Which school?

[Pinkywoo]

We are (hopefully) buying our first house this summer which would mean DS1 starting reception at a different school than planned. He has an EHCP for ASD and speech and language delay, and currently attends a lovely preschool.

The choices are tiny village school, only 10 in each year and two year groups per class, or much bigger primary a couple of miles away with classes of 25-30. His EHCP says he needs a full time one to one. There is also a third primary two miles in the other direction which is small but not as tiny as the one in our future village. Which would you go for?

Have you spoken to and visited each possibility?

Sometimes smaller schools can be good for some DC but sometimes they aren’t. It depends on the child and school. How supportive is the SENCO? Will a bigger pool of peers help DC or do they do better with a smaller number? Think about the environment and layout of the school e.g. does the small village school have somewhere quiet DC can withdraw to? Think about the acoustic environment - not always best in smaller older buildings for some with ASD.

Will your house move mean moving LA?

I haven't visited yet, the sale hasn't gone through yet so don't want to waste anyone's time. It's the same LA fortunately, and good point about the acoustics. DS is extremely hyper so space is more important than somewhere to withdraw to for him, his main stims are running and jumping.

He doesn't really interact with other children, so I'm not sure if he'd be better in a very small group or somewhere bigger where he might not be the only child with SEN.

You should approach schools now. You will need all the time you can get to amend the EHCP once you have moved. You don’t want to only start looking then.

Also have a think about logistics of getting children to school and back. My ASD child really enjoyed walking/running/cycling/scooting to their previous (small) school. It was a really good set-up for the day and transition from school to home for them. They are in a different school now (which is great) but I do miss not being able to walk there.

Thank you for all your suggestions, I've booked appointments for all three to look round. I'm swinging towards the two smaller ones, but the big one and the medium both have nurseries for DS2 which would make life much easier in the mornings, although the tiny one is the only one we could walk to. It would involve crossing and walking alongside the main road though, which is always a worry as he has no road awareness at all.