Denstone College and Abbotsholme, how selective are they?

[greekyogurtaddict]

Can anyone advise about Denstone College versus Abbotsholme? Dd would be a day student but potentially boarding later if we move across country. She has dyslexia so does not always perform well under exam conditions (slow processing of the written word and lots of editing required) but is improving quite rapidly at the moment with tutoring: how difficult is entry to the school? Are they SEN friendly? The exam papers looked significantly easier than 11+ papers for various other schools which makes me think they are less selective. We want a school that will feed her talent for art and also help her achieve all important grade 4+ in english and maths for university entry. Also, saturday sports: she already has horse riding commitments on a saturday and is keen to take her BHS exams alongside her GCSEs, would the school support this? Alternatively there is Abbotsholme but that seems to be less well resourced and academic but would support her equestrianism although possibly not her art? We visited and I thought it seemed very welcoming but dd called it an expensive state school as it reminded her of her village primary! I think she was hoping for a school with a fantastic library as she is an avid reader. Her preference is Millfield or Bedales but I don't want to send her full boarding to the other side of the country.

She is currently at an outstanding state school with a 70% pass rate but she does not like the culture and nor do I. She feels she is neglected by the school because of her SEN hence why we are tutoring her. Very little aspiration from pupils or teachers for children not in top sets to the point of being condescending of ambition. Peer pressure to skip school and treat it like a joke from other students in lower sets. Lots of disruption! She has been asking to be home educated to escape this so private school seems like the best alternative. No support for her sport (equestrian). Forever being told she is an arty girl and therefore of course she won't do well in maths (by a maths teacher no less.) We want a school where more is expected regardless of natural ability and where other students expect to do well in life and broader life skills i.e communicating well etc.

I don’t think Denstone is very academic, although children seem to enjoy it. Abbotsholme, I’d say is the same. I think if you pay your money, you’d be in. Millfield gives a proper public school experience and is very sporty but also very competitive and therefore much more difficult to get into than Denstone or Abbotsholme. It is also a much wealthier school so the facilities are superb.

I am guessing you are Derbyshire/Staffordshire based so would Repton be worth a look? They are another traditional public school and offer riding as sports activity on sports’ afternoons. Facilities are good but I don’t know a lot about dyslexia provision there. Queen Margaret’s in York might be a closer boarding option than Millfield/Bedales, if further than Repton. They have an equestrian centre although that might mean ‘bring your own horse’. It is a smaller, girls’ school so check numbers.