going to list one last thing.  And then I am moving on.

Spring is beckoning, and with it Easter and Mother’s Day.  Some lovely new bright and cheerful colours.  So this will be listed today and then no more hearts for a while!!

Kitchen Envy

I am currently sat at the desk with the phone on speaker and I am completely fed up.  My printer has gone doolally and need support.  But while I am waiting I have five minutes to share a funny story with you.

In my last blog I posted pictures of my kitchen and I had a few lovely comments from people saying they had kitchen envy.  So just to stir those feelings up again here is my gorgeous kitchen.

As you can see, I work at the kitchen table )

Anyway all these wonderful comments reminded me of something that happened a couple of years back.

I was enjoying a nice quiet, relaxing Saturday afternoon at home when the doorbell went.  Stood there was a woman I went to uni with, her husband and small daughter.  I had not seen her in a few years.  ”We were just passing” she says.  Bearing in mind she lives about a two hour drive away I found that a little strange but nevertheless welcomed them in and made them comfortable with teas and toys for the little one.  After half an hour they got up to leave and as they were gathering their bits the husband went into my hallway with his camera.  Well, my face must have been a sight because he informed me his parents were building their own home and Amanda had said how lovely my stairs were.  They wanted a picture so they could have a staircase made just like mine!!! You could have floored me.  They took their pics and I haven’t seen or heard from them since.  And here is the infamous staircase.