Relocating to Edinburgh - need primary school for son with autism

[VJB07]

We are relocating to Edinburgh in Aug 12 which is also the month that my 4 year old son is due to start school. He has a diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder and, although he is likely to need some support, we are hoping he will attend a mainstream school. I was hoping for some advice as to which primary schools in/around Edinburgh, state or independent, have good additional learning support provision or if anyone has a child with ASD that is getting on well in a particular school. At this point we can be relatively flexible as to where in or around the city we will live and are likely to be renting in the first instance. Any help would be much appreciated as the more we can prepare him for the move and starting school the better.

Murrayburn Primary have a specific autistic unit but places are limited and they are taxied into school. They do integrate the children into the actual school and many people I've spoken to have praised both the speech and language unit and the autistic unit for their work with in mainstream.

When is your son's birthday? The cut off in Scotland for the academic year is the end of Feb, so that kids are at least 4.5 when they start school. And many parents, especially of boys, hold them back until they are 5.5.

It may not be relevant, or suit you, but is worth knowing in case it allows you breathing space before committing to formal education!

Kids starting school this August will have a dob between 1st March 2007 and 28th Feb 2008. There will also be children who have deferred entry and were born in Jan and Feb 2007.

Does your son fall within these dates? If he is Jan or Feb 2008 then it is becoming the norm to defer to next year so that he will be 5yrs old when he starts.

November 2010 was the date to sign up for P1 and they start allocating classes and dealing with out of catchment request around about now.

There is every likelihood if you are moving in August that P1 will be full for you catchment school.

I don't mean to be doom and gloom I just want you to be aware of the facts.

Has you son got a statement of needs that could support an application for you.

Tbh I think you need to speak to the council team in Market Street who can help you with all of this and guide you to schools.

I would suggest you contact Edinburgh City Council directly about this. They have an Autism Spectrum Team who support parents with children with ASD. They will be able to advise as to the best and most appropriate schools for your child. You should also try the autism support neworks available for advice...All schools in Edinburgh are able to support children with ASD, but you may want to target schools with smaller class sizes? The schools in premier catchment areas (Bruntsfield, South Morningside, Sciennes etc) have very large class sizes (30), so perhaps not ideal for a child with autism? George Watson's College in Merchiston is the best private school that you could target and offer fantastic ALS. The state education provision in our city is amazing, so you will get good support if you ask. Can your local council not help you with this transition and advise? Good luck with the move.

There are various schools throughout edinburgh with Language classes which are suitable for Autistic Children. From what I can remember they are Craigentinny, Murrayburn, Broughton, St Cuthberts and Royal Mile. This may have changed though.
Agree I contact the council but also your new medical practice and Health visitor and social worker and they can help with referal to the most suitable school.
Like others have mentioned a small school with small class sizes and a good asl base can work too.
Good luck.