St Edwards (Teddies) Oxford

[ChocolateHoneycomb]

We are looking for a 13+ school for ds who has some additional needs (mild dyslexia and ASD) but is in an academic prep at present and very settled with only minor adjustments made for his needs. He is not extremely quirky/weird but I am aware of the changes adolescence can bring. We have discounted larger academically pressured schools such as Magdalen college/Abingdon.

Current prep suggests St Edwards as a good option for him, we have not been able to visit yet due to covid but have done virtual open day/ videocall with SENCO, a housemaster and admissions person.

Just wondering what others think about Teddies - not in terms of academics and facilities - but in terms of pastoral care, managing mild SEN, ethos/general feel of the kids there etc. I don't personally know anyone with dc there.

I'm tending to find schools reassure you they will be right for your child because they are great in all respects. The only place that didn't do this was Bradfield College, who had a good attempt at putting me off before even hearing about ds!

I will visit as soon as poss, ds1 will sit pre-test in autumn 2021. We have ds2 coming along behind, who is more straightforward, and whilst it is not essential they go to the same school it would obviously be convinient!

p.s. For Teddies ds1 could be boarding, weekly boarding or day.

Yes I reckon Teddies will be good.
Just thinking….I think The Unicorn now goes up to 16. Have you looked there?

If he’s fine at an academic prep then you want 13-18. You don’t want to change again. What about Stowe? Could you get there?

Thanks.

We looked at the Unicorn 2-3 years ago as heard about it and wondered if that would be a better option than his current prep -or more specifically was our rather traditional mindset meaning we weren't considering all the options. I can see it is a great little school for dyslexia, especially for those who are not privately funding (lots of individual teaching but for 8K a term minimal extracurric, limited subjects, basic facilities compared to mainstream independent), but they were clear that ds1 in general performs much higher than their cohort and it would not be suitable. I would def consider it for a child with more severe dyslexia though.

Stowe would need to be boarding, weekly if they do it. I haven't really considered it - due to being slightly further away and not hearing it mentionned like some others round here. Can investigate.

@1805 do you happen to know anything about the ethos at Teddies? Academic/social competition? ds isn't very weird and quirky like some on the autistic spectrum but suspect unlikely to be supercool either. We are also a family putting lots of our money into education, rather than just having lots of spare money, so wherever ds goes that is boarding school level of costs he might find many other kids come from much wealthier backgrounds.

Thanks, appreciate the advice as all of ds' classmates seem to be on a direct path to either magdalen college or elite boarding schools (eton etc)

My DD has a friend whose brothers both went to St Edwards - London family. I know they liked it but they didn’t have any additional needs. Day schools always limit choices. It’s inevitable.

You are obviously at a top prep. My DD2 went to a prep where girls went to Wycombe Abbey and Cheltenham Ladies in large numbers! Scholarships galore too! You have to ignore what everyone else has been offered and concentrate on what options you have. However I think boarding could help with choices. Many schools are not remotely full boarding now so I would investigate a bit further. You may find weekly is quite common. Times have changed and schools need pupils!

We looked around Bradfield for 6th form a few years ago. Not impressed. We also looked around St Edwards. We liked it but another school pipped it for DDs subject choices. It’s hard choosing though.

Yes I would second Teddies as a good fit but Stowe would be too. Although it would be full boarding your DS can come home after sport on a Saturday, this would be the same for many schools these days. How about Dauntsey School?

Radley?

Thanks. I will investigate Stowe as well. We are fine with weekly or full boarding, Teddies attractive due to being very close.

Suspect we would have missed the boat for Radley!

Radley have changed their admissions procedures in the last few years to reduce the role for super-early registration. Looks like Teddies have shifted their process earlier with using the pre-test. If I am therefore interpreting what you've posted correctly, and your son is currently year 5, then I think you'll find that Radley is still definitely an option. I don't know a lot about it relevant to what you need but have heard good things in terms of pastoral stuff.

DS went through Radley recently, and I have a high functioning ASD dd who boards (obv not at Radley!!)

I would suggest looking at Radley. They are trying to make the school less scary in terms of admissions and are increasing the bursary pot significantly. So worth asking about financial help if the fees are scary.
My DS is very academic, but the school seems to work really hard to bring the less academic boys up to speed. The lower sets are very small I believe. The housemasters usually stay in post for 12 years, so the continuity of immediate care should be stable if you find a HM you get on with and has 5 or more years still to go. Home contact with the boys is regular. I don't think we ever went more than 2 weeks without seeing him. We were very happy with Radley. Including a couple of 'issues' which were dealt with quickly and fairly I thought.