Afternoon all. So the new model for SNA support has been postponed until next year. Which is good. And no new applications will be processed this year. Which is very, very, very bad. #edchatie (big long thread ahoy)

While schools have been told that they will not lose SNAs in September, new and growing schools and - more importantly - the children in them are at risk of not receiving the supports they need and deserve in order to allow for equitable educational outcomes for all.

The department of education have not made any mention of new and growing schools in their announcement around the SNA allocation process for September. They also made no mention of these schools when the Special Education Teaching (SET) allocation model changed in 2017.

The roll out of this emergency model looks like it will repeat the failures of the new SET model. It is extremely worrying for those of us on the front line... So, first some backstory, then some graphs, then some editorialising.

In 2017 the way SET was allocated to schools was changed. No longer would schools have to get psychological reports and make applications for children. Schools would be given a tranche of SET hours based on their school's "profile". Less paperwork, more freedom! Great!

Schools would roughly get the same SET year-on-year, no schools would lose SET in the first year. Small fluctuations would occur but these would be small as a school's profile was unlikely to change dramatically over a short period of time. All good.

Except this did not take into account the needs and circumstances of new and growing schools which would need year-on-year increases in allocation in order to maintain the levels of support required by their students.
To look at the effects of the new model I did the following:

I looked at SET hours *per pupil* *per week* for all post-primary schools across the country and how these allocations changed relative to the size of the allocation in each school. This removed discrepancies caused by varying school size or varying SET amounts.

This metric would also give us an indication of how well schools could cope with fluctuations - does the change experienced represent a small or large proportion of the school's total allocation?

Most schools across the country made out quite well, receiving an increase of 16-43% of their last years allocation. But what's going on with those 4 schools receiving a *decrease* of more than 36%?

The average a school received was a 40% increase. 4 schools received almost exactly the same amount *less*. These 4 schools had to operate with 30%-50% less resources for their most needy pupils. But surely it has been fixed by now. This is just an anomaly?

Um, not really. By 2019/20 we now have 9 schools operating with *huge* proportional deficits to their SET allocation. Imagine losing 73% of your staff in your workplace and having to maintain productivity? This is the equivalent of what has happened to some schools over 3 years.

These schools have - somehow - coped. Teachers, SNAs, management and parents would have been through the ringer. SENCOs knowing that every child deserved more, needed more but being unable to do anything about it as the slight resources had to be spread.

Schools are allocated resources based on their "profile". The profiling process is opaque. There *is* an appeals system but at least one of these 9 schools has actually won an appeal and *still* stay far behind the curve. Others have had appeals rejected for no specific reason.

Do these schools have anything in common? (I know who they are and will happily talk to any school leader about my findings around their school.) 8 of these 9 schools opened in 2016, the other opened in 2015. These schools experienced the worst of the new model.

These schools will, again, be hit by the new model for SNA allocation. This new halfway house proposed for this year means that these schools which are adding whole new year groups each year will lose out.

The failings of the implementation of the new SET model are set to be repeated note-for-note with the failings of the implementation of the new model for SNA allocation. (and this intermediate, not-old, not-new model). Two big points:

Growing schools may not lose SNAs but they *will* gain 60-90 children. Many of whom will have substantial needs. These new schools are - rightly - seen as caring, considerate, expert, welcoming environments for students with additional needs.

"Small" fluctuations hit small and growing schools hugely. They have a dramatic effect on a schools ability to meet the needs of their most needy children. New and growing schools will be experiencing a huge fluctuation in real-terms.

These schools need SNA support on the ground in August. They cannot open doors to students and *then* make an appeal. These schools know the needs of the students incoming, as do the SENOs as these students would have had support allocated to them in primary school.

No new applications can be made this year and an appeals process "will" be announced. This is not good enough. Schools were told that applications would *not* be processed and there was no system in place. Now we are being told that if we followed instructions we will lose out.

We *are* in the midst of an unprecedented international crisis but schools will open in autumn. Children will need to go to school and some children, those whom this new allocation process will fail, will crash out of the system. Schools will not be able to cope.

I am massively worried about September. You may think that your child doesn't receive SET or doesn't receive SNA access so it doesn't apply to you. However, an inadequately staffed school affects the educational outcomes of each and every pupil.

I really hope that the department finds a way to ensure that SNA allocation for new and growing schools takes into consideration the needs of the new children attending these schools and the children in these schools who are presenting with new care needs.

Given what has happened to new and growing schools in relation to their SET, I am not confident. #edchatie

@VoiceforTeacher @colmjoconnor @CatrionaGolden @emernowlan @SNAsSpeakOut see above thread for analysis of the SET model and how the allocation of SNAs this year could effect new schools.

@kidsbehindthec1 @WhitmoreJen @stevensgreen1