St Chris’ School in Letchworth, Herts

[Rose8282]

Hi there, does anyone have a child at St Christopher School in Letchworth?
My 9 year old girl is autistic with PDA. She’s highly anxious and really struggling at her current state school. They have tried hard to support her, but realistically I feel there’s only so much they can do in a class of 30.
We visited St Chris today and are very taken with their general ethos and informal approach to learning, but I would love to hear any more insights from anyone who has any experience there specifically in children with SEN.

My daughter is quite academic, but tbh I’m really not bothered on pushing this currently and just want to prioritise her mental health.

Thank you so much!

hi there. Did you ever get any feedback about this? I am looking at St Chris and my son has HFA and ADHD. He’s very bright but it’s clear he needs a small, relaxed, caring place. My concern about St Chris is that it may not be structured enough - he needs things to be super consistent and clear rules and routines - and it requires kids to be motivated to work which he is not. Be great to know if you found anyone on here or elsewhere who could give you an inside view.

Bumping this as interested!

Coming to this late, but I would avoid St Chris. There is little structure, even in the junior school, and the SEN support is very hit-and-miss. There are other schools in the area with far better support, including some of the state junior schools. One of the biggest issues at St Chris is the lack of proper tracking for children in the way you'd see in a state school: it might sound like something that doesn't matter, but you can't know how a child is doing if you're not on that stuff. School reports talk about how nice your child is, but they won't be able to show you any evidence on progress.

thank you! i had heard there are lots of autistic children at at chris and that it lacks structure but not sure what that means?
Can you explain what you mean? do they have daily maths and english? I just don't know what that means for an autistic child who may need low demands but also routine of timetable

I don't think you even need to think about it in terms of autistic or not (although I understand that will mean you have different or additional concerns). Junior school children do have a timetable of course, but there are a disproportionate number of hours spent on free choice, drawing and making, playtime, gardening, etc. That's lovely in the nursery or key stage 1, but there is a balance to be had, particularly as your child gets older, and the fact is that most local junior state schools offer a better curriculum, marginally larger class sizes (often with an LSA), the same number of after-school clubs, and properly structured, in-built progress tracking. The junior school at St Chris also has almost no specialist teachers, which is very unusual in a private school (compared to Kingshott in Hitchin, for example). It's hard to describe, but there is a pervasive sense of mediocrity across the school, and the behaviour of some students is dreadful and goes unchallenged. There are many parents who leave, of course, and those who stay defend it because, really, what choice do they have once they've bought into the fantasy? I would encourage you to do your homework and read their inspections, look at the qualifications of the teachers and the leadership team, and check their results before Covid: that will tell you a lot about their "progress" over the past few years. If you decide to go and have a look, ask to SEE how they track children's progress and what structured support they offer - but be prepared for the "ethos" waffle!! 😂

yes i was concerned about the behaviour aspect of a school that apparently has as few rules as possible. My children are quiet and sensitive and I would very much wish for a school to be strict with disciplining bad behaviour.

When you read their website it all sounds quite typical! I would hope the seniors is more structured and definitely stricter with behaviour considering the amount of cyber /in person bullying that could become a problem with so 'few rules'.

No, the senior school is the same, sadly, if not worse in terms of behaviour. There are lots of great private and state schools in the area, though, parents are really lucky. Kingshott in Hitchin have just started doing GCSE's, so that's worth a thought as your child could go all the way through to sixth form. I'm not sure about St Francis, I think they are very academics-focussed, but that might be worth considering.

we decided against in the end and I’m very glad we did. We went for a more conventional and very small private school that is more inclusive than most and the structure and clear rules, systematic way of doing things is all really helping my son.

I have been told by someone with an autistic girl in year 9 now that when they went to see St Chris they were told they wouldn't accept anyone with an autism diagnosis!

North Bridge House

This has been really useful to read as we are also looking at schools in the area. Which other ones would you recommend? My son has ADD and is currently in a school that supports him while also pushing him which is great but we are overseas and will probably be coming back this year so we are keen to find as good a school back in the area. Thank you

Hiya, I know I’m late to the conversation but I thought I’d add something. I can’t speak for the junior school, but I went to St Chris Senior School from 2016-2019 and I cannot stress enough how poorly run that place is. They were good for some SEN support, ie making sure I was in a quiet room with a few other students for my GCSEs and extra time, etc, but they are really poor for everything else in my experience.

They let sexual harassment and assault slide, never disciplined students even when they were saying appalling things (slurs, cruel insults, etc), and in my experience, would try and ice disabled children out of the school the moment they weren’t masking their symptoms. They only backed down with me when my patents threatened legal action for discrimination. It’s hard to remember absolutely everything, and it’s possible they cleaned up their act, but my time there lead to me developing a lot of very serious mental health issues that I am only now recovering from. Every child is different of course, but I would not risk it at all.

Hi, would you mind sharing which very small private school this was please?

yes please i'd love to know which school ?