Feedback on Bredon, St Ed’s and Wycliffe for dyslexic DS

[Wideawakeandconfused]

DS is about to start Year 6 in his very supportive school. Unfortunately the senior school won’t work for him since his dyslexia is quite complex (and he’s unlikely to be offered a place).

We’re now looking at Bredon, St Ed’s or Wycliffe. Does any one have any recent feedback on any of these schools for children with SEN?

Probably best to sit entrance and see if he’s offered a place. It’s super competitive to get into St Edward’s if you mean the Oxford one. Bruern Abbey is opening a Senior school if you want to throw another option into the mix.

Sorry, I meant the Cheltenham one - I should have been clearer.

We’ve been advised not to put him in a mainstream state school simply due to class sizes. Plus, it’s a great academic school but I’ve not heard good things about their SEN support unfortunately.

If boarding is an option take a look at St David’s College, Llandudno. They have excellent specialist dyslexia provision and high aspirations for their students.

Thank you, I’ll take a look. Ideally would prefer day school but worth looking at.

Are there any Crested (dyslexia approved) schools near you? crested.org.uk/parents-find-a-school.html

I’ve never heard of Crested until you mentioned it and both Bredon and Wycliffe approved. Thank you for the suggestion.

Our daugher has severe dyslexia and starting at Bredon next month. I found it on the Crested website also. Her independent school told us they couldn't continue to meet her needs and LA schools near us were not going to give anything like the support she's had to date. We've been really impressed by Bredon so far. Communication has been great and I liked the fact you have to submit your reports before you even go for a tour, so they can be upfront from the beginning if they feel the can meet your child's needs. Good luck.

Generally the SEN support is far superior in mainstream state schools, they will have much more budget than the private sector and the key SEN staff will be trained to Masters level.
I would opt for a very good state like Balcarras and then use funding for one-to-one support at home. That would give DS the most qualified support I think. Large classes have very little impact if the teaching is good (have a google on the research on this, it is interesting. ).

Sorry didn't mean funding meant fees - what you would be spending on fees would be far better spent on one2one at home in quiet environment.

Did you mean that ONE member of staff will have the NASENCo award and all the others may well have had no SEND training at all? Might also be worth mentioning that state school budgets are cut to the bone and notional SEND budgets are even more a work of fiction than ever.

You don't have to dig deep to find evidence of schools saying they just can't afford to offer adequate SEND provision.

I run specialist SEND provision in the state sector and my DH works in the Independent sector- I don't recognise what you are saying as true at all.

I also work across both sectors and it is our local independents that don’t have any SEND budgets and charge on top of rising fees for additional help. I know someone who had a girl at one local indie who was told she should advertise for one on one support at the school for her daughter herself which she did on the local FB page! So unprofessional. Also the staff training is inferior in the indies that I am in - this is not top schools I might add, just your bog standard indies with glossy brochures and long after school care. Might be very different at the better ones which I don’t have any experience in.

@AlabamaSlam my DS was in mainstream and the support for his dyslexia was really poor. The attitude of the school was that all the teachers had experience with dyslexic children so they knew what they were doing and all lessons were dyslexia friendly. In reality they may have had a small amount of while school training within an SEN training session and they thought they were dyslexia friendly but in fact didn’t know how to support my son. The SENCO at that school had a masters in ASD but didn’t know much about dyslexia and I fact asked me for advice for her own dyslexic son.
DS is now at one of the schools on the crested list and the staff threes know dyslexia as all the teachers are level 5 or 7 trained in dyslexia.

@Skiphopbump was that a primary school who said that the lessons were dyslexia friendly? I was talking about secondary I have no experience of primary sorry.
glad they are now flourishing

@AlabamaSlam his primary school were better with support.

It was secondary that was the issue, However since DS left a year ago they have put more support into place for dyslexic children, probably because they were told to by the LA as the lack of support meant they were pushed into paying for an independent school and transport!

Thanks for the replies so far.

I don’t want to derail with which setting is better as we’ve experienced both. There is no way a state setting can provide a tailored lesson plans, along with 2 x 1-2-1 sessions a week, 2 classroom intervention sessions, creative writing and PC support. It’s just sadly impossible with larger classes.

Thank you @mumofamazinggirl that’s great to hear. Can I ask what support they provide at the school?

Our sons reports are currently being reviewed by the school so hoping we’ll hear back soon as to whether it’s an option.

Hi
I know all three schools well. And I work in education.
Firstly please ignore the posters taking about Balcarras. It is indeed a good ‘state’ school (albeit with a huge demographic advantage- private school by postcode as 90% of the catchment is in Charlton Kings where houses are 600k plus.) It doesn’t have a ‘large SEND’ department and the head teacher (who I very much like) would be appalled by the suggestion it does!

St Eds - very strong pastorally. It’s got a newish head teacher who is a vast improvement on Mrs Clayfield but it has v small
classes as no one wants to go there!! It’s stuck between a rock and a hard place - more prestigious private schools all around (chelt college, chelt ladies college, Kings and Dean close) and also a grammar county do multiple choices for bright kids that don’t want to pay private schools that are predominantly boarding. So it’s carved out a bit of a niche being only day school, cheaper and having some provision for SEND pupils but it isn’t great and you’ll pay extra.

wycliffe is the poor relation to Cheltenham College - they take the ‘less academic’ sporty type.

Bredon is a totally different kettle of fish. It’s a specialist school for dyslexia and IMO caters for their students exceptionally well however it really is essentially a special school in all but name.

TL:DR if your child has mild dyslexia but essentially with additional help you expect average GCSE results then St Ed’s

if your child is very dyslexic and requires specialist teaching and courses tailored to this special need (& you aren’t expecting 3 x A levels and university) then Bredon

Super sporty with plenty of connections for an apprenticeship having had a whale of a time at school = Wycliffe

@Wideawakeandconfused that sounds like amazing support! Which school provides that amount of detail please, would love to visit!

Also @Wideawakeandconfused was that included in fees or additional cost to parent? Was this the school that wouldn’t keep him for senior? Seems strange with such strong support on offer at prep.

Thank you @Noname99 that’s very insightful. He’s definitely more than mildly dyslexic - it’s quite prominent and he requires a lot of scaffolding around his learning.

We’ve arranged viewings at all three as soon as school returns.

Good luck.
When at St Ed’s and Wycliffe be sure to ask not just what support is available but also what is charged as additional!

AlabamaSlam
I have no idea where OP child goes to school but if you are genuinely asking as you would like to visit for your own child then i would highly recommend you visit Airthrie. It has recently been ‘taken over’ by Dean Close so I don’t know if it is still the school it was however it certainly used to provide similar SEND provision, particularly for children with dyslexia, that the OP describes with no additional cost.

@Wideawakeandconfused @Noname99 yes would love to know the school as it is so unusual to get such great support without additional costs on top of fees. Slightly out of our area I expect but always great to refer parents to. Would you mind letting me know OP - DIrect message if you would rather. It seems so sad they won’t keep him for senior having offered such support, but I suppose junior and senior can have different ethos even within the same school?
will have a look at Airtherie, it sounds fascinating thanks.