Do they have intervention groups in secondary?

[LolaTola]

Ds is in year 6 so we're currently doing the round of schools in the area. Ds has dyslexia, concentration issues and slow processing. He really struggles in his class so is taken out into intervention groups with the TA on a daily basis. These groups are normally 2 or 3 children. Would this also happen in secondary? He wouldnt keep up if he's just left in a class.

They do at ours but not all schools are the same. Good question to ask at each visit.

The answer is, yes, at least some I know of do , possibly all, but it isn't something that has come up in that particular conversation.

You need to speak to the SENCO at each school to find out how the individual school organises things. The SENCO at your current school may have some idea, but best to get it from the horrse's mouth.

Presumably your local schools haven't had their open evenings / mornings yet?

We re going to open mornings this week. I'm not sure if that will include a visit to SENCO. I have tried emailing but haven't had a response.

My daughters school has an assessment session every week or other week. I know she has mentioned that some children do other things instead of that which I think is related to extra support.

There will be others like him, so if they are set together they can go at their own pace.

I don't think our school does intervention for maths, instead it has a couple of extra sets so the lowest ability get very small classes.

Our school however does have a system whereby the least able in English don't even attempt an MFL in KS3 and use that time for English.

Our school also has intervention for English. They use PP money for it. The down side is you have to miss other lessons for the interventions, so what you gain on the English you lose on the ICT/RE/French.

The academy near me which is a little bit scary boot camp actually has a ton of measures on place to help those who need extra help. It is worth looking at schools you might not otherwise thought of as suitable.

At DD's school pupils in KS3 with an ECHP do extra numeracy and literacy classes instead of a language. There's a TA in a lot of classes but not all to support but it's not one to one support as such. All schools offer different support so you would need to talk to the SENCO at each school.

The fact that you haven't had a response from schools to your email is not a good sign. Does your DS have an ECHP ?

In my experience, intervention will be put in place depending on how they do in secondary, not on the basis of them having SEND.

Secondaries have SENCos, just like Primaries, but how they organise the support will vary school to school and child to child.
Does he have an EHCP ?
You definitely need to talk to the SENCos at the schools you are interested in. I know less of who can be released at an open morning, but at the open evenings the SENCos / Leasrning Support departments are available to answer just those sorts of queries.

Schools have their SEND policies and SEN Reports published on their websites. If not ask them to email a copy. You will find most of your answers there, but of course you need to arrange meetings with Sencos and visit the schools. As Adventuring says, you might need to consider broader range of schools based on criteria other than the conventional ones.

If a child has a statement, then there must be a transition meeting to discuss secondary and the suitable secondary will be named on the statement. If no statement, then it’s negotiation with the schools in question. The school you choose should liaise with your primary about his needs. However establishing what they can offer in the first place is more difficult. I would phone and ask specific questions and certainly read their ofsted report. Their SEN section on their web site should give information too.

IME it could be just an hour or two a week op, usually literacy support instead of MFL or other non core subject.

Some schools set for most subjects from Yr 7 (the school I worked in did this one year) others eg my dcs school don't, just for maths and maybe English.

You might find with some subjects he gets on OK - more practical work in secondary eg tech, ict, cooking may play to his strengths.

IME you only get 1-1 LSA support if you have it needed in your statement. Over a six year period I taught about 5 students this applied to (usually ASD). Does he have EHCP? I second contacting schools or asking when you go there.

One thing my old school did well was a small group of students who struggled that was taught separately for most/all subjects - in a nurture group. Worth asking about that. Good luck.

They are called ‘nurture groups’ . IME (DS just started y8) you have to really make yourself known once you know which school your dc is going to. Actually our SENCO has been really helpful and has phoned me quite a few times - and also I’ve made sure his from teacher knows him really well.

Ask about nurture groups