Stigma of SEN during 11+ in London

[orcadive]

Any thoughts on sharing learning differences with independent schools as part of the 11+ process? We are in London where it is already extremely competitive. I have a bright ds with ADHD who I worry will be discriminated against during the selection process because of the diagnosis. He takes meds which control symptoms (inattentive, not hyperactive) but was already mild enough in his behaviour that ADHD was never flagged to us by school prior to diagnosis.

I guess I'm asking: did anyone go through this process and (a) submit ed psych report and then regret it because they felt their child missed out on the right school for them or (b) apply with SEN diagnosis/es and find that it didn't really affect the 11+ results and offers?

I think it depends on the school. They all have to officially accommodate SEN but those who proactively promote their offering are probably going to be the most supportive. Latymer Upper promotes it well and gave prominence to their SEN department when we went to an open day. They also had one sixth form girl get up and talk about her dyslexia and how supportive the school had been. Hampton also seem to be supportive. My DS got in with an adhd diagnosis (on medication). He got extra time in exams. The school seems to have a good SEN dept and a Good Schools guide report had the head being supportive of SEN pupils.

Some schools recognise that neurodiversity doesnt equal low intelligence and that differences can lead to brilliance in some areas so they will be open to taking those pupils that they can see the potential in. Others may see it as an unnecessary hassle when they can easily fill their places with neurotypical children who achieve highly with no extra input from the school.

I thought Harrodian seemed supportive too, accepting of differences and has an SEN person for the upper school. Dulwich is another that seemed supportive of some neuro differences and from recollection I think it offered extra support to help with organisational skills which is often something ADHD sufferers need. Also the Dulwich registrar seems very supportive of neuroatypical children. Epson College seems to offer a considerable support programme of extra tutoring but it comes at a price and the fees are already higher than the others I have mentioned (but you get a longer school day and Saturday school).

Of the others, I am not sure about Emanuel and Ibstock for SEN. Emanuel has a history of 15% SEN pupils according to old reports I read but that might have changed under the new head. I am not sure what the purpose of their interview was but my son was asked to do origami and they seemed to take it seriously when he tore the paper slightly (I think he has poor fine motor skills). Ibstock does seem to support SEN and give extra time in exams (as does Emanuel) but my impression was they gave less prominence to their offering in this area so you might need someone with more direct experience to give you a view. The one that stood out to me as being less supportive than the others was Alleyns. They put more restrictions on the accommodations they would give my DS in the exams than other schools, they notably didnt seem to have anyone using a laptop in the classrooms as a substitute for handwriting (which is often recommended for children with slow processing problems). Their exam (especially English) is also very ‘wordy’ and the reasoning test needs fast reaction time. However, this is just my experience and others may say they have had fabulous support from their SEN department.

Oh and PS if your school don’t consider it a problem for them and give your DS a good reference then that should go a long way. If a potential school is wary of your DS in such a situation it may not be the right place because they may have a culture or systems that have resulted in problems for adhd children in the past.

However, I dont think it is the case that you need to lower your ambitions academically because of adhd. If you have a bright child then aim for schools that are ambitious as well as those that you think he should get into quite easily and see what happens. But the academic ones should be those with good SEN support.

How far into w London are you?? We tried some of the less competitive schools for ds who has a spiky profile as the very academic were not really interested unless exceptionally strong in certain areas and DS has processing issues so didn't want to stress him out...Kew were more welcoming but is tiny as were Radnor in Twickenham and st Benedicts in Ealing (but very Catholic and poor history of abuse)

I would get a state back up...there are lots of good state schools in London

Super summary @MGMidget. Thanks very much for that insightful info.

Hoping to resurrect this thread as I have the same dilemma and questions as the OP.

Anyone with experience of whether dyslexia diagnosis has a stigma when applying to academic independent schools (London).

Hi, we went through this last year.. some schools were very honest about not being able to support anything but mild dyslexia once we spoke face to face with the SEN. One school refused to give my son extra time and a reader despite his report and some were amazingly supportive . These were schools in west London /Surrey so may not be in your area

I’m interested in this too. I have DDs so would be especially interested in @bashstreetkids experience and which London schools sounded progressive in this respect and which didn’t.

I have noticed that some schools (most?) ask the question “is your DC diagnosed with any condition” or words to that effect. I wouldn’t want to lie. So in these instances the decision is clear, we need to be open.

Re extra time, I have seen a couple of academic schools which say extra time will only be given if the child is below average in something. Well realistically, children who are below average are not going to be applying to these academic schools are they? So in reality that means extra time is unlikely to be available (except for a very spiky profile child I suppose).

My child had extra time at 11+ but we were realistic with our school choices. Several schools made the right noises but gave us outright rejections , another was honest and told us not to apply as they couldn’t support the dyslexia and another one, Who has made a point of wheeling out a dyslexic boy at open day to do a speech about how supportive the school were, would not give us the extra time we needed in the exam . However the 3 we liked and got offer from were incredibly supportive. They recognised that you can be bright and dyslexic and my child is flying.
for reference , claremont have taken no SEN children for 2 years as headmaster is ex kings and wants to raise the school academically, ditto radnor (although with A big new site to fill they might be more lenient this year)

Thank you. It would be very helpful to know which were the supportive schools (and the unsupportive too, but appreciate you may not want to say!)

I've heard positive reports about the GDST schools & Wimbledon High

Trinity, Whitgift, Royal Russell, Northwood Senior (will be called London Park School Clapham) all supportive imho

Emanuel were not supportive but my experience is a few years old and things may have changed

Thank you. WHS head said all the right things about neurodiversity - going well over and above the basic level - at recent open day, so that fits. Also ALL the children we saw were using laptops in lessons, and they screen every child for undiagnosed ND. Plus their entrance assessment is nicely non traditional. Just wish they ran a school bus!

Conversely FYI Reigate Grammar head said some very dispiriting things at a recent online Q&A - in summary, he said they select primarily on school report rather than exam result and they are looking for “resilience” “ability to take coaching” and “peacemakers not troublemakers”, “because we want a happy school”. All of which is not very compatible IMO with welcoming and supporting ND kids who may well struggle with these things. Of course he later said they do welcome/support SEN but he has to say that doesn’t he, and his comments about admissions made it fairly clear he is looking for straightforward kids.

Interesting about Emanuel and Alleyns.

Any comments about Jags?