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Here are some suggested organisations that offer expert advice on special needs.

SN children

Independent Schools - autism

37 replies

clpsmum · 08/04/2013 14:58

Hi wonder if anyone can help. Do any of your children with autism go to an I dependant school and have the fees covered by the local authority?

If yes. Could you please let me have an idea of the annual fee for the school and the percentage (if any) paid by the LA

Thank you

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cansu · 08/04/2013 15:29

yes ds aged 11 who is very severely autistic goes to an independent NAS school. LA pay fees and transport but only because of tribunal case. The fees are about 60,000 for the school as a day pupil plus about 20,000 for transport.

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bjkmummy · 08/04/2013 16:44

mine about to start an independent asd school run by a charity - cost is £43k for day school and £27k for transport - all paid for by the LA but they dragged me thorough tribunal to get it

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insanityscratching · 08/04/2013 20:27

Ds goes to the school bjkmummy's child is due to start, fees are about the same maybe slightly more as he's post sixteen and transport is £20,000pa. LA pay it all. We didn't get to Tribunal LA gave us the placement as we had leave for Judicial Review on the grounds of irrationality.

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clpsmum · 08/04/2013 20:57

OMG I'm actually gobsmacked! I thought it would be about £3k£4k!!!

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StarlightMcKenzie · 08/04/2013 21:44

DS' school is one of the cheaper ones. £35k and then transport on top. Not sure what that costs as there was a taxi already going from near our house so ds just jumped aboard and it wasn't costed.

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StarlightMcKenzie · 08/04/2013 21:46

But you have to remember:

Full-time TA plus pension/holiday/sick/agency/training can be about £20k in London. SALT comes in at about £100 per contact hour as does OT. If you have that weekly it adds up.

At a special school it is onsite and a part of the package.

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insanityscratching · 08/04/2013 22:14

A friend of mine pays the fees for an Independent school but the LA fund the TA support that she secured through a statement. Fees for the school are £6,000pa TA support for 16 hours per week are probably almost double that.

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Naelith · 08/04/2013 22:44

Hi
My son goes to an independent special school for children with asd. His fees are £100,000 a year and I think it is £25 a year in taxis.

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googlyeyes · 08/04/2013 22:54

Ds1 goes to an independent school, £50k per year plus transport (shares taxi with one other child)

We were incredibly fortunate not to have to go to tribunal as we managed to prove pretty conclusively that nowhere in borough could meet his needs

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clpsmum · 09/04/2013 06:51

I am totally speechless I can't believe the cost.

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insanityscratching · 09/04/2013 07:55

In Ds's class there are 6 pupils and four members of staff, he has speech therapy twice a week and OT weekly. He follows an individual curriculum which is delivered 1 to 1 much of the time, sometimes 1 to 2 and occasionally 2 to 3. It's the expertise and the ratios that makes it expensive.

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StarlightMcKenzie · 09/04/2013 08:55

'It's the expertise and the ratios that makes it expensive.'

And in my ds' school there is a lot of 'support' as well as training for the staff. So they get perks such as free yoga, massage, counselling etc. supposedly to help them work with more difficult children!?

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ouryve · 09/04/2013 08:55

The independent special school we're looking at is £54k pa for day pupils. We know there's nowhere in the LA that will fit the bill, but we're still going to have to put forward a good case. There is precedent, though with several kids from our area attending this school.

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MareeyaDolores · 09/04/2013 09:07

It's the specialised independents which cost lots.

An ordinary private school is more like £10k but then any SEN provision is on top, as said above

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googlyeyes · 09/04/2013 12:58

Yes, in our case it's the one to one for each pupil and the individualised curriculum that cost so much. And there is SALT and OT on site.

I agree it's ludicrously expensive. Significantly more than Eton (and that's a boarding school too)

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maxsanta · 09/04/2013 13:10

How do you find an independent specialist placement that suits an academically able child with Aspergers who can't cope with school ?

All the schools I have seen here are SpLD but seem to have no guaranteed understanding of ASD.

Either that, or they are for children with extreme behavioural difficulties.

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ouryve · 09/04/2013 13:13

Maxsanta, the school we're after fits that bill. It's in N Yorks. It's a boys only school, though and starts at year 5.

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maxsanta · 09/04/2013 13:16

Bit far away for us! How did you find it?

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ouryve · 09/04/2013 13:21

Purely by chance! Turns out it's in the list of approved schools given to us by the LA when we went through SA, anyhow, but it's listed as an SEBD school there.

There is an online directory, somewhere. I'll see if I can track it down.

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maxsanta · 09/04/2013 13:22

Thanks.

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ouryve · 09/04/2013 13:22
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moondog · 09/04/2013 13:25

Free yoga and massage Star? Shock
Blimey.
NOt so much as a free cup of tea for me (as quite rightly it sohuld be, being tax payers money an' all)

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StarlightMcKenzie · 09/04/2013 13:38

I know Moondog. I suppose investment in the welfare of the staff is considered justified on the basis that they will then do a better job.

data anyone?

Perhaps they can attract better quality candidates that way. No idea.

Though the school is an indpendent one and not particularly set up to get taxpayer money. It's just that LAs are doing such a shoddy job that these places are the only places offering adequate education. It's not really their fault, but LA's who have such poor evidence-base for what they do, even it some of it IS good.

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Schmedz · 09/04/2013 13:59

Maxsanta...am in a similar situation with my DD who is academically able with Aspergers but because she is 'coping' in a mainstream setting apparently does not meet criteria for statement or any specialist support. Very concerned as she starts senior school this September that things will go a bit pear shaped because the secondary school will not be like her junior school, which is nurturing and very supportive and very small.

We pay for an independent school with smaller classes/cohorts about half the size of a mainstream state school but we have no chance of any LEA funding! It is academically selective so her intellectual capacities are catered for very well. Most independent schools have no particular special skills with ASD ...hopefully you will find one that is able to offer proper support.

The NAS suggested schools do seem to cater primarily for boys and also those who seem more severely affected than my DD. I will be watching this thread eagerly to see if anyone has any good suggestions as I have been unable to find anything wholly suitable for her.

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moondog · 09/04/2013 14:00

Of course.
The failure of the state sector means the private can take up the slack and such is the relief of parents at finding a refuge (and the releif of the LEA at getting said parents off their back) that noone really then bothers to scrutinise what these places which cost £££££ are actually up to.

The fact that it costs ££££££ somehow becomes synonymous with it being good.

I'd argue that for most staff, the strongest reinforcement comes from them seeing pupils make measureable progress. That's the intrinsic reinforcement of the work.

You know, that intrinsic reinforcement that so many of these people say the kids must have for themsleves without resorting to bribes.

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