Hight percentage of kids with SEN in private school

[zebraprintpillowcase]

Would you put/keep your kids in a private school that had 40% of kids with SEN?

posted too soon!

The kids love the school but the education is a bit lax. What would you favour?

Depends on what the SEN is - wealthy people are able to afford diagnosistic assessments for their kids, and so I would expect a higher proportion in private school. However if these SEN difficulties resulted in behavioural issues and that I felt affected the teaching quality for my child - I would definitely take them out.

There is minor behaviour issues which added to the fact the classes are now being added together eg. Two small classes of different year groups are now being put together I worry how effective and progressive the teaching can be. This is a theme through out the junior school.

My daughters went to a school that sounds very like this, generally they were happy at the time. Is it in North Kensington by any chance?

They were both very behind on transferring schools at 11 and 8 respectively. I think it depends on age and quality of teaching. SEN doesn’t necessarily mean a low standard, especially if there are other assistants in class.

If they are doing OK academically leave your DC there for now but keep an eye out for possible alternatives.

If 2 small classes of different year groups are being added together, I would be concerned about the financial viability of the school.

40% is massive. It’s way higher than most state schools. How do you know your DC is doing well? Against what criteria? I would move my DC because I think the time needed for the SEN DC will be huge and it must be distracting. I assume 40% don’t have statements so how SEN are some of the DC and can they access the curriculum and how does the school teach the brighter children? Assuming there are some of course? How do they differentiate lessons according to the needs of the children?

That seems a lot but how is it classified - would mild dyslexia be classed as SEN?

how does the school teach the brighter children?

You know kids with SEN can be super bright, right??

I went to a school like this. If you weren't failing anything and hadn't set fire to the school at any point you were pretty much left to your own devices. It was a shame because the learning support department was great; I had friends who had been seriously let down at previous schools and had finally got the help they needed there and were much happier. But the relentless emphasis on everything except academics was very discouraging for the small minority of us who actually excelled at that side of things and by the time I left in year 9 I was seriously behind in a lot of subjects and had to work incredibly hard to catch up.

Is this about the news article about special exam arrangements?

jeanne the school apparently have always had financial concerns and I think to some part they are putting bums on seats.

dr no I wasn’t aware there where but it’s of no relevance to me.

There is only a handful which are statemented the rest are classified as additional needs.

I’m not actually that bothered about there being such a high percentage of kids that need extra help but combine that with mixed year group classes where essentially there could be two years difference of capability between the youngest and oldest I think having a progressive lesson would be hard

whenyou that’s my concern. There is s huge gap from when leaving year six to entering year seven.

I think I would move schools in your position. You are paying fees so the school should not be a bit lax. Also if their financial position is precarious, then you may be forced to move anyway.

Very few genius children are classed as SEN. I agree they are but it’s rare. I had assumed the OP was worried about children who needed lots of extra help.

If a school has so few in each year group that classes are being mixed it would be too shall for me and I would worry about financial stability and closure. It’s obviously being done to save costs. Are there redundancies?

Additionally the reading ages won’t be two years apart. They are at least that in a standard single cohort. Often 4 years apart or more. You could end up with 2 years below the with the younger children and 4 years above with an older child. That would not be an unusual profile at all in a standard school. You need a brilliant teacher to cope with that.

OK, so according to the Code of Practice there are 4 areas of SEN- Cognition and Learning, Communication and Interaction, Social, Emotional and Mental Health and Sensory/ Physical needs.

Even within Cognition and Learning, many needs don't impact on how cognitively able a child is- a child can have SpLD and still be extremely able.

Assuming that children with SEN won't be 'bright' is such an ill informed opinion.

I agree, children with SEN will need additional support and adjustments which will be resource heavy. However, Bubbles, you very clearly inferred that the curriculum would have to be taught at a lower pitch for the SEN children- which is sad.

Bubbles your view on SEN children is ill informed and insulting

Bubbles -it can happen when the genius child is dyslexic. I have an IQ of over 140 but it wasn’t tested until I was 10 because I really struggled to read but managed it with a lot of hard work and so I wasn’t even diagnosed with dyslexia until later in life- then one day a watched a TV show and discovered I could read better with coloured acetate on top of my work and the teacher noticed a huge uptick in my work. I went up 4 reading levels in a year and joined the G&T programme at school.

Depends on the SEN. DS school are very good with dyslexia so have quite a few children with those type. They wouldn’t cope at all with behavioural problems IME.
Children with SEN spend a lot of lessons doing small group learning with the SENCO or a HLTA in the SENCO room while the teacher deals with the rest of the class. It’s a happy school with good results so their approach seems to work.

I am well aware that a very clever child might be dyslexic but they are fairly unusual. Schools don’t see large numbers of them and to suggest that this would be 40% of the class is simply ludicrous.

The example Valley gives suggests SEN children are separated out is very poor practice. Additionally private schools rarely have children with behavioural difficulties at all! They don’t get through the door.

I am well aware of what SEN might be but there is no getting away from the fact the DC need more time and money and that 40% is very very high. On that basis, Valley DC would be in a class split into two!

They aren’t unusual. Significant research to suggest high IQs and dyslexia are more commonly found together than you realise (IQ is about more than reading; it’s about problem solving too).

My Ds has possible sen, he is currently being assessed. He is at a state selective grammar. He is at the top of the year group in some subjects. He also got a medal at the ukmt maths olympiad a couple of years ago. Unfortunately he has communication problems, sensory issues and crippling anxiety at times. He is a bright young man that is not reaching his potential because of his struggles. At times he cannot cope with even basic communication. Very different struggles than those with cognitive and learning problems but it still has a huge impact on his life.

@bubblesbudy I think you may be misinformed as to what SEN really is or what you may be imagining it is. One of the comments is very right in that assessments cost money so to get little Harry assessed because he’s struggling to read is more likely to happen in a private school than a state school where they’ll be told to wait it out and possibly get additional support but not before they let the child develop more. Most children have SEN at some point in their school lives, however, I think you may just be thinking of learning difficulties. I think this is where you are maybe misunderstanding the point of the other comments. You can have a very smart child that does very well at school but has mental health issues that would be on the SEN register. A good SEN dept is good for all kids, however I do agree that that is a large percentage and I would be asking questions as to why that is. Rich parent are notorious for getting private reports done as soon as little Harry isn’t meeting their standards. A school struggling with numbers isn’t likely to disagree or want to anger a parent.

My child is top 4% on the WISC IV profile and has spld - dyslexia and dyspraxia

Gifted children are also on the SEN register

Bubbles, I wonder if you apply your thinking to adults?

If we did a quick trawl of MN and gathered together all the users with anxiety, depression, BPD, aspergers/HFA, dyslexia, dyspraxia, visual impairments, hearing impairments... would you assume none of them could be very 'bright'?

Agree with PP, you have mistaken SEN for learning difficulties.

can they access the curriculum and how does the school teach the brighter children?

They meaning children with SEN and brighter children meaning those without SEN?

This is your point that I am addressing by the way Bubbles. Not the OP.