St James school Ashford SEN views class disruption 11+

[sewards]

I am hoping for any current views on the SEN support in the school and how well other children did in their tests for 11+ entry. We are in Richmond.

I have read an old inspectorate report but just wanted fresh views from parents whose children go there.
My son has high functioning ASC and is bright but is not always reflected on testing under pressure either. He has been impacted in primary by other children with disruptive behaviour in class. He is in Year 5.

Unfortunately there are many in his class with ADHD and disruptive behaviours and who cannot sit still, so he becomes quite stressed by the distracting behaviours.
Even though my son has ADHD too it is quite mild and on low dose medication you would not know as it mainly impacts his concentration levels.

I am looking for a school that is mainstream that he can be happy in but is not too large with less likelihood children can disrupt the classroom.
Mainstream because he is bright and I am worried a special school may restrict his potential as he learns quickly in smaller groups or 1 to 1.
He has great academic potential having been advanced in Maths, and even spelling, in Australia having won school competitions, but that has halted in progress due to his class environment and transitional period of adjustment.

The key though is for him to be happy as he can make friends well but struggles when his class got too large in numbers and had a period of school refusal as a result. He has an EHCP with teaching support recently although his class was so small on their return in 2020 that everything has improved as a result too and it appears the class size has had the greatest impact on him.

I have considered Orleans Park but it is so large with so many children and in each class that even with support I am not convinced he will cope with the class sizes, especially if some rooms are a squeeze and there is any disruptive behaviour amongst a larger class. He just cannot filter those distractions due to his ASD and appears very affected by it with tears after school when it occurs commonly daily at his current school.

He is now attending school during lockdown and they only have 10 in his class and after just 1 week he is thriving, despite disruptive behaviour still from one child attending in class and the playground. So class size seems to be a major factor in in his ability to cope.
Would love any views as if I could narrow down more ideal fits, so he then could come with me when they are open after Covid, then I would set about cost factors.
Some places are ruled out due to transport, because I am a single mum, and I have a health condition that can cause hospitalization.
My elderly mother, who does not drive, would need to be able to be accessible for before or after school, who lives close to me. I know my son at his current age or the next year would need personal transport by me or my mother as a mini bus or the train may not work initially for him. A bus would be out of the question due sensory overload without supervision. Another 2 years may be different though as every year he manages a little better in all aspects.

My son is at St James in y7 and is very happy there. We don't have a lot of experience with the Sen department but from what we have heard they are supportive and the intake is quite diverse. They really look at the whole child in the application process and not just results, and pride themselves on being a good school for value added and improving the baseline scores of pupil from when they join. Having said that there are certainly some very academic boys in my son's year so they have high achieving children too. My son made friends very quickly and is able to keep in touch with them online at the moment. He appreciates the well-being focus of the school and has found the pause (meditation) they do before lessons very beneficial. I don't think it's always calm in every lesson and there are the usual behaviour things that every school has but it does have a small school community feel. He takes the train and there were a whole group of them last term who travelled together and helped each other in the beginning. The quiet 2020 trains with less commuters were great for them to get used to travelling alone!

blueblueblue4 that is so great to hear.

Did your son do the standard practice paper revisions before the 11+ exams and do you know what the application rate was versus offers?
Do they let you know how they performed in the tests too?
The facilities look amazing too, most especially because my son grew up with lots of land and is missing that since we have relocated back to the UK.

Also look at Halliford, really good head and very nurturing. I know someone whose DS commutes from Richmond

Radnor would tick a lot of boxes, presuming you have ruled this out?

My son sat the St. James 10+ last year during the first lockdown and it was online. The tests were general maths and English comprehension and they were very straight forward and gave us our mark automatically once we had submitted our answers. I’m not sure if they are using the same system this year or not but hope that helps

Yes puzzlebil Radnor House is on the list but I have not read anything on their website about children with autism and he is having an updated EHCP to demonstrate improvements he has made at his current school. I've been told his old EHCP is too high needs and to not send it out until its updated.
Does Radnor House have much outdoor space? Outdoor space in breaks seems to be a bonus for my son. He loves the water though so having the river views will be very calming for him if he was offered a place.

I really liked the information I have read about Halliford starlilly88 and reviews on other threads. I was a little worried about the extra distance on public transport, or traffic in a car, from us as we are closer to Kew than Richmond so would mean a train and bus change-says 1hr 20 mins online via public transport unless they had easy transport such as a school bus?

After8itsgrownuptime, thank you for the info. I am hoping to chat to St James more once we have an updated EHCP to see what their views are of his fit at the school. I think it could be a good fit but depends on what criteria they consider on EHCPs too.

I worries. We also sat for Halliford and are waiting for our offer tomorrow for13+. Halliford is our preference over st james but just because it is a bit more modern with better facilities . So it’s worth a look if you haven’t seen it already

@eeward my son had an EHCP and I found booth Halliford and st james very accommodating

Radnor doesn’t have much space but I believe they do often use Radnor Gardens. Perhaps his EHCP funding could accommodate an adult to accompany him there from time to time.

It may be worth a phone call. I know under the old head there was little scope for diversity but the ‘new’ head seems a very different fish - he is also very open and honest in our experience.

CookEatRepeat that is great. Certainly one to consider once we have his EHCP updated and we can go and have a look at Radnor.

After8itsgrownuptime Halliford is definitely worth having a look if he doesn't have to get public transport. By car its approx 30 minutes. We will go and have a look at that one too. Distance wise St James is the closest, being 30 mins by public transport and 20 mins by car. Hopefully we can get to see them before the summer holidays.

thankyou so much for everyone's feedback. So nice to hear other parents' views. Sometimes you feel having an EHCP becomes a black mark to some of these schools, even though it has been so beneficial for my son getting the right support and approach

@eeward I believe my friends son gets a taxi as bus doesn't go that way but not sure what the arrangement is, who pays for it. Maybe give them a call and ask what the options are from Kew area

starlilly88 I have just seen on the Halliford website they have a school bus from Kew through Richmond.
The same exists for Radnor House and St James. So all may be options transport wise now. My son may qualify for transport on his EHCP but the extra costs get factored depending on how much LA funding he gets for the school and his needs for a smaller school over a maintained school.

I've just booked the open day with Hallifords, if it goes ahead. Many only have virtual ones currently so I am waiting for the others to become available.

Sorry I didn't get back to you OP, I don't know what the rate of offers and acceptances is and we were 2020 exam group, so this year will be different but St James are quite approachable so I would suggest contacting them and sounding them out.

I'm so pleased to have discovered this thread as I'm eager to get feedback on SEN support for boys with ADHD at both St James and Haliford. I've heard a few good things about both. With regard to Radnor, having attended a virtual open morning I did get the sense from the head that they weren't quite as accommodating for neurodiverse kids as St J and H schools. He kept reiterating (having been asked about SENCO dept) that they accept kids with 'mild difficulties' and kept stressing 'high functioning'. I just got the feeling he was trying to put off parents with neurodiverse kids.

@Racheyn , that's interesting maybe a bit like Claremont Fan in Esher, they are moving away from the intake they use to accommodate. With ownership by Dukes Education and the news re Kneller Hall site I guess Radnor need to change their positioning in the market.

Try Ewell Castle too if you are on the transport links.

Thats a useful insight re Claremont Fan, thank you. It's on my list but ultimately I just want my son to be happy at school and develop a curiosity for learning. Obviously results matter, but not at the expense of his mental well being. Thank you for the recommendation. Good luck with your school search.

@Racheyn my son has just started at Halliford and so far so good. Early days but very warm and welcoming - there motto is to turn your son in to the best version of himself. Great communication with SEN lady there as well.
St james also lovely and was our second choice purely because we felt that Halliford was a bit more structured and my son benefits from that.
Rumour was that radnor took no sen this year at 11+ and ditto Clarement fan. Not sure how true that is but I heard it from a number of sources and I have friends with very bright SEN DDs and DS who only got waiting lists at both schools .

With an EHCP, you don't need to worry about transport. Richmond will fund a taxi.

St James has a bus service and a lot of boys also take the train. My son has only mild Sen but I believe they are quite supportive of most things. Rumour has it that year 7 was full more quickly last year than previously, perhaps due to new sports facilities and the effect of people moving sectors over lockdown.

Someone said in another thread that Radnor will expand from 3 form to 5 form when they move. So they will have to fill these spaces. One way is to try to feed more from their primary schools (more marketing and also relaxing the effort on 11+), but also they will probably have to accept a more diverse cohort. So unfortunately bad timing for now, although I wonder what ethos will they end up with at such a bigger school - the facilities will improve but let's see what good a job they do with the rest.

@sewards what did you decide for your son in the end?

My son didn't go to St James or H. ST James said no. Found H a bit claustrophobic in class rooms and couldn't picture my son in a room of 20 with sloping ceilings/walls on the top floor where his main classrooms would be. It the rooms had higher ceilings he may have managed.
He has tried residential now, but that has been a big flop when certain mobile phone policies caused a lot of upset in the residential part such that he has lost all trust with adults as a result. Major complaint accepted and the policies are now individualised with more personalised approach but the principle wouldn't budge. Understand no phones in education and should be hidden away then but not in their own rooms in this day and age esp when parents can have apps to manage and filter.
But now to the drawing board for another school.

Disruptive behaviour isn't exclusive to public schools; it's also present in private schools. The idea that private education is solely for affluent families with well-behaved children, while public education is for those who can't afford private schooling for their disruptive kids, is a misconception. In reality, private schools enroll a diverse range of students, including some who exhibit disruptive behaviour. Some parents opt for private education hoping it will provide the discipline their children need.

However, unless it's a specialised private school catering to conditions like ASD, it may not be the ideal environment for children with EHCP. Private schools typically don't follow the same SEN processes as state schools, making it more challenging to ensure the right support is in place. If something goes wrong... the process is not easy. Many threads are here about it. Moreover, gaining admission to private schools often involves passing competitive 11+ exams, which can be stressful, emotionally draining especially if the child's education is impacted by conditions like ASD
If I were in your shoes, I'd consider looking for a good state school with a robust SEN department. Go to open days at Turing, Teddington, Grey Court, Orlean Park and talk there to the SEN staff members. I remember that I was particularly impressed by SEN office at Teddington.
Regarding your child's EHCP, I'm curious about its basis. Simply having an ASD diagnosis may not be sufficient for an EHCP; there usually needs to be additional factors such as social or safety concerns, significant educational delays, or physical impairments like hearing or vision issues.