Should I deregister my child in last term?

[Anorthernlass]

My DS is in year 6 and has some suspected social communication problems. Imo this was due to his older suspected ASC brother constantly nit-picking (calling him fat, stupid, etc) and some issues at school which I tried to sort out (another kid was being excluded) and it backfired and he got socially excluded himself as a tell tale. The teacher thinks he's imagining it and she has a point as the kids are a dysfunctional group (opinion of other parents) constantly fighting and making up, but they all also live close to eachother and see eachother out of school every day. My DS says he's sick of the fighting and doesn't want to be part of it. He does have a couple of genuine friends but doesn't want to hang on to them all break, if that makes sense. Things are however improving but slowly.

It's possible he has dyspraxia (on advice of professional) but school are always "too busy" to refer him.

The anxiety is so bad now and possibly why he has started daytime wetting - dripping which is making him even more anxious. There was a boy who was particularly nasty, stabbing his groin with a pencil just before this started and I wonder if this was a trigger? (It was dealt with fyi and no issues since). The pediatrician suggested a school move should be considered.

School are supporting him by pointing out when he is not concentrating in class (he can't stop worrying about the pee) and he says it makes him more anxious. I have a parent-teacher meeting tonight and will raise this. They also want to give him adult support, but my concern is this will intensify his feeling that something is wrong with him.

The lockdown of course didn't help, especially going back to school and not being able to hang out with his good friends at the time who were in another bubble and have now left.

My gut feeling is he has very low self esteem and possibly some minor social communication issues that are causing anxiety from the above. His secondary will give him a fresh start as only a couple of the kids will transfer.

I could send him to our local primary for the last term, or take him out completely (and focus on him meeting kids at his new secondary) and homeschool but then the transition support may not be set up. Any advice?

I’d try the local primary. A fresh start for a summer, and see how it goes.

Agree, move him to another school.

I would not take him out of school completely or I imagine anxiety around friendships and social situations will only grow. He needs to get these skills and good experiences back ready for September.

Is there a smaller school near you or primary where your DS knows other children from out of school activities or similar?

If you do take him out completely then sign him up to some week long summer day camps to help with social confidence over the summer.

Yes there is a small school just down the road from us. He changed to his current school just before lockdown, and we moved house just last year which is why we didn't think to move earlier.

Can you get him into a school where the majority of kids will be going to the same high school as him? Then it’d hopefully be a positive move, he’d hopefully make friends to take with him or at least faces he recognises etc?