New school in Surrey area for autistic child

[Shybutnotretiring]

Hi, my DS aged 8 diagnosed with ASD, ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia and visual processing disorder is currently struggling at a mainstream primary despite a full statement. I think I like these schools: St Dominic's, Unsted Park and The Rise in Feltham. He also has taster days at Knowl Hill in Pirbright and Blossom House coming up soon. Am debating with myself which one to really go for with the local authority. Any advice/experience appreciated! Thanks

What about Freemantles in Woking?

i did look at Freemantles but didn't think it was suitable. so difficult to decide when you only see a snapshot of a school when you go on open days/visits. The Rise looked great but we only really saw one class, the year 1s and 2s, when DS is in year 4.

St Dominics is very expensive so unless you can really show it is the only school for him it could be hard getting the LA to pay. I have known someone who managed it, but it was difficult.

well, this is the thing. I am sure if I say to the local authority Unsted Park, St Dominic's or The Rise they will say The Rise it is. I am not sure if I am fine with that. A new school is a bit of a leap of faith and with the emphasis on integration with the mainstream next door not sure if it didn't feel a bit like a very sophisticated ASD unit. How severely affected is your friend's child who goes to St Dominic's ?

I know two boys there. The one from Surrey couldn't cope at all in mainstream, spent most of his time in the "sensory room" the school had to create for him. On the other hand he was very highly intelligent, e.g. Doing GCSE maths at 8.
The other boy is out of county, not quite as gifted, very rigid in his thinking. But I don't know either well.

I would like to share our opinion of the rise school (FYI) as we placed our son there last year. We did what we thought was good research visited the school had them check if our son was a good fit but his placement was a disaster from day one. It turned out they hid the fact they were an ABA school and when we discovered this they openly lied to us and other parents about practicing ABA, (the former head teacher now boasts on her resume that she help set up the first ABA free school). According to Ofstead there were 146 behaviour incidents in the April with only 34 children. We took out son out shortly after and we complained and as we were deregistering our son they reported us to Social Care. Ofstead carried out a section 8 into the school as a result of multiple complaints from parents. The school undertook an independent investigation but refuse to publish the details but have said the investigation was sparked by both parents (multiple) and staff raising concerns.

Where does your son go now, are you happy to say? Thanks so much for all your info. I am pretty much settled that I want to go for St Dominic's or Unsted Park (if they'll have us!). Does anyone know tactically if I should really try and decide which (in case saying I like both weakens the argument that this is the school which uniquely can meet my son's needs) or whether it's fine to go ahead citing both?

We made the decision to homeschool, which in hindsight was the only good decision we've made regarding our son's education journey.