To send my SEN child to boarding school abroad?

[Aislyn]

My child is in year 6 and we are facing the local council naming a school which is a disaster for her. They have said already that they will not name any of our preferences. She has an EHCP.

Private school in the UK is completely unaffordable due to VAT. I am feeling aggrieved about potential extra taxation due to SEN. It is only due to SEN that I am having to look at private school for her: she requires small class sizes and strong pastoral support, but is very intelligent.

Private boarding school in Ireland is cheaper than day school here. She has an Irish passport.

I am alternatively considering sending her further afield, where we have family.

Any recommendations for Irish schools?

You want to send a 6 year old to boarding school? Is that a typo?

ETA Ah my mistake Year 6 😁

What does your DD say?

No but it kind of cuts out homeschooling

Which region of the UK do you live in, OP?

Asking because I suggested a school but appreciate that it might be a long way from you.

If you have a grammar school why not explain this and ask? They may be able to test her for potential rather than knowledge.

Have a look at Villiers in Limerick - a short drive from Shannon airport

There are no specialist schools of the kind the OP’s child would require in Ireland. There are only about three or four girls’ boarding schools in total, and maybe the same number of co-ed ones. It’s a tiny sector.

And you think she would adjust to a completely different education system?

It’s actually easier to get an exemption now. My dd had one although she did actually do German for the LC. She was able to use her Educational Psychologist report from when she was in 4th class.

@TheWonderhorse The Welsh are serious about preserving their language. Unfortunately in Ireland it’s about bureaucratic red tape. It should be taught like any other European language with an option to start at 12/13 which would be incredibly helpful to those struggling.

My ds needed the Irish exemption but was able to take Spanish in secondary. It’s taught disastrously.

But Irish aside, there are some really excellent benefits to the Irish system over the uk one. Is moving an option at all @Aislyn ?

Here secondary is split between junior cycle and leaving cert, and there is really no comparison between junior cert and gcse. For SN dc, lagging behind a bit in maturity, it’s not as intensely pressured. The jc is considered a practice for the leaving cert, rather than the point at which your future is decided.

The aim is a liberal arts education, rather than early specialisation so more subjects are carried which can suit some dc well. There is a range of routes into third level education which has taken the intensity out of the leaving cert experience too.

Oversees boarding school survivor here. I would not under any circumstances do this to my child.

Can someone help me out here with this: we are facing the local council naming a school which is a disaster for her. They have said already that they will not name any of our preferences.

What does that mean? I'm not in the UK. What does 'naming' mean? I have a vision in mind of some local council (not sure what councils have to do with education? I thought that would be a state/county thing, as where I am councils only deal with rates, roads and rubbish [council taxes, potholes in the local roads, and emptying of bins] - the 3 r's, absolutely nothing else) naming a school to be shut down/condemned/buildings to be torn down?

I would be considering moving to find a better school rather than sending a child to boarding school.

Put the money you save into a mortgage on a house in a better school area.

Bizarre to jump to boarding school as the answer.

In the UK the local authority, be that unitary, county or whatever, are responsible for school admissions. Parents put down their choices and the local authority assign the places. Naming a school means that is the school where your child has a place.

Ah, ok. Here the parents send their kids to whichever school they want, it's 100% up to the parents, so that's different.

What happens if too many parents want to send their child to the same school? Just curious how other systems work.

Whereabouts in the country are you op and do you have a budget mind to spend on school?

I went to a non-selective private secondary that is cheaper than other typical private schools as it doesn’t have the facilities people usually associate with private schools. It might be a good fit for you.

Just for clarity, it’s different in Scotland. The vast majority of children are at their catchment school or private.

It’s a shitshow. You apply to a few and just wait and see where takes the child. In large urban areas it is a nightmare but it tends to work out as people take up places. Where I am children can be months waiting to get an offer as the system plays out, offers can be still going out in the first week back to school some years and children might have to go to other towns to school.

However most school are reasonable to good to excellent across the country so that takes some of the sting out because you have options. The really poor schools of the past have all but died out and are pretty rare now - of course there are some exceptions but it is very rare.

Is it really cheaper to board in Ireland than pay for a day school where you are? Once you've factored in travel costs too?

If you think she'd cope, then fair enough. I have a year 6 DC with SEN and I have no idea where he'll be going next year as there are no suitable schools. I do know that he would never cope in boarding school though!

Why would toy send your child away,whya wrong with you? Not getting the school of your choice is not the endnof the world,home educate or move WITH your child near a school you want.

20% is not a 'small chunk' particularly if you have more than 1 child.

I moved overseas and now save over £10,000 a year (3 x£3600) in not paying VAT on my 3 children's school fees, that's £900 a month, hardly insignificant.

Contrary to what most people are saying, I think boarding school can work for an SEN child but it has to be the right boarding school & your child has to have a certain presentation of SEN to thrive. Boarding schools will be quite routine based and there will be a lot going on which suits some. However, for many, there is too much going on, particularly when you factor in that you’re not just on during lessons & co-curricular activities but also during your down time when you’ll be in a common room & dining Finn with dozens of other people and, in the younger years, most probably in a shared room. When do you re-regulate?
Clearl my your DD already has a diagnosis and an EHCP, neither of which are that easy to obtain. She already has a history of school refusing from the sounds of it. Her presentation may well become more apparent as she hits puberty and as she is required to become more independent which is likely to make school even more challenging to cope with. But you won’t be there on a daily basis to keep an eye on this or able to step in as soon as things go wrong.
i understand the need to be creative in your thinking but I doubt that this is the solution I’m afraid

Staying with family and going to a local school there with support seems to be a better option than boarding, which in my opinion should only be for a very limited group of children.

But is there less than a 20% uplift for boarding over day pupils? That's the relevant maths for the OP. She's not planning to move herself.