Private School-better support for those with additional needs taking GCSEs than mainsteam?

[jennylamb1]

We are considering applying for a private school for our son who has additional needs. The one that we are looking at seems nurturing, has a very good Learning Support department, is small and in a beautiful setting (lots of green space, places to chill-out). He has Asperger's, some minor social/communication issues, however is intelligent and we would expect him to be able to get English and maths GCSEs when the time comes. My question is: are private schools better at supporting those with additional needs through such exams? Is he likely to be able to have extra time/a scribe if necessary etc? I recently heard a bit of a horror story from another local mum whose SN child attends an 'outstanding' local mainstream school that people clamour to get into, that does not want to enter her child for the English and maths exams. He is being 'off-rolled' into just doing drama GCSE, because this is 60% coursework and he's more likely to get a better mark. They don't want his results on their overall GCSE results it seems, largely because he may not cope with the length of the exam, although he is academically capable. I think this is quite scandalous that the student of an 'outstanding' school is having his future career path seemingly dictated to him because the school wants to maintain its good results. I'm hoping that a private school would invest more time and effort in supporting children in fulfilling their potential and supporting them, something which I think frankly, all schools should be doing. Have other mums found this or not?

I don't think this is a private vs state school thing, but more down to each individual school. Some state schools offer better SEN provision than others. Some private schools offer better provision. I think you just need to talk to each school.

My son's private school were great at implementing exam adaptations such as laptop and extra time etc but rubbish at day to day reasonable adjustments eg they refused to put any in place so he was made to eat his lunch in a crowded dinding room and had to safe time out space when experiencing sensory meltdown.

The state school we moved him to are fantastic at the day to day stuff but we've had to push for the exam adjustments.

Depends on the school
At DD’s Private School the Prep isn’t great at supporting SN, in fact The Heads son goes to a nearby State School, who support him brilliantly ( I know his Mum socially) BUT there are a few SN kids at the Secondary who are really well supported, including one in DDs class.

Agree it depends, not on private/state but willingness and resources to cater for specific issues. Ds was fortunate that he needed little intervention in private senior school but for others a bustling, noisy competitive and sporty environment might be a nightmare. Learning support can be inconsistent and you may be expected to fund assessments. We also had ups and downs getting access arrangements in place which m due to JCQ rule changes he largely lost in the run up to gcses but which were ironically reinstated at uni.

Definitely agree it is school dependent rather than private v state.

Mine was in private on a bursary and when it came to it the support was non existent. They were interested in results and not supporting additional needs. You also had to pay for any of the extra support and tests that she got free at state school.

That said state school has been equally awful but less so in terms of it being easier to access outside support.