Alternative to school

[tostaky]

I have a bright boy, currently in Y6 mainstream.
He has ADHD and meds don't work for him.
I am researching local school but can anyone tell me what alternative exist in London?
Even though he is bright, sitting down all day, being told what to do, how to line up and so on is just too much for him and he has lots of anxieties about it.
This morning it took him one hour to calm down and go to school. He went in at 10am.
Secondary school is going to be worse i fear.
I work and i want to keep working. So no homeschooling for us.

Any advice? Pref north london!!!!

Who has assessed him? Has ASD and/or PDA been considered?

A private psychiatrist
He scored only one on the questionnaire for ASC
He said perhaps we should do a more thorough ASC assessment thru camhs.
As we have only just decided that atomoxetine wasnt working and my son did not want to get out of the car to meet the psy (which the psy said that was an ASC behaviour), we are waiting a month before meeting again and deciding whether to go thru camhs to do that assessment.

He is quite a smart boy and school will just break him. Deadline for secondary schools are soon and i am panicking...

A private psychiatrist
DS scored only one on the questionnaire for ASC
The psy said perhaps we should do a more thorough ASC assessment thru camhs.
As we have only just decided that atomoxetine wasnt working and my son did not want to get out of the car to meet the psy (which the psy said that was an ASC behaviour), we are waiting a month before meeting again and deciding whether to go thru camhs to do that assessment.

He is quite a smart boy and school will just break him. Deadline for secondary schools are soon and i am panicking...

Have you looked at Egerton Rothesay eger-roth.co.uk/
Also possibly Centre Academy www.centreacademy.net/ and The Moat www.moatschool.org.uk/
If you don’t mind boarding More House Frensham www.morehouseschool.co.uk/

St Chris in Letchworth is quite Alternatve but still quite big www.stchris.co.uk/

Have you tried several medications for adhd? My DN has had success with 3rd ones

I would not recommend More House for ADHD.

is online school an option?

If he ends up with an autism diagnosis and EHCP it may also be worth looking at mainstream schools with an ASC unit eg www.bremer.org.uk/asc-additional-curriculum/

Another idea
www.oaksparkhigh.org.uk/1785/horizon?search=Autism

Thank you all! That is fantastic! I will look at all these options as soon as poss

Have you tried other adhd meds?

You might find that in a smaller school with a more nurturing ethos,he might settle better than you think. Id certainly speak to sencos of different schools. If your child doesnt manage well at secondary, youd have more sway to then push for ehcp.

We tried two different adhd meds and both affected his mood tragically.

He may find Secondary less difficult than primary. There are so many more children so impulsive behaviour may be less noticeable. The teacher changes class every hour so will probably find behaviours less disruptive in a way. Also the walk between classrooms can help with hyperactivity behaviours. It depends how it affects him really. If he is likely to feel anxious then Secondary can be quite stressful at first but I have seen ADHD pupils cope remarkably well with books, organisation, timetables etc.

Thanks Izzi - at his current school, they set them for maths and english and mix the classes and teachers to prepare them for secondary schools. He really enjoys that.
I am just very worried about the "naughty/impulsive" behaviour escalating if there is less overview from staff.
He is not an angel either and although he has a corcle of friends, he sometimes gets into trouble with other children.

Oaks Park High is in Carshalton, Surrey (LB of Sutton) rather than North London, you probably won't want him to travel so far. It's the old Stanley Park High, and converted to academy this academic year following an appalling Ofsted report.

I mentioned not as a recommendation but as a model of schooling that’s out there

DD who is borderline ADD finds secondary a lot easier than primary as the structured day, lessons which don’t overlap like in primary which teaches by term topic instead of subjects, work wonders for her.

Make a separate appointment with the Sencos from each school, also speak to the Senco of his current school, they often know which secondary deals better with it.

Alternatively, there are Special Needs secondaries, Bromley has Glebe School, www.glebe.bromley.sch.uk.

the move to secondary IS a big change, but sometimes you can be surprised, as to how well they cope. There are a lot of good things about secondary. Stuff like not having the same teacher and classmates all day, is very good for children who struggled with primary.

I would do a lot of research on the schools. Id look more at pastoral care and nurturing ethos rather than academic grades, and have conversations with sencos.
If you need to work full time and your child doesnt have an ehcp, then home schooling or SEN schooling is out of the question, so you are going to have to look at mainstream schools and what the different ones can offer. They arent all created equal