Private school taster day

[Delamero]

My DD has a taster day at a prep school we really like. Providing it is successful (she likes it) when do you normally hear if she’ll be offered a place? It’s non selective but she has some SEN so I’m quite nervous.
Any advice would be appreciated!

Normally very quickly unless it’s part of a big main intake selection process (4+, 7+ etc). At our school you would hear the next day.

I would say that it pays to be very open about any SEN. Some schools embrace those who need a little extra support with open arms. Some schools will run a mile (and that’s not a school you would want your child in anyway).

If you haven’t mentioned it already I would wait until you have an offer and then raise it before committing to a school.

I say that as the parent of a child with mild SEN who is at a wonderful prep school and thriving.

I would say definitely be super open about SEN. The school should have questions so that they can explain to you how they can help here and if course you will be interested to know what they provide (do they have a separate SEN department, is ‘extra help’ given in class or out of class or mixture of both etc). My two kids have mild SEN. I have used my openness to filter out schools that weren’t pro-active. Most private schools at Prep level will be good with this. The pedal hits the metal far more in my experience when they go to secondary. Let me know if you have any more questions. P.S although the school offered we chose to always do assessments for extra time outside of school as I wanted a completely separate opinion and also by contracting the Ed Psych myself I made sure to read the notes that the teachers provided and sent them to the Ed Psych myself. This was super useful and I might have found it more tricky had them Ed Psych been in house.

Thanks everyone for responding. We were really open about her SEN and shared her SALT report. School wasn’t phased at all BUT she didn’t get on at all well at the taster day. Found the class too loud and children ‘rude’. I loved the school but we’re back to the drawing board :(

My daughter went for a taster day at a prep recently and the Head of Prep asked to speak to me before my daughter was returned to reception & offered us a place then. I think as it's March/April time and schools are preparing the next academic year class lists, you should find out fairly quickly..hope it goes well!