Private Secondary schools in London for HF ASD

[Humdrummum]

Our DS has a diagnosis of HF ASD but not statement or EHCP. He's been coping OK in mainstream state primary but struggles to focus in large noisy class so we're looking either for an independent special school or a non selective independent school which is supportive of mild ASD. Any thoughts on Abingdon House School?

We went to see Abingdon House a couple of months ago and were offered a 2 day trial in Oct. My DD is 10 and has a diagnosis of severe developmental lang disorder. She can communicate and has quite a few friends and is on the lower end of her age appropriate levels. We went to see it as they have great speech and lang provision. I'm not sure how high on the spectrum your son is but we decided it wouldn't suit out DD and she will be going to the local mainstream that has a great SEN team and lots of small classes.
Abingdon seemed really lovely but for us it didn't fit. There was a lot of children on the lower end of the spectrum and most of them were boys. I think its a great option for primary though! If we had a diagnosis earlied DD mightve gone there for a couple of years. But its definately not the secondary experience we want for her.
Also the tuition fees are very high and the only people that are not paid for by their LEA are expat families from the states- which apparently there are a few of. They also use the local leisure centre and park for sports and break times as the school is very very cramped and the playground is about 10mx10xm.

We visited Abingdon House for our DD and had the same impression as malmo. When we were visiting, one child was having 1:1 music lesson, bless him, and was banging on the huge drum so loudly for so long that I found it to be quite stressful. I think it might be a good intensive intervention option for primary school and for needs that are not so 'mild'.

Center Academy and Moor House school are often mentioned on MN.

Oh gosh, we saw that drum too. We also visited at the height of this years heat wave and the top of the school was so hot we couldn’t stay in the art room longer than 2mins without sweating. The windows are the attic type so I imagine they can’t open them for health and safety reasons. It was quiet stressful and claustrophobic. I can imagine it working wonders for a child with more complex needs though as the work the kids produced was really impressive and classes were tiny.

I would strongly encourage you to try and get an ehcp before secondary school. It makes choosing schools so much less stressful and as much as private can be great, I’ve only ever heard bad stories of SEN in private schools. With an EHCP you can look for a small sec school with good SEN care even if it’s not close to your house. I’ve worked in schools finance so be picky with state schools too, some of them mistreat their nominal funding. You don't want to be chasing people to do their job. I know that some parents in private schools were required to fund TA’s on top of school fees as well as covering the £6k nominal funding that the school wouldn’t get from the government, only to be asked to leave before public exams. I think tread really carefully with SEN in private schools. It can be good but when its bad its often really bad. Have a look at King Alfreds though- they are private but non selective and have good SEN care.

some parents in private schools were required to fund TA’s on top of school fees as well as covering the £6k nominal funding that the school wouldn’t get from the government
We had that as well in a private 'mainstream' primary. You pay full fees, plus the TA all the SEN provisions, and if you ask them for more or they want to do less, they push your child out.

only to be asked to leave before public exams. we couldn't get DD in any non selective prep school we tried because they were too worried that she would not handle 'their curriculum' (code for exam results). .

If you can afford the private route, what you want are schools that are 'hidden' specialist schools for children with SEN that do mainstream GCSE curriculum. Like the ones already mentioned, Egerton Rothesay, this sort. Most "special" schools might not meet your aspirations for the academic side.

Be also aware that SEN issues for children on the spectrum tend to escalate as the curriculum becomes more demanding on pragmatic skills and social interaction in secondary. That's where it goes wrong in private without the EHCP.

I completely agree. Our DD has just started year 6 today and I’m so thankful I pushed for an ehcp at the end of year 5. It’s all getting finalised now, I wouldn’t want to relive the stress but I also wouldn’t want to do secondary without it.

Egerton Rothesay has an amazing reputation and there are people with funded places. When we reached out to them they had large waiting lists for every class.

We went for a state school in the end, but did look at a few independent secondary schools. My son has autism, is above average academically and is quite passive so no behaviour problems,

I was surprised about the reaction of some of the lower tier schools - it was made quite obvious that they weren’t keen on even the idea of an autistic child. Latymer Upper and Dulwich College, were by far the most welcoming - but they are both selective.

I didn’t visit it as I discovered it quite late in the process, but Thames Christian College near Clapham Junction, might be worth a look. It ticked most of my boxes on paper.

The other school I consider as plan B if things go wrong in mainstream is More House in Frensham. It is boarding - but can provide so much support for kinds with difficulties.

Yes, I meant More House when I wrote Moore House. I always confuse them. The latter also exists, but is for speech and language.

One of the secondary schools we recently got in touch with said DD can stay till year 9 but would have to move for GCSEs. Funnily enough their student numbers drop by about 20 from year 7 to year 10. They’re a mid tier school too. We have Moore House speech and Lang as plan b but really don’t want to do boarding so I’m hoping Alexandra park will be a good fit and she’ll get in. Their SEN dept is amazing, if you’re n london I would recommend.

Also might be worth looking at The Moat in Fulham and Canbury on Kingston Hill.

Thought Thames Christian College was lovely (ingnore the buildings) although too mainstream for our needs.

Thames Christian also ticked a lot of our boxes but DD would need to take the bus, tube than train so not for us.

Thanks for all the helpful comments - we visited Abingdon House but it wasn't a good fit for our DS. Currently looking at both More House School & Thames Christian College...

Yea Abingdon House wasn't our cup of tea either. The Moat is owned by the same people but I think it caters for the more high functioning. Lovely for some but definitely not ours. You will know once you're there if its a good fit. Thames has some kids paid for by local councils and also have mainstream kids so it was our dream school.

Was also going to suggest Thames Christian College, Clapham, Canbury Kingston, Halliford Shepperton, Egerton Rothesay Berkhampsted, More House near Frensham, St James Ashford, Mount House near Barnet. Depends where you are?

Have you looked at Riverston in Eltham?

A follow up on this thread to all the parents with High functioning ASD children. We’ve had a tough time in the new independent school ( prep so primary level) and we’ve had to do a move for year 5 in sept. It does now mean we will either see how DS grades are at end of Yr 5 and see if secondary school 11plus is good idea or wait till After Year 8. Would parents who have DS with High functioning ASD at secondary school around west London or Surrey ( we may need to move) give feedback on their child’s school? Thank you for any guidance.

Bump and watching - we are also on the look out for ASD friendly independent secondaries

Kingswood House in Epsom is definitely one to check out.

So much depends on what your child is like and what they are interested in. HF ASD is still a very broad church. I know children who have been v successful at Trinity in Croydon, Thames Christian in Clapham and King's College School in Wimbledon. As one of the previous posters noted, the further up you go in the cognitive ability scale, the more used the school will be to HF ASD. The question is whether that works for your child. If it does, it can be a lovely experience as the child can potentially find many more like-minded schoolmates and teachers than they have ever had before. I speak from experience as I have two of them.

@SuiGeneris Thanks. We are looking for co-ed, as our son is very insistent upon that for a start, which narrows availability. He is currently about to go into year 8 at one of the top independent co-eds, and doing very well academically, but the size and noise is just too overwhelming for his sensory needs. The problem we are finding with a lot of these bigger, top performing London schools is they want kids who fit and toe the line, and get great results which boost the brand. This takes so much time and effort from the teachers and staff, there is often little space for any kid that needs additional help or needs to operate outside of the norm. They might be ok with dyslexia etc but ASD and high anxiety can need a lot of adjustments they are just not prepared to make. Ideally we would be looking for a school which, for example, has a safe space/room kids can go to when overwhelmed, or staff (other than just an overworked school nurse) there who can support an ASD kid having a meltdown...

Have you looked at small schools like Canbury in Kingston or Thames Christian. The Hall in Wimbledon may also be worth a look. Whilst they may not be as academically stellar or paper if your DS is relaxed he is more likely to succeed across the board. There are also some specialist schools but they are ££££ unless you have a EHCP. Another option is to look at your local state schools. Some have ASD specific units. The amount of time spent in the mainstream classroom varies from school to school. Most mainstream state schools will have a break out space, Often called something like The Zone or The Hub.

@usernamebore
I agree, co-eds don't seem to be as understanding or used to or accommodating of ASD/anxiety as the boys' schools. It is why we ended up in single-sex despite really wanting co-ed: for our specific circumstances, going into a super-noisy cookie-cutter co-ed simply wasn't going to work. If your son is already in Y8, is it not worth considering a boys' school that goes co-ed at 16, as many do? Not ideal, but in the end it would be only 3 years of single sex, in an understanding environment, rather than risking burning out in a noisy co-ed?