Orange Tree School / Holmewood School

[MarthaJonesPhone]

Does anyone have children at either of these two schools or have any feedback. I would be so grateful.

DS current mainstream school placement has completely broken down. I've applied for an urgent review of his EHCP to change to special school.

DS is very shy and so anxious and I'm desperate to find a very quiet and nurturing school for him.

[SpaceInvader321]

Bumping. I'd also be interested in feedback about these schools for my 11yo auAdhder. Getting worried about the y7 transition.

[Lilysilrose]

Holmewood - its very expensive so you will only get it on appeal. There is group therapy provision but otherwise I didn’t feel the staff were particularly specialist or knowledgable. The buildings are tatty and the outdoor space is very limited. I know people with kids who are happy there however, which is obviously the key thing.

Orange Tree I haven’t look round but I’ve heard nothing but bad things. As always worth looking around yourself.

Red balloon schools might be worth a look.

[Lilysilrose]

You could also look at Silverways (Enfield), The grove (Enfield), Windmill (Barnet).

[TravelBunnie]

Orange tree is horrendous. Sadly, the head teacher is a dreadful character & only wants kids with weak ehcps . Has no understanding of autism or mental health & only recently the school was investigated due to so many complaints. However, the head once worked for Ofsted so knew all the tricks to get round it. Most parents are very disappointed with the school. Staff wonderful but the head controls all & is like a second hand car salesman. Vile man from ex parent

[MarthaJonesPhone]

Thank you both. And thank you for your thoughts on OTS. I did visit, staff seemed lovely but I didn't get a great impression of the Head.

[SaltBlossom]

Just went to the OT today, the head is retiring.

[TravelBunnie]

Omg !!! I imagine he has been pushed or jumped before …wonderful news though …

[SaltBlossom]

@TravelBunnie do you think it's a school worth considering given this change?

[TravelBunnie]

I definitely would look into it if he is retiring . I am not sure what class sizes are which was a concern before as they were very low on numbers but that should be easy info to find out …

[SaltBlossom]

They have 27 overall but I don't know the split across the year groups. I will go back with DD and ask for more detail then. She would be Y7 2025 entry

[MarthaJonesPhone]

When I asked they had 12 in Y10 and above. No year 7's. One year 8.

[TravelBunnie]

Good grief …that’s quite concerning given they were trying to get to 10 kids in year 8 about 18 mths ago but I know many prospective parents were put off by the head .

[Broct]

I am relatively local to the area of both Holmewood and Orange Tree although in Herts and really pleased to have found this thread. My Y9 son attends a specialist resource provision but his sensory needs are currently off the scale, mainly at school but also at home. He is ASC and academically mainstream (although not in lessons often due to his SPD, as most of the class sizes are at least 10-15 children). Before I progress this further with the LA, would anyone be able to offer an opinion of whether either of these schools could meet need for sensory processing disorder?

[MarthaJonesPhone]

If it was a choice between Holmewood and OTS, Holmewood would be the better option.

Tbh I still have absolutely no idea about OTS as it all seemed very vague. No idea what the school is 'about'. Would be interesting to revisit when there is a new head.

[SaltBlossom]

The tour today was run by the new head Zoe Ramshaw. The previous one isn't even on their website anymore.

[MarthaJonesPhone]

Blimey, that's all very quick! I wonder what happened?

[SaltBlossom]

He was on site and introduced the tour, but then left. Who knows?!