Autism Specialist school?

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Hi,

yesterday i had meeting with the senco and speech therapist in my son school. He is year 2 now in mainstream school. He is autistic. He is very bright. Teacher says he one of the brightest in his class. So he academically able. But he is struggling in communication. He got friends in the mainstream school but his friend only play chasing and running with him not communicating much.

his speech therapist saw him one every two weeks. He said he is struggling in communication with others and often misunderstood other people intentions. Which i agree.

because of the crisis the school gonna make bigger class because they need to cut down funding. Senco and speech therapist thinks my son will be struggling in bigger class because its so many sensory things going on. And he wouldn’t able to concentrate in class. Now he is fine because he got EHCP and teaching assistant helps him if he not concentrating in his task.

i live in Cambridge and they said there is the new specialist school in cambridge call The cavendish school. They think my son will flourished there.

i’m not from the UK. I dont know have any experience about educations here.

I thought specialist school only for severly autistic kids?,

do they get any discrimination if graduate from specialist school?

do you have any experience about children who academically able but in specialist school? Is it good or bad?

For mumsnetter cambridge do you have any experience about the cavendish school?

thanks

There are many different types of specialist school. A specialist school can simply mean it specialises in supporting children with a specific condition - such as autism. It will have highly trained teachers and support staff and much smaller class sizes. Some DC need a setting like this in order to be able to cope academically and socially.

It is true however that they tend to offer less academic subjects than a mainstream school but I know of several that offer a pretty wide range of GCSEs though.

I'm a bit confused about what your DS's school is saying though. When they talk about 'increasing the class size' - how many children are they talking about? In Yr2 the infant class size rule still applies so they can't have more than 30 DC in a class with one teacher.

It certainly can't do any harm to look around the school in question to see it for yourself. It's important to ask about the profile of the other DC in his year is like. Would he have a peer group? ie would there be DC of a similar ability in his year group?

It can be quite difficult to get a place at a specialist school. Is his current school saying they can no longer meet his needs?

There are special schools that cater to academically able autistic pupils, and who offer GCSEs and A levels. I don’t know anything about The Cavendish school school, but it’s worth looking at that school and others within travelling distance (e.g. Gretton). You could also look at additionally resourced provisions, too.

You could look at more support (e.g. weekly SALT and OT therapy) in MS if you don’t think SS or ARPs are right.

My DS school now its 15 pupils per class. They gonna go for 30 pupils per class next year. They thing DS wont cope in 30pupils per class. DS have ehcp and school seems confident to get him place in special school if i want to. I have a visit with cavendish school next month. Hopefully it will clear my doubt.

My cousin's daughter goes to Gretton (the school I think you are talking about - Cavendish is the wider group of schools), and is finally thriving - sadly it's taken many years and difficulties to get to this point (she is year 11), but she is finally attending school full time and loving it. She is smart, like your son, but can't cope with the mainstream school environment - with the changes and the busy-ness. Kids can do GCSEs there if they are able, but can also take vocational exams instead. It's all about the individual need. It sounds incredible, I would snatch the opportunity if it has been recommended to you.

@Veebs21 the OP isn’t talking about Gretton. Confusingly, there is a new SS in Cambridge called The Cavendish school.

Oh! That is confusing given the Gretton School’s wider group is called The Cavendish Group! Sorry for the mix up.

yes there is new school in cambridge called the cavendish school and its a part of the cavendish group too like gretton. I’m surprised i thought gretton not doing gcse. I will see gretton aswell then.

The Cavendish School isn’t part of The Cavendish Group, it is a free school that is part of a group of academies.

Gretton offer some GCSEs and A levels.