Mainstream secondary school sussex for adhd/aspergers

[brightonbod]

Does anyone have any experience of secondary schools in the sussex area for a child who has aspergers and ADHD? We are considering Lewes old Grammar and Bedes prep for my son but I am not sure he will fit into Lewes old Grammar and I am worried about the senior school at Bedes as it seems so big and anonymous aswell as having kids bussed in from long distances so local friends might be a problem? Any advice or experience gratefully received. He is a bright boy but has always struggled socially and always naturally gravitates towards other high energy quirky kids and can easily be shunned by the nicest of kids just because he can be overwhelming and come across as "weird" in the words of other kids. We of course think weird is wonderful but I know he needs peer friendships going through secondary school and thats my biggest worry. Help!

anyone?

What about Chichester Free School - or is that too far over for you? Its still very small as they are growing classes year on year. Might be worth a look?

Chichester is too far from us and the wrong direction if we are going to travel far from Brighton then it needs to be eastward rather than westward. we have a place at Lewes Old Grammar and Bedes offered to us I just don't know if he will fit in at Lewes? Do they have their fair share of quirky kids etc? Bedes - its far and then the long days and homework at the senior school means he'll be doing a 12 hours day easily from the age of 13 onwards. I am doing my own head in at this stage.

We have our eldest son with ADHD & Dyslexia and a younger son without. They both went to Copthorne School which worked brilliantly but when they had to move to a senior school (2011/12) we struggled to find a school in Sussex for the one with ADHD that could support him, so he boards at Bethany in Marden, Kent, which we would recommend. His younger brother has gone to Lewes Old Grammar which is a brilliant school but we don't believe is set up to properly support ADHD or comparable challenges. We looked at all the obvious ones in Sussex including Northease etc for our eldest but felt these were generally for more severe conditions. The local secondary school, we believe, would have failed him as he was unable to get a statement.
We are now going through the same process looking at schools for their younger sister, who whilst different, has ADHD but the world doesn't appear to have moved on much in 3 years.

Would love to hear what you find out and share experiences.

I meant to say, we did look at Bedes, fantastic set-up, great facilities and the headmaster who we met is very impressive but the working day is very long and the travel is quite prohibitive from Lindfield. We felt the Special Needs was at the dyslexia end rather than ADHD, Aspergers, they felt our son was not the kind of pupil they wanted. So at least they were straight with us.

We now have four children at four different schools, it's what we call bespoke schooling ;)

Oh wow that is hard with 4 different schools. Although I am a big believer in the right school for the right child. We came to the same conclusion as you re Lewes Old grammar which is a real shame because I liked the school a lot and I think it is warm and caring too.
We looked at all state schools in Brighton and Downlands too. Kings school in Hove is a new free school and is very small. My son loved it when we walked around and the size is just great, I hear impressive things about the SEN worker there. I was also impressed with the head but it felt like too much of a gamble as it is so new. The other state schools we just felt like he would get lost in them and be overwhelmed.
The only contender left is Bedes which is far from us as we are in Brighton but I have not seen anything else closer that is comparable.
I have heard good things about Seaford but that did not help us geographically so didn't really help.
Shoreham College have a new head and he has a lot of changes planned for the school but when we spoke to him about SEN he clearly had no idea and that subject was not his forte.
I think you are coming across the same issues as us, there is no obvious close choice for SEN kids with mild issues.....

@LindfieldFeebee I know this is an old thread, but I'm searching (from mainland Europe) for a boarding school for my 12 year old ADHD/probable HFA son. I was wondering if you'd still recommend Bethany as an option?

I’m following this too. My daughter has adhd and we have just accepted a place at Lewes Old Grammar..