Moving back to the UK,Godalming,Farnham. What school,private to state?

[jumbo67]

Hi
I will try to keep this shot so here goes.
We are currently living in Switzerland. My DS is 6 and my DD 4. They attend the International school here at the moment where things are a little more laid back than the UK so my son will probably be a bit behind his peers in the UK. He is a very bright boy but gets very frustrated overflowing in to aggression. He is so far much better this school year but he was assessed in the summer and found to have ADHA leaning( too young to say for sure)
SO what school i best, state or private?State where he will get support where he needs it or private where classes are smaller so less distractions.

Not to mention the fact that as we have not found a house yet we cannot apply to any schools!!!!!!!

Its all driving me nuts! We looked quite a few schools which we liked but I am not there tohave my ear to the ground if you catch my drift!

A bit garbled but that's me!!
Any help welcome,

hi , I think we may have overlapped for a brief period in CH , do you use a vaguely similar posting name elsewhere ? You can apply to private school from abroad but not state. We moved back when dc were similar age and opted to go private as did friends who came back at a similar stage to that actual area. ds was definitely behind his peers when he returned into Year 3 from his IS. dd went straight into Reception and has done really well. The Surrey LEA Admissions process announces school allocations in March (iirc) so you may find spaces cropping up after that . Good luck

One thing that might influence your choice is that if the school thinks he needs some extra attention due to his (suspected) condition the private school may well charge you extra, whereas the State school will not

Hi again
have replied to your email - sorry it took so long !

Have a look at Waverley Abbey Junior school in Tilford (age 7 to 11). It's quite a large school, and has great facilities, and extra curricular activities - it's very strong on sport, drama and music which might suit your DC. I believe that it has good support provision, although no personal experience of that. My DDs went from there into Senior Private school and are doing well.

We looked at WA, the head made a comment along the lines of 'why would you send a child with special needs there and not to a special school'whilst on a tour and not realising our son possibly needs support!!! Kind of killed it for us!! It is this possible need for support and the fact that coming from Switzerland so being a bit behind that makes the choice all the harder.
Thanks you for the reply though. it seemed like great school....other than the exclusion remark!! We are also still looking for a house so cannot apply to any school yet and getting a bit desperate!

very sorry and surprised to hear that you got that reaction . I imagine you will have got a similar response from SF nearby, as I have heard that they encourage people with special needs to apply to WA as being more suitable.

Hear good things about Barrow Hills in Witley (co-ed prep). Also St James in Elstead (state) does have a very good reputation.

SF is a funny one, promotes being very good for special needs and has won awards but I have heard a few rumors to the contrary, it just shows you cant judge a book by the cover! Hence it is good to get peoples opinions into the mix. We looked at Barrow Hills and that had a good feel to it if we were to go down the private path. Will have a look at St James, thanks. Any idea about Witley?

Witley has an Infant School and Chandler as the Junior School. Both supposed to be very good. Major issues with not enough places at Witley Infants for all the Witley children, with a number having to be taken in taxis to Haslemere (lots of local press coverage of this!), so you would be very unlikely to get a place there for your DD. Also Aldro prep (boys only) in Shackleford might be worth a look - know some people with children there and they speak very highly of it.

Otherwise down in Haslemere/Hindhead way you have St Edmund's (which has just gone from boys to co-ed), Amesbury (co-ed) and The Royal School (Girls pre-prep, prep and Senior) - definitely worth a look unless you are very keen for co-ed.

My cousin removed her 3 children from SF as was unhappy, felt it was too results orientated and not holistic enough.

Busbridge Junior

and Infants-both very good

maddylou - yes indeed, I went to both . Long time ago now, and they do still have a very good reputation.

Junior good on special needs too ,don`t have much info on Infants but expect it is too

Believe Chandler is good with special needs... Certainly parents seem happy with it. New head is well thought of.

Agree about SF - agressively results driven I think.

Amesbury is a lovely smaller private school. Friends very able ds did phenomenally well there, but I don't think it is particularly academic IYSWIM.

Barrow Hills School near Godalming is good. It is a private prep school but seems great for special needs. My DP went there from the age of about 8. He had very bad dyslexia and they worked wonders with him (has since got very good GCSEs, A levels and a degree but when he had started at the school couldn't read or write and his state school had written him off as 'stupid'). I think that all though it is a main stream prep school, it is good with special needs in general - I saw it on a website as being good at dealing with ADD/ADHD a couple of months ago when I was looking. A close family member was recently diagnosed with ADD. Good luck.

Good to hear this feed back. Have gone right of SF and really liked the look of Busbridge, it had a good feel about it. As we are still without an address I doubt VERY much that we will get in there though. Barrow Hills we also liked so if we have to go down the private route it is comforting to hear they are good with the special needs.

school allocations were out today for primary so at least you can join the waiting lists now for state school.......

Do I do that directly with the school or the council?

From memory individually with the school, not sure about you not living there yet but surely if your asking to go on the bottom of the list it wouldn't matter??? At least you would find out how many on each waiting list.

Actually it was Surrey schools that were allocated not sure you've got any Surrey ones on the potentials list?

Yes, we will definitely be moving back to surrey, ideally Godalming but at this rate we might change our plans and go live in a tent outer Mongolia and raise chickens!!!Not that I am loosing faith in a- finding dream house and b - getting into our chosen school!!

perhaps find out about the waiting lists and buy a house near schools with the shortest waiting lists or even spaces!

Busbridge is the place to be. I will be so jealous if you get a place there !

It would be my ideal but I think the chances are sooooooooooooooooo slim but you never know!!

Hmm I know someone whose son is at Barrow Hills and she doesn't think that it's great for SEN at all! She's paid for lots of outside help because the school hasn't been great.

You mentioned Farnham too - The Bourne and South Farnham schools are the best state schools though they're hugely popular; you could also look at Tilford - Waverley Abbey is very good. And if you're happy to consider Fleet, all the state schools are good, without exception and your money goes a lot further for houses.

Does anyone have any comments on Barrow Hills? Thinking of sending my DS and DD there...looks like a great school.

Hi Will123 - I have 2 kids at Barrow Hills and think it is great - excellent reading and maths schemes which I think have really made a difference. I have been very happy with it. How old are your children?