My son is currently at Henry Cavendish Streatham site, he is a 4-year-old autistic boy who started reception this year with an EHC plan and what this school has done to him is unbelievable.
They changed his SLA 12 times in 3 weeks and then when the lack of consistency ( the most important thing for an autistic individual) started to be displayed through dysregulated behaviours ( behaviours that he has never had before at home or at nursery) instead than support him and teach him how to respond to the emotional situation instead than react they wrote down a behavioural plan on Monday and then excluded him on the Tuesday. Where is the point?
They neglected his needs and then when he needed help was just a burden for them.
All they cared about was to follow the policy to be able to exclude him.
And as this was not enough they excluded him every week for a month building up more inconsistency in his routine that lead to anxiety and fear of not being good enough to stay in school.
When finally he had a constant SLA and 4 weeks on the row with no changes and despite the fact that he was improving rapidly the school in the meantime, was actually trying to have him off-side, but being a 4 years old in reception the application was refused due to the young age of my son.
This school practically has never believed my son could have thrive even if academically he is actually doing fine considering his autism and when some continuity and routine was in place he did proved to improve.
They set him up for fail.
I had the worst year ever, the teachers have been amazing and supportive and thanks to them my son is progressing, but I can't say the same about the Head of school, the HT the SENCo and the Manager of Inclusion.
Based on my experience I would not recommend this school to my worst enemy.
I suffered of panic attack and anxiety for 3 months for the way they treated me and my son.
I wish that was only my experience but unfortunately I've learned about a few more family that over the years thay had similar experiences with the same persons and school resulting on having their kids moved.
I know that a lot of parents won't like my comment but I hope that sharing some of my awful experiences that I had with this school will help other kids to don't be neglected the way that my son was.
Outstanding is not always the best, I asked to consult an ASD specialist on a day that she was gonna be at school to have a look at their SEND provision and I was told by the SENCo that she was fully booked for that day.
A week later I had my appointment with the ASD specialist that apparently was never informed about my request to see her on that specific day. In my opinion they tried to avoid me to see her while she was looking at their provision. Therefore I wonder what would they do just to keep the Outstanding rate?
No need to say that we are changing school and can't wait for this year to finish to be honest.