Should I send my ds to a private grammar school.

[indianajane]

I am really stressing about this decision. He's in year5 at the moment and live in grammar school country. He's very bright (high GCA)
and dyslexic. Also behaviour is an issue for him, AS traits.

Reasons for a private school:
He wants to go
It is small, about 300 children
They support dyslexic children so would have a good chance of passing entrance exam
Entrance exams to local fee free grammars don't make allowances for dyslexia so may not pass.

Reasons against:
Cost!!! Will be skinted if he goes and but can just about stretch to it. Won't be able to afford to send his younger brother (he's doing really well though and has good chance of passing 11 plus.)
Worries about what would happen if we lost our jobs or became ill.

Ours isn't to do with age - majority of pupils come at 11. I call it a grammar school not least because that is its name.
cost of extras appears to depend massively on the background of the school, ours used to have a lot of assisted places pupils so uniform not particularly expensive, most trips included in fees (eg geog field trips, outdoor activities trips and so on.) Ski trips extra, and buses are subsidised, though there are plenty of service buses that call in at the school grounds as well. Regarding decisions I really don't think you've got that long. From what i can gather most 11+ areas (we're not in one) seem to be doing 11+ at the start of next term, and round here most independents will have entrance exams early Jan - you might get a place if you move areas after that, but otherwise highly unlikely.

The closing date for applications for the local state grammar is the first week of September and the entrance exam takes place in the second week.
I mentioned that he was on the 97th centile because you said
'you seem to think that your child is fantastically intelligent'
I wanted to point out that he has been identified as having a high 1Q.
I want to send him to a school where he will be happy and achieve his potential.
I call it a grammar because that is the school's name, xxxx Grammar School. They also have an entrance exam and he might not pass that due to his literacy difficulties, but I have been told that they take dyslexia into account - which is why I'm considering it.

Actually just read back through your first post katak
'And you seem to think that it is the Head who is the problem- you seem to think that your child is fantastically intellligent, yet your child cannot understand how to behave in school and you do not like the fact that has been picked up on as a fault. That is what comes across in your writing.
I really don't see where I've written that my child is fantastically intelligent, I have a problem with the Head and that he doesn't know how to behave in school.

The other aspect to bear in mind is the fee increases. I know they said 5% on average & in the last 12 months independent school fees rose 6.2 per cent - that's year on year.

Katak - I think you might be getting two posters confused -indianajane hasn't mentioned the business of the Head being a problem. Another poster on this thread has on other threads in the past - but she is not the OP.

I would be very uncomfortable about paying for one child and not the other. Unless that was what they genuinely wanted. Selective independent is not the same as a grammar by the way.

yes it's the 'paying' for one and not the other that is the issue really. Ds2 is doing well in school and so probably would have gone to a different school anyway. Also he would want to be with his mates. (I think) For ds1 this isn't really an option as most of his mates will be off to the state grammar.The rest of them are going to a nearby secondary which is highly sought after as it achieves good grades but does not cater very well for SN pupils. I know of at least one parent who took their dyslexic child out, as they were placed in the bottom stream for all subjects based on their Literacy scores. There is another secondary nearby which again has a good reputation but none of his friends are going there and there are 1500plus pupils.