Educational Welfare officers ?

anita01

Hi,
Just wondered if any of you have had experience of meetings with EWO's in primary school , and what it consisted of.

Our school seems to treat them with awe, almost threaten me with their involvement re attendance figures,

I have been given an "official letter" today asking for a meeting....

I am hoping it will actually help me, to get school to understand considerations, bit wonder if i am being naive??

Any help welcomed,

Anita

suzygirl

Hi, I have spoken to one and she was really very helpful. Once I had managed to convince her I was a genuine case. My sons consultant wrote to the school explaining the problem, and that was enough.

She did have some really good ideas about how to minimise his tiredness etc.

I would say, they spend so much time with people who don't have their childs best interests at heart, they tend to tar everyone with the same brush. Once I established the 'facts' and that my child had been under the hospital since a toddler and that nearly every time he was off, he had had a doctors appt, they changed their attitude very quickly.

I wish you well. Have you got anyone to go with you as support? Sometimes, independent charities will come along to support you.

Take care

anita01

Thanks suzygirl,

I spoke to the school , and they said they have not had a meeting with the ewo previously, which might explain why they seem so anxious about it. They said they didn't know what would happen so I am not going to prepare anything, wait and see what they ask for first.....
I have spoken to someone from a local charity, families in focus who may be able to accompany me , I do feel a bit intimidated to be honest.
Anita

illihor

I've never had any experience from them either. I tell my daughters school in advance of any appointments which will either make her late or totally absent froms school. This gets marked down as M on the registers as medical and not taken off her attendance record. She does however still have a lousy attendance record especially since starting etanercept as whenever she gets ill even a slight cold she runs a really high fever and i will not send her into school like that.

Just be open and honest with them take all your hospital letters or if like us she has bloods every 4 weeks and we don't get a letter i just put it in the diary but i would take that with you too so that you can prove the absences and why. If they want to follow it up and contact the hospital then they will obviously find out why.

I got in contact with our SENCO before she even started school (helped i have 2 older children already attending the school) and gave them a clear indication of her problem and needs they then asked for help and advise from a physical disabilities outreach teacher who has also helped setting everything up for her needs/care. i have never been warned that her attendance is unacceptable although I don't think they dare either lol

Good luck and I hope all goes well

Michelle xxx

dreamdaisy

Hi anita01, I am not a parent (just a nosy forum member) but I urge you to take illihor's advice. Not prepearing anything is not really an option, expecially if you want them to realise that you are a concerned parent. Take any hospital letters etc with you, just as Michelle suggested, and also take a general list of what joints are affected, tiredness levels, the meds and dosages. Surely your child's absences should be credited as medically based (when they are) and not noted as unauthorised. EWAs are there to help, I think that is what you need to remember - and try not to be intimidated by the school who may well be fretting about what they HAVEN'T been doing to help. Let us know how you get on, if you can. DD

frogmorton

Hi Anita

I am sure that at this stage it is just as the others are saying due to low attendance. It is their job to establish WHY a child's attendance is low. You should all have the same goal - the best interests of your child

All being well you should get a similar experience to suzygirl and get some HELP! I agree with you - a support person will make you feel more comfortable.

Good luck with the meeting - do you have a date yet?

Love

Toni xx

suzygirl

Just wondering if you have had your meeting, and if went well??

anita01

Hi Suzigirl, no not yet , have submitted some dates to school when both hubby and I can get there, ... Thanks for asking, Anita

anita01

Hi just wanted to say we have the meeting with school and the EWO tomorrow, wed am.

Wish me luck !

Anita.

suzygirl

Anita, I hope it goes well for you!!

anita01

Thanks, heard tonight at 5pm that appt cancelled, due to EWO not confirming (later said to be due to sickness), and welfare officer sick too, husband took day off to attend!

Even more annoying is the fact that today the school had an open session to meet family support worker.. I went over and discovered she has been in post for a year, during which time I have searched for some kind of support, parent partnership at co council, Not once in talks with school re difficulties, did anyone tell me this person was available, I truly despair ...................

lavenderlady

I too have had run ins with educational knobs as my hubby calls them but my daughter suffers with Asthma along with joint pain, she also suffered with a low Iga which means she catches every bug going which in turn caused her breating to be bad and her tolerance to pain was very low, she actually leaves school in late may this year so am so delighted to be finally rid of their invasion in our life,
in middle school she was lying on the sofa hooked up to her nebuliser after a home visit from our GP when the EWO knocked on my door, she saw her and said shes not at school again, after a night of no sleep and a Gps visit and her laboured breathing and her pain I'm afraid I called my Gp while she was there and spoke to him who then spoke to her informing her that any further problems they were to deal with him, I was myself quite ill by then with my OA and other health problems,
I went in to speak to the head teacher a real witch, I said do you have a nebuliser she replied no so I said sorry my daughters health and her life is more important then school , she then said we had to know if she was really ill or if you was the kind of parent who was out drinking the night before and could not be bothered to get up to take her to school, I was furious and reported it , from then on we got left alone,
High school did try my patience when they told me she had to remove her medic alert braclet in PE, I said fine no PE the whole point of the medic alert is for times like PE when she could get hurt,
so you can imagine how happy I am to be finally rid of the stress this has given me over the years, tell them your point of view and dont back down, my daughter might have missed school but shes managed to keep up with the rest of her class indeed excelling in some lessons, she starts college in Sept which is right next door to the hospital , so we are all hoping things will be ok from now on, good luck be strong and know what you are going to say before you go in, my daughters my 5th and youngest child and all 4 of her brothers never had any problems as I told them enough times, the childs health comes before her schooling you can always teach them while they are home I certainly did , I'm very proud of her managing as she did with constant pain and illness, good luck, michelle

littlemummy2

Hi, whenever I had an appointment for phoebe for any hospital appointments I take them into school and they take a photo copy for their records, the physiotherapist and ot have also had dealings with teh school.

They have nothing better to do than get on the case of people that have a genuine reason for not being in school.
Michelle a x