Fwd: Final Document re Twins

[Simone de Haas]

Hej Camilla and everyone else who might be interested in this,

just read your email regarding separating twins in school. I have 6year old twin boys who are in year 1. When we had our first school visit at Grazebrook's and they told us about their separation policy without having any discussion with us the parents we felt a bit like you must feel now. A wonderful other twin mum then forwarded me this email (see below). In the end we didn't need the HLT Guidelines as they now go to a wonderful school that only has one form (St.Mary's Stoke Newington) but maybe this can be helpful for you?!

All the best,

Mone

Dear All,

I attach for you information the final document that the Learning Trust has just released.  It has been sent to all schools through the headteachers bulletin and is going to be available on the Learning Trust website, probably in the admissions section.  The lead Educational Psychologist at the Learning Trust, Siobhan Currie, was instrumental in taking it forward.  Thanks to all of you for supporting the original letter and a special thanks to Anna Borzello and Jessie Sklair who came to a meeting at the Learning Trust to finalise the document.  Keith Reed at TAMBA has also endorsed it. I hope you all find it useful and if any of you have twins/multiples starting this September it would be good to know if helps.  Our twins are not due to start until next September so we will have to wait and see.  Regards, Sandra and James Driver

From: sandra...@hotmail.co.uk
To: a...@comfortstation.co.uk; jado...@hotmail.com; borzel...@yahoo.co.uk; diana...@hotmail.com; jessie...@gmail.com; evas...@yahoo.co.uk; georgin...@hotmail.co.uk; rosanne...@hotmail.com; twinsc...@gmail.com; mis...@me.com; benjami...@googlemail.com; sally...@yahoo.com; ruth.v...@btinternet.com; eben....@talktalk.net; le...@f2s.com; z.t...@hotmail.co.uk; cassi...@gmail.com; cami...@yahoo.com
Subject: Final letter for your information
Date: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 19:59:09 +0000







Dear All,

A huge thank you to everyone of you for supporting this and for those of you who offered comments / ideas about its content.  I attach the final version for your information.  I will keep you all informed of the response we get.

Kind Regards,

Sandra

                        
                        

[Camilla Bubna-Kasteliz]

Hi Mone

Thanks for your email. I was on the mailing list when the email you forward was sent out and the document referred to was the one I mentioned to the school, but they claimed never to have received a copy. It also doesn't appear to be anywhere on the HLT website. I'm trying to get hold of Siobhan Currie at HLT to see if she can shed any light. 

best

Camilla

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From: 'Simone de Haas' via Twins Club N16 <twins-c...@googlegroups.com>
To: twins-c...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Monday, 13 June 2016, 23:41
Subject: [twins-club-n16] Fwd: Final Document re Twins

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[Marika Hegarty]

Yeh I've taught in many schools in many boroughs, the default policy is to separate. The HLT guidelines we are talking about here, are useful because they support parent voice. The trouble is the document is a guideline - head teachers can choose to recognise it or not- local authority schools are as free to reject the guidance, as academies or independent trusts, ie northwold, are. 

Responding to parent's wishes is something few schools manage to do well and that's probably why a school's capacity to respond to 'Parent Voice' is a significant part of an ofsted inspection📢 

Good for jubilee for respecting your wishes👍

Sent from my iPhone

[Maria Larsson Ortino]

Hello Camilla and everyone else,

Thank you for raising this! Our boy/girl twins will be going to Jubilee as their older brother, so I'm particularly interested. Overall we are very pleased with the school, but any mandatory separation would certainly disturb us. If there is anything we can do to help please do let me know.

Maria

Sent from my iPhone

[Eva Christensen]

Hi all,

Our boys are going to William Patten and we were also asked our preference. We prefer to separate them but it should definitely we a decision the parents should be able to make.

Best

Eva 

Sent from my iPhone

[Sally Lyon]

Hi all

Our twin boys are going to Betty Layward. They are already at the nursery there and over the year there has been informal discussion between us and nursery/school  staff about what our wishes would be regarding keeping together/ separating them and what we feel is best for the boys.

Since we've all been in agreement to keep them together next year we haven't felt the need to refer to the guidance. 

The reception classes are also mixed before the children go to Y1 so we  have the option to review the situation again.

As has already been said and speaking as a primary school teacher,the guidance is just that and schools can choose to take note or not. However after all they hard work that went into the document it's frustrating that the HLT and some schools don't seem to have knowledge of it!

We feel lucky to have had a good open dialogue with the nursery all year but it does sadden me that not everyone has had that same experience as I can certainly appreciate what a difficult decision it can be.
Sally
Sent from my iPhone

On 14 Jun 2016, at 06:11, Maria Larsson Ortino <maria....@gmail.com> wrote:

[Camilla Bubna-Kasteliz]

Thanks for your feedback everyone. I do get that schools don't have to follow guidelines, but agreeing to engage with parents rather than dictate to them doesn't seem especially radical to me! In case it helps anyone in the future, I'll keep you posted on any response I get from HLT about whether the document was ever sent out.

Maria - I'd be interested to hear what your experience is at Jubilee. I have emailed the document containing the guidelines to Kate Apostolov at Jubilee who deals with reception admissions, so at least she will now be aware of its existence.

best

Camilla

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From: 'Sally Lyon' via Twins Club N16 <twins-c...@googlegroups.com>
To: twins-c...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, 14 June 2016, 7:47
Subject: Re: [twins-club-n16] Fwd: Final Document re Twins

[Maria Larsson Ortino]

Hi Camilla - let's talk/meet up! This is my email address: Maria....@gmail.com

Sent from my iPhone

[Rosanne Gunning]

Hi All

I've got twin girls in Betty Layward reception and they are momentarily in the same class but we are just about to face the end of year reshuffle and possible separation going into year 1.

We had to push slightly against an existing blanket policy to split all twins in Betty Layward but it has been relatively seamless in their transition from nursery to reception. I've requested a meeting with their current reception teacher to discuss the pros and cons for our collective decision next year! And I've forwarded the HLT guidelines to the teachers involved in this decision, so I'll have to wait and see how influential the document may have been in our case. (I'm still completely in two minds & some objective feedback from the school would be most welcome!) What fills me with dread is how final the transition to year 1 seems! No assessment at regular intervals to see if it's working!

It is frustrating however that there isn't a more formal process in place throughout Hackney Primary Schools, to asses and reassess twin placement. We currently have 3 sets of twins in reception and I believe a further 4/5 new sets of twins coming into reception from September. 

It is a very relevant and important issue. 

Kind regards

Rosanne Berk

Sent from my iPad

[Catherine Thomas]

Hi all, 

I work at a school in Hackney and I have done for 8 years. I have never heard of these guidelines despite having twins myself! 

Due to becoming a larger school we have our first a two form cohort in September & have twins in the cohort. I was pleased that when I pointed out the guidelines to the Headteacher, she agreed that there should not be a blanket policy. Each case should be considered on an individual basis. 

For those of you who could be in a tricky position come September, if a meeting with the headteacher doesn't work you can write to the school governors to request a meeting. I would recommend starting the process as soon as possible as I know that we are beginning to carry out home visits and then allocating children to classes.

Hope that helps anyone with concerns.

Kind regards,

Catherine Thomas

Sent from my iPhone

[Maria Larsson Ortino]

hello again,

I'm wondering if it could be worth letting TAMBA know/loop them in. They might be able to help.

All the best. Maria

Maria Larsson Ortino

46 Mount Pleasant Lane
London E5 9DN

H: 020 3774 7948
M: 07940007468

[Camilla Bubna-Kasteliz]

Thanks Maria and Catherine. I will contact Tamba and let them know.

Camilla 

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From: Maria Larsson Ortino <maria....@gmail.com>
To: "twins-c...@googlegroups.com" <twins-c...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, 14 June 2016, 22:21
Subject: Re: [twins-club-n16] Fwd: Final Document re Twins

[Jessica Sklair]

Hi all

Apologies for late joining of this email conversation.

Camilla, this is very sad to hear after all the work that Sandra did getting the guidelines written up for the Hackney Learning Trust (Anna Borzello and I helped at the time with proofreading the guidance and attending a meeting at the HLT with Sandra). The final document is available online from Tamba here:

http://www.tamba.org.uk/file/HLT-Guidance-on-Education-of-Twins.pdf

BUT doesn’t seem to be available on the Hackney Learning Trust website.

If I remember rightly we were told at the time that HLT would circulate it to the heads of all primary schools in the borough, so it is worrying if that has not been the case. I think if anyone else runs into difficulties they should feel free to pass the guidance document directly to heads of schools - after all it was produced formally by the HLT. (Although as others have said, it is only guidance and heads are not legally obliged to follow it). Tamba was very supportive at the time in getting it out so they might also be able to advise if anyone feels their wishes are not being respected by heads.

Also worth noting that part of the guidance in the document states that any decision should be reassessed on an annual basis if parents wish to do so.

Best,

Jessie

(mum of Frida and Bea, starting at Lauriston in January)