Looking for Non-Selective London Prep for "not 7+ material" DC, need 5* SEN.

[Cantfindaprepschool]

Please help! I'm looking for a London Prep school starting in 2016 in Year 3 (ideally north or central London but will consider elsewhere, prefer one which goes up to age 13) BUT my DC has been described as being bright (currently in Y1 at pre prep and in top sets) but cannot perform well in exam conditions due to moderate Autism, moderate to severe ADD and moderate Dyspraxia..... Current school have said that although very bright DC is "not 7+ material" due to recent poor performance in end of year tests where performance was at the national average for age. I'm hoping that in the future exam performance will reflect true ability. Any suggestions for London Preps gratefully recieved!

Actually the reason I think you can be better off on a state school is down to the huge ability spread in every subject in every class.

Whereas privates tend to take either academically able pupils or 'everyone else'. And this is your problem. Your boy is bright but can't go to a selective school.

At a state school with the huge ability spread your son will be in the normal range of both academics and behaviour for almost everything. By normal I mean the range they're used to dealing with.

My first state school was dreadful. That was because it was a very nice middle class school with no FSM pupils. They didn't have many interventions (although still had EP and social skills group) because they didn't have enough pupils who needed it.

The better school we moved to had:
3 firm entry, around 50% EAL, around 20% FSM. This is why they had so many interventions and could afford OT and Speech therapist.

But also they had to be good at this stuff. Loads of children there with all sorts of problems. If they hadn't been good it would have been chaos.

So I would always recommend a school with lots of EAL and FSM pupils. And never recommend a 'naive' school that by its location is similar to a prep school.

I wouldn't look at Thomas's for child with SEN issues. They will likely be "managed out" ..... I would definitely look at Bruern Abbey. Know 2 families there and are SO happy with it. They were reticent about boarding but actually it has worked out really well for them and the DC have thrived.

I agree with Brilliant. A state school with a sizeable intake of FSM/EAL/SEN which gets reasonable results will have had to put a lot more effort in than a sought-after outstanding school that relies on determined parents, "nicer" kids and outside tutoring for grammer/selective entry at 11. Are there any primaries with attached C&I units near you? Even if your DS doesn't need to be in the unit, there may be more resources on hand for others. My DS is not autistic, but definitely struggles with change, personal organisation and social skills - he's had lots of useful interventions from the unit staff which have helped him get more out of the academic side of school.

I too agree with Brilliant and QuiteQuietly. I know a boy with asperger's who was utterly sinking in a private school and his parents deliberately moved them to a London state primary that had a good smattering of bright kids (of various ethnicities) as well as a good reputation with behaviour and special needs. He had a statement.

It was the best thing they could have done. There were plenty of kids to challenge him academically and because there was such a range they had to differentiate and bring them up to level 6. They were also understanding of quirky/difficult behaviour because they had kids with either some sort of special need or pretty terrible home lives. It sounds counter intuitive, but I think good state primaries can be better at dealing with very bright children because they're forced to teach at different levels because of 30 in a class and the range.

He got into a very very selective secondary and is flourishing.

Most importantly, going to this school made him feel good about himself when his self-esteem had been battered.

What Brilliant and Quiet have said. My DD1 is moderately dyslexic and in a large (540 pupil) urban school. She has had proper targeted support since the beginning of this academic year (Y4) as well as out of school support - 2 to 3 hrs weekly with a specialist TA, her own support pack at school. It wasn't difficult to secure once we had a proper assessment - the delay was down to the fact that she was doing just about ok, meeting average NC levels, and was quiet and well behaved at school. wish the same was true at home There are plenty of state schools like this in London but as others have said are not usually the 'naice' honeypot faith school/one form entry schools with affluent catchments and high SATS results. If you know where you plan to live, I would speak to the LA to find out which schools have specialist provision and then visit. Look at their DFE statistics in detail rather than headline results - do they have kids achieving at all levels, what's the SN percentage. As others have noted, schools serving mixed populations are much more used to supporting children who start school not speaking English or who don't get much learning support at home and are often much better equipped and funded to deal with SN as a result.

Oh and if you do decide on a state primary be prepared for the quizzical and disbelieving reactions of those who don't believe that that is often the right choice for a SN child.

Tough, understood, and my reply to OP was very much framed by the fact she'd specifically asked about London. As to my second post - well this is what I experience regularly IRL. MN, not so much.

private schools do not really do SEN, you would be way better off at state.

private prep schools in London do NOT do SEN and you know it. They are set up to get rich clever children into academic secondary schools.
I imagine there might be some specialist private provision, such as ST Davids in Llandudno but in general, I would say my statement stands.

yes I do know that, my dd had LD's.
In the private sector, yes it would be 'specialist' that is what I am saying, while ofc it would not be in the state schools, it would be normal.

and I am not 'banging a drum' thanks, just offering my opinion. Which is the point of a forum surely?

cant have you checked out The Academy School in Hampstead? I think it may suit your DS very well.

no I do not, and you know nothing about me.

anyway you are funny - first you tell me I have no experience of SNs, then that I know nothing about private schools, then you tell me what is in some old post. Are you stalking me to (not) know so much about my life?

I don't think you can generalise at all. My DS (who sounds similar to yours OP) goes to a private school which does not describe itself as specialist when it comes to additional needs. It is excellent.

The state primary he used to attend--not so much.

It might well be worth posting on the SN board Op.

I also had the opposite experience, however neither are we in London.

What I did, once it became apparent DD's state school was never going to be a supportive environment, was pay for a consultation via the Good School Guide. They have all the info on private schools that support children with SEN - you just tell them what your requirements are & they come up with a list of schools. They were so helpful & DD subsequently flourished in her new school - I really don't think I would have stumbled across this school without them & for us it was money well spent.

That's a great idea, Diamond.