Our DD is struggling in year 8 at her state secondary. It is classed as outstanding by OFSTED and we were delighted when she got a place but it doesn't seem to be working out so well.
Her primary made up a very small proportion of the 300 strong intake and she doesn't see any of her old friends in classes and has so far failed to make any good new friends so often feels lonely. She is a slightly immature August born baby, and all her old mates seem to be little teenagers these days. This is one aspect of her problem.
Her dyslexia means she struggles with certain subjects especially maths. She has a weekly dyslexia-trained tutor at home who she really likes, but she remains in the bottom set for maths. This means she is in a group with all the disruptive, needy kids and she says she finds in very distracting.
She has recently passed an entrance exam for a local private school that we feel would suit her very well - smaller groups, great arts facilities (she's quite arty) etc. However DH and I have no experience of the private system and wonder what lies ahead. Will she make friends? Will she thrive and grow in confidence? Will her grades improve? This is obviously what we hope but it's an expensive gamble.
Her current school have contacted me this week as the private school sent them a copy of the acceptance letter and are now campaigning for her to stay where she is. They produced reports from all the teachers saying how great she is (not stuff we usually hear, which makes us suspicious!) and how they don't think she has any problems. However, her dyslexia is not 'bad enough' to require any extra provision in their eyes...
So what to do? We are all completely fraught. The private school wants a reply asap and a huge deposit. My gut says go private, but my head wonders if we'd even be having this debate if she had one or two good mates she could rely on...
Thanks for reading, all advice gratefully received...