To Change school routine completely?

[BLUESEAPARADISE]

To cut the long story short we have spent months discussing this topic ( DH & I ) but still haven't made our mind up and we know it's silly because it's nearly back to school time!

Our DS is 9 but develop mentally is 9-18 months old and for the past two years has been going to two tutors for a few sessions a week ( as well as therapy) before this we tried a traditional primary school ( was a disaster) and also Special educational needs school ( he found this very stressful and got very upset and didn't settle even after a few months of going daily).

Before breaking up for the summer holidays we got back in touch with the SEN school again as someone told us that if he would go to he school he would be get ALOT more therapy than he currently gets and has got before (the school has had a huge make over and switch of staff since he went)

The school has said that he is welcome back as they have spaces and to let them know on the first day back if he would definitely be attending so we can put things in place to get him back into their school,

DS is currently settled with his tutors and TA and is doing good but a part of me is thinking he could benefit from more therapy and a more of a school environment with more children around ( I know there will only be 5/6 in a class but better no children) but knowing how stressed and upset he was before is putting me off ( but it was a couple of years ago!)

DS Is more confident than a couple of years ago and has also had experience in other learning environments .,

What would you do?

Take him away from his tutors and TA To a SEN school ( oFsted rated it outstanding the start of the year) which has therapy on site and all the equipment is aimed for SEN or keep him where he is with less therapy and specialist support but he is happy?

Also if he goes to the SEN school his days would be longer than his current place( but they have sleep rooms at the SEN school) it Roughly works out he does 6 -12 hours a week where he is at the moment because he gets upset and very tired...

We keep changing our mind and now we have no idea what to do for the best! 😩 we want him to be happy but we don't want to hold him back!

Forgot to add the school have offered lots of settling in sessions and shorter days to start with

That's a tough one, but based on what you have said I think I'd be inclined to give the SEN school another try.

I don't personally know you or your situation but it sounds like he is settled currently but there is an opportunity to go back to a school that can offer him more therapy? It sounds like it's a school where he has already been, or it's similar to a previous school place, where i think it sounds like you say he was unsettled?
Irrelevant of treatment or opportunities surely if he is settled, calm and knows his current tutor and TA then why not leave him be. If it works then great don't fix it.
Why move him? Does he really need the extra therapy? Are you happy for him to have extra therapy and possibly be unhappy (a possibility) or could he stay where he is settled? It sounds like different situations do unsettle him. Do you want him settled or having more therapy? I think that is the choice you need to make. Just a thought.

Oh god that's a tough one. I have two kids with Sen so I completely understand where you are coming from. Could you maybe do a day at the Sen school a week?

Could you have reduced time table at sen school to start

I will start by saying I am going to be know help at all as I am in a similar boat and can't decide. The school sounds fab but it's so hard to take them away from something they know and like.
My ds is in a mainstream school but is the only one with noticeable SEN (speech day and autism). He is progressing but the gap is getting ever wider and children are starting to mother him rather that treat him as an equal. He loves his school, teacher, ta and friends. But he has been offered.a space at an ideal sen school starting Sept 2018. So he has 1 more yearefy with friends then we have to decide whether or not to rip his world apart for what hopeful will be a school that can support his needs going further.

Would there be an option of trialling school for a term to find out what it's like or woild.ir be difficult to get the tutors back ? I'm guessing your pros and cons list are a similar length.
Sorry op as I said I'm no help but if you want an outsider to listen to pros and cons etc I'm here (because if your anything like us it seems like we've been round and round in circles and are fed up with talking about it to each other !)

My ds got promised lots of therapy if he attended a special school.
Turned out he'd only get it if specifically stated in a statement.
And they weren't going to recommend it as they only had so many resources....
What have you got in writing. And if they didn't provide what they've verbally promised would your son be better or worse off?

They have said he will be entitled to 2 hours a day therapy and also a TA ( in training) at all times.

If he doesn't get what's promised he would still get taught by specialist trained teachers and specialist equipment ... but if DS doesn't settle there is a strong change that we might not be able to go back to his tutor 😩

That's a very good point yomellamoHelly. If the only reason you are considering it is the therapies what would happen if for some reason they didn't happen (budget cuts, staff shortage etc). Would it be worth it then?

Are they definitely specialist trained? I'm only asking as I used to teach in a sen unit with I additional training, neither did any of my TAs.

The teacher who would be working with him is trained ... he wouldn't be mixed with any other teachers as they like to keep the children in set classes with a set teacher .. this is one thing I checked with them about 5 times! Lol

That's good.

Being trained- I'd say it's pretty rare to have no training, I've worked in Sen for 16 years, two different provisions but also linked to two others and have never worked with a teacher that didn't have/had to complete once working there, specified Sen training and all our Lsa's also had to complete accreditation.
Honestly I know you probably aren't thinking of this at the moment but you have to think about long term, it's much easier to get secondary provision, post 18 provision and post 25 assistance if you are in the system. I've generally found children coming into school from being home tutored struggle for the first half term and find returning after all breaks hard however I do think the friendships made (just like for any of us) are so important and often children develop just by seeing what other children are doing. I'd go for it, but expect a rocky start.

Thankyou everyone for your opinion ... we are learning towards seeing how he gets on at the school considering it's a couple of years later but still lots to think about!