Best mainstream primary for high functioning asd child?

[Smellycat19]

I am going to be moving to Richmond with my 3.5 year old son who has been diagnosed with asd- he’s very verbal and bright but struggles with transitions/ socially/ behaviour etc. I also have a baby daughter. I want to send him to an inclusive primary school where they can meet his needs and help him reach his full potential. As he won’t have an EHCP yet I also want a school we stand a chance of getting a place at without owning a multi million house. A smaller school with friendly parents. I was thinking of the Darell School- can any of you make any other suggestions? Orleans? The Vineyard? We are moving mainly for the schools so will go wherever the right one is- any pointers would be really appreciated- I’m so nervous about getting it wrong for him.

St Mary’s Twickenham? Nice school on three sites so although quite big these days feels smaller.
St Mary’s and St Peters Teddington but you would need to live very very or go to church and still be close

There is no silver bullet. Go and talk to them about your son and see which one seems best suited to what you want. My son went to one for a while and is now in a more specialist setting. Different schools work well for different children.

Archdeacon Cambridge has a new head and I've heard very good things about her. Ask around. Houses a bit cheaper towards the Green as well. Twickenham Primary is a New School. I've heard excellent reviews. Small, inclusive, quite academic. But a really happy place. I have heard good things about the SEN provision at Trafalgar, but don't really have any first hand experience.

St. Mary'sCE in Twickenham was an excellent school under the old Headteacher. But many parents are very unhappy with it since the new headteacher arrived. My HF Autistic son attends St. Mary's. His needs are not supported and it is a very time consuming fight for me. If you have a job or even if you don't you probably don't have enough hours in the day to endure the fight you will need to win to get you autistic child the support he/she needs.

Sadly, I am not alone in my disappointment.

Chase Bridge is good on SEN and seem open-minded about different approaches. Stanley has a specialist unit on site.

i've also heard that Archdeacon Cambridge's have an excellent SEN unit and a lot of children on ASD spectrum who are well looked after

GEMS Twickenham Primary Academy is indeed outstanding. A really lovely small school with happy children and teachers truly focussed on learning for all. We are so lucky to have this school on our doorstep.

Several of the schools mentioned on here are faith schools eg St Mary’s, Archdeacon Cambridge and so have a proportion of faith based admissions which makes it much harder to get in if you do not meet the faith based criteria. Archdeacon Cambridge for instance has 70 % of places reserved for those with a record of regular church attendance and if you do not then you would need to find a house in a handful of streets to gain admission on distance. The nearby streets are choked in the morning by the cars of parents travelling from some distance. Unfortunately quite a high proportion of schools in the borough have faith based admissions which has caused problems for local parents in the past. I cannot comment on ASD provision but if seeking a place on distance then your options for finding a suitable house in catchment will be greater for Darrell, Stanley, Twickenham Primary and other inclusive schools. You really need to visit to get a feel for if the school is right for your child.

Your child sounds very much like mine, and mine is thriving at Sacred Heart in Teddington which is not terribly difficult to get into. It is thoroughly Catholic though, which may not work for you.