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Original poster

Advice on selective school for bright dyspraxic boy SW London

29 replies

DaffyDodo · 22/02/2016 23:38

Hi all,

My ds has been diagnosed with hypermobility and DCD (Dyspraxia) and I'm trying to narrow down schools for him.

He is bright - top sets for English and Maths at a non-selective private school here in SW London (with extra time for writing in English) and only got his diagnosis recently. He is also on an Art Scholarship scheme which means extra Art classes to build up a portfolio for potential scholarships.

He is dreadful at sport and isn't allowed to do contact sports like Rugby and to be very careful with football and running, so a very sporty school isn't great. He is also very friendly and smiley but very shy indeed and prefers to stay out of the limelight, and tends to stammer under pressure (he had some speech therapy but he is currently busy with physio and OT for his other issues so we stopped speech therapy). Based on this I think a hothouse uber competitive school wouldn't suit him.

I want him to go somewhere nurturing but equally somewhere that suits him academically as he is bright and is currently dreaming of working in animation some day. He is a very gentle, kind, bright and well-behaved and smiley boy but my concerns are that a very competitive or aggressive environment won't suit him, but equally somewhere too laid back won't be ideal as he is bright and needs to be challenged.

To add one more thing - he is mixed race - it's not a huge deal right now but I would prefer him to go somewhere he doesn't stand out as the only non-caucasian.

Thanks in advance!

OP posts:
Greengagesummer · 23/02/2016 09:25

*Sanskrit

Greengagesummer · 23/02/2016 09:24

Consider St James's Ashford. Definitely good with SEN and lots of diversity. Not top academic and quite sporty (rugby & rowing but sport haters manage ok there) but v hot on drama and art. Don't know about music.
You/he would need to be OK with compulsory vegetatian hot lunches & thrice daily 'pauses' - meditation or daydreaming - & San skirt plus Latin at least y7. Background links with SES but I'm not aware of it being a problem for decades now.

sayatidaknama · 23/02/2016 09:12

We had extremely positive experiences with DS, who also has dyspraxia and sounds very like your DS OP, at KGS, KCS and St Paul's. I think it's wrong to assume that if your DC has any SN they must only go to a co-ed or less academic school. Ime, the more competitive entry schools like St Paul's and KCS lead the way in their teaching and experience of SN. They certainly have a lot of interesting profiles on their books!

Ibstock does famously not support any SN however bright your DC is. We also had negative experiences at Hampton. Latymer also worth considering if your DS is very bright but be warned that it is extremely over-subscribed.

Agree with pp that most state secondaries are just as able if not better equipped to deal with SN. Depends on where you are in SW London for actual state recommendations.

Noitsnotteatimeyet · 23/02/2016 06:23

Do you want him to stay in the private sector for secondary? As state schools often deal with the kind of issues your ds faces much better than most private schools

Chestnut Grove in Balham has a fantastic art department and doesn't have a big focus on sport - it's ethnically and socially very diverse and I know several families whose children have had additional needs who're very happy there (it's a VERY different school to ten or so years ago but its reputation hasn't quite caught up yet)

Graveney would also be worth having a look at if he's very bright - not too much sport unless you go looking for it and again, plenty of mixed race children

If you're thinking of the private sector then I'd have thought you'd be better to concentrate on co-ed schools as the boys' schools do tend to have a big emphasis on rugby etc

There are lots of quirky, artistic boys at Alleyn's and it's not as monochrome as MN likes to think

I'm personally not a big fan of Emanuel but I know lots of people are - there's also Ibstock Place and Harrodian which may be easy to get to depending on whereabouts in SW London you are but I only know one child in each of those so not enough to get a real idea of what they're like