Millfield for a ADHD SON

[mhh01]

Any advise if this would be a good place to send a shy ADHD year 9 been struggling in mainstream school due to size of classes need a nurturing environment with lits if activities for him to thrive! Is this a good place?

Milfield gets a bad press on here whether it’s warranted on not I’m not sure. Nearly all schools will have outspoken supporters and detractors. A friend of a friend with a DS with SEN sent there thinking is was going to be amazing and was very loyal to it until she discovered they’d done virtually nothing they’d promised. On the other hand I know 2 others who sent their DC’s there and like it, one was stunned at her DC’s A level results which way exceeded her expectations, she never considered her to be even remotely academic.
The only thing is I do get the impression it’s not overly “nurturing” but I could be wrong.
Most big well established boarding school like Millfield will have lots of extra curricular activities as standard as they have to amuse their pupils 24/7 and small classes in comparison to the state sector.
Never forget that most independent schools in the boarding sector want your money so will be keen to tell you how good they are at managing ADHD (or whatever the problem is) but you need to ask lots of searching questions to find out exactly what they will offer and monitor it carefully. Have you looked round? Don’t be swayed by fab facilities ultimately they mean little and I’d advise you too look at least 1 other so you’ve got something to compare it against.

Its a big school. There might be others (Shiplake etc) that might be better. Have you thought of getting a few suggestions from an educational consultant.

I can't imagine it will be a good fit. Milfield is huge and it has many good qualities but surely what you need is a small school that will cater to his needs?

You could look at Sibford Ferris and Abbotsholme.

Being big is not necessarily a negative. At most boarding schools you live in a house of approximately 60 with an HM and other housestaff who get to know your DC very well. More pupils means a bigger pool of friends, a greater chance of finding like minded others. A bigger school can also mean a bigger SEND dept, a bigger pool of knowledge and ides, a bigger group of teachers so more chance of finding ones who's teaching style works for you etc. Being big doesn't mean
you can't cater for individual needs if you have sufficient staff and resources.

Also bigger means more extra curricular stuff to choose from.

You should visit Bethany in Kent. It caters for all but almost 40% of kids have SEN. Education is tailored to the needs of the child rather than trying to shoehorn him/her into a prescriptive methodology. Because of this the school will never feature at the top of the league tables but that’s not to say that bright kids don’t achieve there: an acquaintance’s son is taking 5 GCSE a year early and is predicted 5 As. The facilities are excellent and they have boarding.

I understand that universities only count GCSE's sat in a single sitting the end of yr 11, I could be wrong or it may only be certain universities, quite a few independent schools who require high marks at CE used let their very brightest pupils sit math and Latin early but I think most have now stopped this. IMO there is little point, Im no sure what it achieves? Personally I would rather they went beyond the curriculum and sat them all in yr 11.

“universities only count GCSE's sat in a single sitting the end of yr 11”

I don’t know about this - my DC are still at prep so it’s not something I have had personal experience of. That said this is not the first time I’ve heard of GCSE being split over 2 years in the last year. A friend’s daughter took 2 subjects a year early - not because she’s academic (she’s not) but because that’s how it’s done in her all girls state school.

What is the point in sitting (I)GCSE’s a year early?
I don’t think it proves anything apart from the from the possibility that you can’t study and revise for 10+ subjects at the same time and get top grades And you could say it’s lazt teaching.
If youre pupils are ready to sit them earlier then broaden out the curriculum and do stuff that’s not examined instead.
I’m not critisising Bethany’s by the way but I want to know why pupils are sitting some of their GCSE’s earlier.

The point made earlier was to illustrate that the school caters for all abilities. Everything else is irrelevant to the OP’s original query. If the issue of pupils taking any public exams early is of particular interest to you it might be advisable that you raise it with schools that allow it.

I don’t think sitting GCSE’s a year early does indicate you that you cater for all abilities. Having said that I’m not sure what does indicate that you cater for all abilities?
As I said sitting GCSE’s early for the bright is now becoming less common as top universities don’t count subjects not sat at the same time unless there’s a very good reason e.g. medical grounds.

Back to OP, I second whT HG said about a bigger school. Without divulging too much, I also have a DS with adhd and chose a school that’s medium sized. You want good pastoral care but you also don’t want him to stick out like a sore thumb. Please feel free to PM.