Help me find a school boy...anywhere!

[witchesbroth]

Ds is 8. He's out of school currently as his mainstream school were just fire fighting all the time and excluding him and putting him in isolation. Enough was enough. He's effectively home educating (but not off roll) now while we decide what to do. There's a whole other thread of mine talking about there being no schools in Devon for him.

We've decided that long term, we most probably will move to an area with better provision. Can you let me know if you know of schools that would work for....

Autism - but only recently come to light. Very NT development up to age 7 then wheels fell off!
Gifted - needs very much a mainstream curriculum and stretching
Sensory difficulties - struggles with the noise of school (fine with clothes, smells etc). Fine with noise when not concentrating on work.
Social difficulties - love to be with others but often gets it wrong. Acutely aware he has no friends. Desperately wants a peer group into computers, coding, chess, maths and science. Needs social communication input.
Hypermobile - struggles with writing
Sensory seeking so needs movement
High anxiety if the above not addressed which leads to challenging behaviour - fight or flight. Only does this in school. At home we just get tears and our head bitten off!

Any schools? I've heard of Breckenbrough which looks like the kind of school. Help!

[witchesbroth]

Find a school for my boy.....god!!

[tinabloodysparkle]

Hi witches,

That sounds exactly like my boy (apparently this is not a usual presentation!)

There's a school near to us called The Holmewood School whose website sounds amazing. They have lots of accreditation marks so maybe have a look at those to see if they provide a list of other schools.

A school mum I know (a psychiatrist) says you have to have a v good ehcp in place to get a chance of getting into Holmewood (or lots of £££).

[Miscible]

Try the Cambian schools, e.g. Grateley and Southlands? Also More House.

[Nodressrehearsal]

Bruern Abbey

[OneInEight]

Nowhere near Devon but Cruckton Hall, Alderwasley (they may be wary of challenging behaviour), High Grange, Longdon's (West Midlands Area) all take children with a similar profile & I think all offer residential placements as well as day boys. My two had a very similar pattern of all well until juniors and then boy did they make up for it. Visit as many schools as you can (and more than once) so you get a true feel of how they manage the behaviour & anxiety. You can tell a lot by hearing how the staff talk to the pupils. Flexibility is one of the key characteristics I think that is needed. We had an unerring ability to pick schools only for the head-teacher to promptly leave and the new incumbent running the school very differently so if you manage to find a school you like check for likely long-term stability.

[MyCatWorksForMI5]

Not sure Bruern Abbey would be right - aside from being in Oxfordshire (OP is in Devon), the primary focus is literacy at Bruern- so dyslexia and dyspraxia

[witchesbroth]

Thanks for all the suggestions - will look in to them.

Anywhere is fine - we are most likely going to move to be near the right school!

[Bakedfishpie]

In addition to what you already have:

Slindon college West Sussex (takes from year 4).
www.slindoncollege.co.uk/primary-school

Swalcliffe, Oxfordshire (but may not take until 10)
swalcliffepark.co.uk

Also you could try the Good schools guide - filter on autism and Aspergers:
www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk

[HalfCatHalfMouse]

Egerton Rothsey school

[Ellie56]

Look at the Priory schools. They specialise in autism.Our son is in one of their colleges and doing fantastically well.

[anniehm]

There are good schools out there, the head makes a huge difference. We have a cluster of schools with an autism pathway, my dd was one of the first to go through it - state school! The primaries have had extra teaching but kids remain in mainstream classes, at secondary they can be separated, part mixed or fully mixed depending on need, at six form it is bespoke based on need (from 14 my dd was given her own desk in a little office and a laptop as her anxiety was out of control, meds have helped since). It's worth calling/emailing near you because you can't rely just on anecdotal information here, there's gem hidden out there

[Whatcouldpossiblygowrong]

No recommendations to make but following the thread with interest since you could have been describing my son!

[PearlyG8]

I found your thread while looking for anyone who has experience of 'this stuff' as my nearly 5 year old has just started school, may have autistic traits (his Dad has ASC) and already SEN provision is clearly needed. I wonder if we'll be in your situation eventually but right now I'm hopeful his lovely small state primary in the middle of Brighton will work. I'm aware children do very happily join the school in other years, it's been noted as good for that.

I don't fully understand all the ins and out of what you are looking for and advice you've had upthread seems much more relevant than my situation but Brighton's a great place to live :) I know of another state school close to us with a larger intake which is Ofsted Outstanding and reputedly excellent with autism. The AMAZE website might be worth a look.

I think coding is going to be big for us....