New teacher

Charlotte has a new teaching assistant assigned to her.  She will be there 4 days a week which is what the statement funding will cover.  It will be great to see how she makes progress in the classroom with a bit of extra support.

She told me that the new teacher showed her how to draw a bicycle with two wheels and a seat.  It seems as though she was not aware that pictures of bicycles included a seat. 

The plan is that we won't make Charlotte expressly aware that this teacher is assigned just to her.  It will be better for her socially, and for her relationships with the other teachers, if the new teacher is there as extra support for the whole class.

I am so pleased and proud of the school.  So many (private) schools won't accept statemented children; but this one understands that there are benefits for the class and the whole school.  From a purely mercenary standpoint, they have put in some extra work up front for paperwork and meetings and got an additional teaching assistant out of it.  Who, parents and staff, would not prefer their nursery class to have one teacher and three assistants?  By the time she gets to year one, it would mean a doubling of assistant resources across two classes.  (Two assistants for two classes, instead of one shared between two).

I am aware that this is possible because of public funding and I am incredibly grateful for the state support that she has received.  From medical services, through visual impairment support and disability benefits, we have been incredibly fortunate.  Tax and spend, heh?

On a practical level, I briefed the new teacher by giving her a copy of the incredibly helpful Teachers Guide to Helping a Student with Achromatopsia from the Low Vision Centres of Indiana.