Oxford Montessori Forest Farm Senior School - any experience?

[IrisEmily]

Hello, I have seen some older threads about this school, but nothing very recently active. Our daughter has recently been diagnosed with autism (high functioning) and is also being assessed for ADHD. She is in Year 8 at a large, state mainstream school and has struggled horribly. She is extremely bright, but her marks are plummeting and she is failing academically which is knocking her confidence more and more. Every day is so stressful. We are looking at moving her to a more nurturing environment for Year 9 and have heard about the Forest Farm Montessori School in Oxford (we live in West Oxfordshire). Does anyone have any feedback about the school? We are looking for a school that will offer her the academic stretch and development but with more nurture, individual attention and encouragement. The Holy Grail! Any information or feedback would be very welcome as we are very uncertain.

Just to add that we are visiting the school on Wednesday with our daughter.

Dear IrisEmily
How did you like Forest Farm School? Did you sent your daughter there?
My daughter is year 10, high functioning autistic with significant anxiety and not coping with large mainstream school. I have looked far and wide for a more suitable school for her and what there is on their website looks like a good fit. Would be very interested in your experience!

Following - my DS is similar and I've been considering Forest Farm too. Also like the look of Sibford but not sure we could get it named on his EHCP.

We loved the school and it was the only one we looked at where my daughter felt happy. Unfortunately, it is full for her year. Disappointed doesn't even come close. We are on a waiting list and she is no longer going to school at all now, so things are rubbish. @YourSpleenIsDamp we had a particularly horrible and upsetting experience with Sibford; their approach was bordering on discriminatory. We had attended an open day and discussed our daughter's condition and needs with them. They encouraged us to apply and were happy to take our, non-refundable, application fee. However, they then continued to be hostile, rude and negative about my daughter's condition and towards us as a family during the application process. I have heard postive things about the school, which is why we applied, but our experience was dreadful and crushing. Sorry for the doom and gloom response...

Oh, blimey! Thanks for letting me know, that sounds really upsetting. I hope your DD is doing ok, that's so frustrating her year group is full. My DS has just started year 8 of a mainstream secondary, he's horribly anxious and finds it all exhausting. He's got lovely friends there from his primary, though, so I'm not sure he can be convinced to try elsewhere, specially when it's somewhere unknown 😬

How sad that they didn't have a space in forest farm for your daughter - it is so difficult to find any place in a suitable school for neurodiverse girls with anxiety these days. We had a similar experience to yours at Sibford with D’Overbroecks. They were very happy to take the nonrefundable fee for the admissions process, but stopped the interview conversation after 10 minutes in quite a dismissive way and didnt even let her do the admissions exams. Now our daughter also doesnt go to school at all.

I’ve just seen this thread as looking at Montessori Forest School Oxford also.
Is there any feedback on the school? x

Hi, my son attends OMS and it’s a great school. Very nurturing. Amazing teachers and staff. He was a very anxious child upon starting with very negative experiences previously. The school has been brilliant.