Independent school for academic child with SEN

[Stingrayspike]

I have a child with SEN (moderate hearing loss) and am trying to decide if it's worth looking at independent schools. We live near a good state school but statistically deaf children do very badly at GCSE / A Level and because of moving from classroom to classroom I think secondary will be more of a challenge than primary has been - especially with large classes.

My experience is that the benefits of SEN provision in the state sector don't really apply if a child achieves well as they are (understandably) not a priority for resources. I'm pretty confident my son would get into an academically selective school but as I have no experience of the sector I'd be interested in finding out if some schools have an ethos that supports SEN kids and what other peoples experience has been. We currently live in London but would consider moving elsewhere in the South-East.

Independent schools are all different, so yes, it is worth looking at them, but expect each and every one to be different and be prepared to ask them searching questions about what accommodations they would provide for your DC. Presumably you know what sort of support your DC needs, so I'd be totally up-front about trying to find a school where that will be provided. Insist on meeting with the SENCO when you visit (or arrange a call at another time, if they're busy), but don't expect independent schools to run like one another, as state schools at least should - they're called 'independent' for a reason.

Thank you, that's a great point. I guess a lot of it is down to putting in that leg work and seeing how positively a school responds. The only one I've rung so far were quite unhelpful so I can probably interpret that as not right for us.