Bredon School

[veggiegrower123]

My daughter has been a full boarder in Year 9 at Bredon since September 2014. She is not dyslexic or dyspraxic, but has a specific learning difficulty which means she struggles to understand inferred language which, to date, has really hindered her academic progress. Her previous school had no experience or understanding of her difficulty and had no real interest in trying to help her overcome it. I was told that she would struggle enormously to get any GCSEs.

Then I found Bredon by doing a Google search. Immediately, the learning support department knew exactly what my daughter’s difficulty was, had a raft of experience of it and an understanding of its traits. The Speech and Language department is a unique resource to have in a school and they have worked closely with my daughter and the academic teaching staff to support her. The improvement over the academic year has been quite extraordinary.

My daughter is very happy at Bredon. She loves boarding. There are a great many activities on offer for the boarders and every weekend they go out to the various large towns in the vicinity. This is giving my daughter valid and much needed life skills, as well as fun.

The girls’ boarding department isn’t swish, but it is cosy and nurturing. All the girls become friends, regardless of age. My daughter has boarding friends in Year 6 through to the Sixth Form and they tend to seek each other out during the school day, at lunchtimes etc. They really are all like sisters.

I can’t recommend the school highly enough. Look past the ever so slightly imperfect facilities and see the more important things beyond.

Next year, my daughter starts her GCSE courses. She is taking 8 GCSEs and has every chance of passing all of them. A hugely different scenario from her previous school.

My daughter’s potential has been unlocked at Bredon – I can’t wait to see how she will turn out at the end of her education there!

[iwantanewcar]

What a lovely post. Thank you for sharing.

[mumofadhdson]

Hello Veggiegrower123

That is so great to read. My son is about to do a trial there, so it is helpful to get some inside knowledge. How are the GCSE's going?

[Goldmandra]

Sadly my daughter had a very different experience from the one you describe.

We found the SEN support to be very poor with one untrained and inept member of staff causing huge trauma. I was very concerned about the way they closed ranks when a safeguarding concern was raised.

The mainstream teaching staff were lovely but I had to remove my daughter because I didn't feel she was safe and it was clear that the y had no intention of meeting her needs as set out in her statement.

[childmaintenanceserviceinquiry]

Was that a recent change Goldmandra? I just wondered if some of the changes over the last couple of years had made a difference. New owners, new head, tightening of procedures, sudden change of bursar, prep school seems stable.

They have plenty of children there on statements/ehcps so not sure why they couldnt meet your DD's needs.

[Goldmandra]

Yes it was fairly recent, under the new owners and head teacher. The bursar wasn't really involved anyway.

I think there are about 25 children there who have statements/EHCPs. I was told by their SENCos twice that they had assumed that my daughter's needs were exaggerated in her statement to get her a placement in the school and, had they realised the statement was genuine and accurate, they wouldn't have accepted her in the first place (this was recorded in writing both times). That could explain why they can meet the needs of other children with statements and EHC Plans.

I do believe that the teaching staff do a good job for neurotypical children and probably those who are a bit anxious and just need a small, quiet environment with familiar faces around them.

I'm happy to accept that other parents have different views and that other children may have had good experiences there. This is just my experience.