LAs in London/home counties which have good mainstream provision for autism?

[donburi]

I was wondering which LAs in London/home counties appear to be better than others?

Mine is all for issuing woolly statements which don't specify much and ramble on for ages. I am at the pre-finalisation stage of the statement.

I am not happy with Ds' (7 ASD) mainstream primary school and was told by his class teacher that there isn't much they can do for him academically but the advantage of him attending their 'outstanding' school is that there is such a large pool of kids so they will be able to pair them off with a young TA and do things out of class while the class teacher gets on with the real teaching. He is performing beyond his age by years on certain NC tests so I think his future is being compromised in a big way.
I have mentioned to them that I think he would be better off in a smaller school but this is probably one of the best out of a bad bunch in the local area. There is a small, fairly cheap indie school which would be possible if I could get them to fund it.

For a multitude of reasons, I would dearly love to move on though stay close enough to family so only looking for a London zones move which would hopefully serve him well for secondary too. Any recommendations?

bump??

ask over on the SN board

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/special_needs

Richmond is supposed to be good.

I would have thought that due to the relatively high incidence of autism, most London Councils would have schools which cater for it well. In Clapham, we have a primary school with an Autism Unit, Larkhall Primary. Lambeth Council is keen to have provision for autistic pupils in mainstream secondaries. Stockwell Park High School, for instance has/had an autism unit. The school has now been rebranded as 'Platanos College' and there is no reference to autism on their website, so not so sure any more, but I did know of a bright autistic boy who was happy there recently.

London is overwhelmed. In my borough there are 60 ASD places in units, and over 500 children with diagnoses that mean they would benefit from a place in one. One specialist SALT & one OT to cater for all of them.

There aren't enough primary places for NT children in many boroughs so avoid those areas with a high incidence of school expansion, bulge classes, or children out of school due to lack of ordinary places. This is because the available resources left over for SN children will be even more squeezed than normal. Avoid those authorities with a high % of academies - especially at secondary level. Avoid any that still operate a grammer system. Avoid any that operate obviously unhelpful blanket policies such as they are not issuing statements anymore due to upcoming government changes.

You may be better staying where you are and heading to Tribunal as soon as statement is finalised while you still can. (Thank you Gove). take a look at the IPSEA website as a starter for ten.

good advice thanks - the local asd unit is only 10 mins walk from our house but it is dire - whatever comes between being in special measures and being closed down altogether - we do not have enough primary places but I know that some of the other boroughs are in much deeper crisis in that respect. Richmond has come up but are the schools there not massively oversubscribed generally. Any advice about Wandsworth?
I will post over on SN, thanks again

Have a look at this school, I have heard that it is based on an American model of smaller schools within a large school and one of the 4 smaller schools is for people with ASD as I understand it.

Nice leafy area with other good schools too:

www.stanleyparkhigh.org.uk/84/information

Avoid Lambeth like the plague. Their intentions may be good but their SEN department is staggeringly poor.

Thanks both
I am absolutely fascinated by the Stanley Park option and I must look into it - I never knew there was anything like it in London - is it any good?

No idea to be honest! I hear good things in general but don't really know anyone at the school and noone at all with ASD. Worth a look for you perhaps.

Sorry that reads badly...should say I don't know anyone at the school with ASD. It only opened this year.

If he has a statement you don't need to worry about schools being oversubscribed.

Also don't accept the statement if it has woolly wording like 'regular', it should set out exactly what he needs and how those needs will be met and how many hours he needs that help. Parent Partnership are really helpful with this, if you haven't already been in contact with them.

I second IPSEA if you do ever need to go to tribunal.

Hello, what borough is that?