Recommended mainstream school in Glasgow for Autistic kid

[Mrskingwest]

Hi All,

I'm moving from England to Scotland with my son who will be starting S1 in September 2024. He has additional support needs (ASN) and I'm looking for some recommendations for secondary schools in Glasgow.

I'd be really grateful if you could share your experiences of the following:

• Any schools in Bearsden/East Dunbartonshire/East Renfrewshire/North Lanarkshire/Glasgow city with positive experience please
• The level of pastoral care that your child has received from the school
• The quality of dyslexia support that your child has received from the school
• The opportunities for social interaction and friendship at the school
• The overall experience of your child at the school

I have been doing online research in last few months but didn’t find enough information that enable me to make a decision. Any information you can share would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much in advance!

My friend's son attends the communication unit at Williamwood in East Renfrewshire. She can't speak highly enough of them.

He's not dyslexic though so I'm not sure how good their support for that particular aspect is.

Pastorally they have been extremely supportive.

Socially he seems to have a good group of friends.

Thank you so much for sharing. That’s really useful. Pastoral care and good peers are definitely what we are looking for.

Hyndland, they were brilliant with Dd.

Re the suggestion of Williamwood, I would think carefully about this and do as much research as possible. The school has a massive problem with bullying, especially towards those who may appear 'different', so to speak.

How severe is his ASN OP? Does he need additional support within the classroom? Does he need support during break times?

Do you know where you will be living yet? As this will also affect which school you will be able to apply to as the placing requests for next year have already been done and you may not get into what school you decide on if it’s outside your catchment area

Thanks so much for the comments! Have been quiet as we were waiting for final job offer for my DH. We just got confirmation and is now looking at relocating to G33. But we won’t move until summer next year, son will be starting S1 in Sep 2024. So hoping to start getting in touch with secondary schools that offers good support in that area and check the enrolment process.

We move from south and DS has EHCP which advises mainstream school with TA support. However I understand that EHCP is not recognised in Glasgow.

Any insights will be greatly appreciated!

The school year in Scotland starts in August, pupils return is Wednesday 14 August 2024 in Glasgow .

You need to look into getting an IEP (Individual Education plan) if appropriate and having a Child Planning Meeting with school. This could be after he has joined the school, give the school you are interested in a call and see what they suggest.

Thank you for the info that’s really helpful!

Are you definitely moving to G33 or do you want to be near G33 for work? Depending on where you are in G33, you could be in catchment for a number of schools. Placing requests are not always guaranteed and out of council placing requests are less likely to be granted. The default will always be inclusion in mainstream school and it’s really difficult to get a specialist placement, especially in glasgow.

Thanks for the comments. We are looking at Robroyston or Stepps. We are not thinking of competitive top ranked schools, if mainstream school with some level of ASN support would be great. Currently DS’s EHCP recommends mainstream. He will need support on Dyslexia, attention and he also has chronic TICS with varying difficulty that comes and goes in episodes. He also has ASD. With all these issues DS is actually very keen in learning. His IQ is average.

Thanks for letting me know about difficulties in getting into special school which I thought would be the case. At the moment we are still hoping DS could continue in mainstream school.

I love not far from this area, I am just beginning to think about mainstream secondary schools for my ds who has asd.
If in stepps I would avoid Chryston high school. A bit of a travel but Cumbernauld high has a inclusion unit attached to the school, it's still mainstream but the asn children are free to move to the unit as and when they see fit throughout the day. I have heard some good things about this.