Sutton High School

[helikhandelia]

Hi,

My daughter is currently in year 6 and we are thinking to apply for Sutton High senior school. We live in Croydon at the moment. So does anyone have experience of Sutton High Senior school? I heard that it is very good for pastoral care and that’s what we are looking for. Also my daughter has been recently diagnosed with dyslexia so does anyone have experience of dyslexia support at Sutton High?

I'm not sure there is that much difference between it and Croydon High tbh. It is a smaller more nurturing envionment than most but I dont know about the dyslexia sorry. In my experience indies arent great with any sort of extra need.

Sutton High is a bit more mixed ability than Croydon High.

Thank you all for your feedback.

Pm me.

Sorry, that is a bit cryptic. Both schools have sound SEND departments with knowledgeable SENCOS and both have support available but poss not TAs in classrooms, if that is what your child needs. Your best bet is to talk through with them as probs either school are looking at relatively mild to moderate dyslexia, ie, must be independent worker, literate and able to cope with a fast paced environment.

I know my DD had a couple of friends with dyslexia in her year at CHS. They did get help from the the SEND department, but as far as I am aware no in-class help. Not sure how severe their dyslexia was though. The normal requirements for the number of GCSEs taken was relaxed for them - whether at the girls' request or the school's I don't know.

Can't tell you about Sutton but Streatham & Clapham good for SEN - seem to go out of their way to spot the extra needs. Maybe worth a look if you are close to West Croydon station?

Would just leave here that the girls' school in historic building in the centre of Croydon is absolutely terrible with SEN - a pity as the new head seems like a breath of fresh air.

We were told at the virtual event that they screen all girls for dyslexia in year 7 and offer support. Not sure what is meant by ‘more mixed ability than Croydon High’ I think results are virtually identical but Sutton a bit smaller. We looked at both but Croydon was a bit far for us and preferred the ‘feel’ of Sutton.

Croydon High is a good school but the class size smaller at Sutton High. We heard that the pastoral care is also very good hence we are more keen towards it. Also my daughter, she is very good in maths and reasoning. Also her reading and spellings are fine. She only have issues with reading comprehension and she is dyslexic in that area. That’s why we don’t want to put her to dyslexia specific school. We would prefer mainstream school with good pastoral care and good SENCo.

Corblimbea,

Is your daughter currently in Sutton High?

I have a DD at Sutton High, she has very mild SEN. She has specialist help from the SEN coordinator and I also met with her when DD started. DD attended a study skills group once a week, and also has a personal learning action plan. This has been perfect for her.
I suggest you ask the school to go through it with you to see if it would suit your DD - as @Flyingarcher said, she needs to be able to work independently with a bit of extra help outside the classroom.

The pastoral support is excellent. For example, we had calls from the school during lock down to see how DD was, and DD had a 1-2-1 meeting with her tutor when they came back to school focused purely on how she felt, had managed etc. It's a real strong point.

Academics are very good, DD is stretched, kept interested and learning a lot. Despite her mild SEN, she is a very bright girl and we'd know if she was bored and coasting. She's not!

I'd suggest you speak to the school, they're very approachable so I'm sure would be happy to answer your questions.
Good luck!

Thank you SHParent for your feedback. This is really very helpful for us. As you suggested, we are talking to school.

No not yet - have applied for a 10+ place for dd2 and looking at 11+ amongst other options for dd1. Has a lovely community feel about it and we really enjoyed the virtual open event. Dd2 has SEN issues (dyslexia) and I felt they would support with this.

Does anyone have experience of Sutton High senior school?

We have friends with two DD there and have applied for ours this year on their recommendation. Great write ups on google and we’ve found the process very warm so far. We have gone to a virtual event and DD met the head on Zoom.