Independent schools for dyslexia

[onlyoranges]

Are anyone’s children at independent schools? I have found one that I really like the look of but the fees are above our means. I feel the answer is going to be no to this question but do anyone’s dcs attend specialist schools and have financial help from their local authority/a bursary. As I say I am expecting a no but thought I would ask!

I'm in a slightly different situation, my 2 children have dyspraxia and dyscalculia, we discovered Shapwick which is an independent school for dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia. We attended an open day and were really impressed by what we saw, we were advised in order to get considered for funding from the LA you would need to obtain an Early Health Care Plan (EHCP), if you get an EHCP you can then name the school you want your child to attend. The LA can either agree your request and fund the school place, or reject your request and for example offer you £50 for additional resources in the classroom! We have started the EHCP process and are waiting to see if the LA will agree that our children's needs are such that they require an EHCP to provide them with support above and beyond the 'norm'. In the meantime we organised a trial period at Shapwick and quickly discovered that despite the small number of children in class they have a high % with behavioural problems falling under the spectrum. The first day one child told my two that he was going to smash their faces in, and later hit them, we reported it to the staff and were told that this lad had problems in communicating. Cut a very long story short we decided against a specialist school as there seemed to be a high proportion with other problems and hope that a mainstream school with support will be sufficient. My advice is contact the school you're interested in, most if not all offer a free trial week and see how your daughter gets on. We were convinced that Shapwick would be the answer to all our prayers, it is a fantastic school with very dedicated staff and has helped many children, but the process has shown us the downsides as well as the upsides.

Sorry I realise I put your daughter, not dc, you can tell I'm a new mumsnetter as I'm not down with the lingo yet! I also can't work out how to do those smiley face things either...