School for dyscalculia, dyspraxia, ASD - West Midlands, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire and around

[PMizzy]

Hi all, looking for recommendations for schools for my 6 year old with these diagnoses please. She's extremely well behaved, high masking in school but very anxious about attending her current mainstream primary and struggling hugely with maths. She's just had an EP assessment which shows a spikey profile and says she probably wouldn't get an EHCP but to keep an eye on this. She needs all maths to be taught in a small group really. We're considering re-locating anyway so now planning to do so around finding the right school for her. My husband still needs to commute to London weekly and we don't want to be too far from family in Shropshire / Cheshire.

I was initially trying to find a good mainstream state primary and thinking a bigger primary could work better with pooling of resources than her tiny village school, but I'm becoming increasingly worried that no mainstream state school is going to meet her needs, particularly dyscalculia which seems so badly understood. Also worrying about catchments etc. I've looked at the Unicorn School in Abingdon which I thought could be great but is just SO expensive without an EHCP and moving from where we are to Abingdon would mean a bigger mortgage on top of the crazy fees. Can anyone recommend anywhere? I'm wondering about private schools with good SEN provision which tend to be a bit cheaper than the SPLD specialist schools? I've communicated with Sibford, St George's Edgbaston, Maple Hayes and Bredon as well - so some specialist SPLD and some not. Any thoughts on these schools for her? Or suggestions for other similar? I would say her primary need is the dyspraxia / dyscalculia rather than the ASD.

Thanks so much.

Was the EP assessment an independent one or one via the school or LA? Because it sounds like DD does need an EHCP. If money is limited I would spend it on securing a comprehensive EHCP rather than self fund a school (particularly if you decide on an SpLD school) on an ongoing basis. I say that because meeting a child’s needs can be very costly and will only increase as DD gets older.

Wotton House in Gloucestershire is supportive of SEN. Not quite in the areas you are looking but if it is feasible you could look at Egerton Rothesay in Hertfordshire. Both from Y3. Bredon is supportive once DD is old enough but if you self fund the additional support can add up.

Thanks @BrumToTheRescue - will check out those schools. The EP was a private assessment we funded. Her view is that we’d really struggle to get an EHCP at the moment. I think basically she thinks she should get the support she needs with standard provision in mainstream but the reality is that not many schools can provide that so like many children she falls in a gap.

Should may be add we are prepared to pay privately, just probably can’t manage the fees for somewhere like unicorn which is about £9k per term together with the added costs of housing around Oxford area.

That is disappointing, and it surprising if DD needs small group learning and is anxious attending school. The support she needs will be beyond ordinarily available provision. Was it an EP who has experience of SENDIST?

Yes. I think part of the issue is that DD is still only in year 2 and although she’s really struggling with maths and behind with writing, she’s doesn’t stand out as significantly behind except in maths at the moment. I suspect that may change over the next few years and her anxiety will probably get worse so will be watching closely to do an EHCNa app when it’s more realistic to sort before secondary.

@PMizzy we swapped in year 2 to a village school which was dyslexia friendly certified. They were very tolerant - 20%+ were SEN in most years. They had forest school, chill out rooms and ELSA teacher. Lovely quiet place.