Have you ever switched school?

[newyorkbreakfast]

For your children... Did it work out? Thanks

Yes... mainstream to sen. Best thing we ever did.
Although that's obviously a situation most people don't have.

Did you have to pay for the Sen school or did EHCP/ council cover the costs?

We're in the middle of doing it now. Mainstream to sen. Hoping LA cover. Will find out very soon.

@dodge and @needmorelego what made you realise things weren't working out? It's hard to know what's going on behind closed doors when your child doesn't talk much about stuff.

Yes. I moved on DC earlier in the year. It's been a massive success and I wish I had done it earlier. Am in the process of moving second DC for completely different reasons. Have the confidence that I am doing the right thing now. Their secondary school experience has been disastrous from the beginning and it was hard to separate out what all the issues were, because post-covid stuff was in the mix (and lots of cover teachers and staffing issues and and and).

@newyorkbreakfast no the SEN school is a state school so it's free.
Basically my daughter developed anxiety based school refusal when she started secondary. She had similar issues during parts of primary. She got a diagnosis of autism and she has sensory issues at the beginning of secondary but it was just too much for her.
It was a hard finding a place as Sen places are like gold dust and took several months.

My older daughter chose not to until her last year when she just couldn’t cope anymore, she loved the new school from the word go and although she didn’t make great friends everyone was fine with her. She did really well in her exams and the school were so impressed with her they gave her a job as a primary classroom assistant immediately her last exam ended, and continued it whilst she started her teaching degree. She wishes she had been brave enough to change in first year but her first six months had been very difficult and she was afraid once she was kind of accepted that another school could be worse.
My younger daughter swapped to the second school in second year; their first school was very academic-focused whereas her new school centres on whole-person well-being and fits her so much better. So two far happier daughters here.

For us it was very easy and she's on board. However she's 14 so obviously a bit more vocal than a primary child would be.

Yep, took both DC out of their crappy secondary academy at start of year 8 and year 10.

No regrets.

Yes. I took my DD out after the start of Year 9 due to bullying. Great decision. She’s a different child and adapted really well.

Very positive stories thanks. How did you know the new schools would be better? My impression of all the high schools in my area - limited choice - is that they're all the same: underfunded, poor behaviour going out of control, diminishing choice of subjects. (I have taught in the state sector for years so I'm fairly clued up on secondary education).

I didn’t/don’t. Likewise ex teacher. In both cases it was a gamble and if it had gone wrong I would have moved them again. TBF for DC 2 I am moving her to a school that is 30 mins away by train + walk on either side. It’s cheaper than online schooling which would be our back up option if it doesn’t work out.

I did. Moved one of mine from a pressured, selective, results-driven all girls school to a not very selective co-ed more holistic school.
It worked out very well, both academically and from a mental health perspective.
I figured if it didn't work out she could move again and restart that year. The last few years lots of kids have missed bits of their education so a slightly more convoluted path shouldn't matter IMO.

We'll never know what her results might have been had she stayed at the school that generally gets much better results, but I suspect she performed better at the second school because being not miserable can only help!

I don't know if it'll be better. That's impossible to know. Her current school has done all they can to help her. They've been incredible. They're a state mainstream so they do exist. If I was you, I'd look at behaviour expectations first and foremost. So many parents have no idea how bad things are in classrooms with regards to behaviour. It makes kids miserable.
We're moving to an expensive specialist independent so it's different to most people's situations. It's still very academic (84% 9-4s) but all therapies are integrated into the timetable and all teachers specialise in teaching dyslexic students. She had a couple days as a trial and came out a different child. It's a big difference socially going from 270 in a year to 25, but I think it's going to be ok. It also goes to 18, which is a relief for me at the thought of choosing colleges stressed me out. We'll see.

@dodge good luck getting that funding. It sounds ideal. Such a bloody mess of a lottery, the whole damn thing.

@newyorkbreakfast thank you. What's making you contemplate a move? In my experience once you're at that stage, it's mostly decided.

I changed from an academic girls only state in a 'naice' area of Surrey to a mixed academy comprehensive in south London in Year 9 after my parents decided to move house. Hated every minute of it for at least a year but to be honest the teachers were so much better and I did really well in all my exams. Ended up going to a top university (and got in with a contextual offer, although I didn't end up needing it). Moral of the story = don't judge a book by it's cover school-wise. I don't think I'd have done nearly as well without the amazing teaching and pastoral support at the second school which the first one lacked entirely :)

@dodgeitornot I will DM you

Yes, I move my two from a private school to a state school in primary due to no longer being able to pay the fees. We are in a different country and they had to change language, so they were out back a year, but have survived. Years later I moved my son from the high school to technical college as he was struggling academically, and he thrived! My son is just about to graduate, and my daughter is two years behind him.

Yes, moved dc2 mid y7 from crap high school they had moved up to from primary with all the class cohort to a new high school where they didn't know a single person.

Really glad we did it and I would encourage everyone to be positive about the idea of transferring schools as we had never done it before and felt it was such a huge decision it seemed almost crazy to try whereas in reality it isn't.

Thanks for your replies everyone. You are brave, courageous souls!
@dodgeitornot I don't think you can DM people anymore. Anyway, my reasons are the fact that DS' report card has gotten worse and worse and the school are making major curriculum changes which look dubious to me.