SEN schools options East Devon/West Dorset

[Lovelymorning]

After school avoidance need to look into options for a suitable school or AP please. Secondary age y7 DD ASD/ADHD very anxious, PDA aspects suspected. Ideally needs to be able to study for some GCSEs while following own interests. Small classes, 1-1 or small group might work. Outdoorsy approach helpful because noise levels always difficult. Exeter area is possible if there are options there but it’s less easy to access. TIA

If they are doable, you could look at Magdalen Court School in Exeter (parents either love it or hate it) and Luccombe Hub which isn’t a traditional school even for a SS.

They won’t all be within travelling distance because it depends on exactly where you are in West Devon/East Dorset. It will also depend on DD’s specific needs, but for AP look at The Outdoors Group (they run a school as well but their sites providing KS3 aren’t in East Devon), co-adventures, Rylands Farm/Future Roots, Innovate Dorset, Personalised Learning Dorset, Dorset Wellbeing. Depending on where you are, Quantock Outdoor Education in Somerset may be within the maximum recommended travel time. You could then have tuition and other provision alongside an AP if necessary. However, EOTAS is only possible if it is inappropriate for the provision to be provided in a school.

I hope you don't mind me joining in @Lovelymorning .

DS (10) has the same constellation of diagnoses as your DD. He is very part time in school and I feel constantly on thin ice hoping it won't break down completely because I think I'd struggle to cope. He is bright but will only do things which interest him. Anything else is huge unproductive struggle.

Can you say any more about Magdalen Court @EndlessLight? What is loved or hated? We are not far from it's newly opened sister school.

@LilyFern if DS is only attending school part time? Is alternative provision in place to ensure DS still receives a suitable full-time education?

I think it is a mixture of things, including the standard of teaching being variable, not always providing the support needed and some find communicating with the school hard work. Although not all have these, or any, problems. Different SLT now, but I know in the past it had some significant safeguarding problems, too. Lots of special schools are marmite schools, so on its own I wouldn’t let it put you off looking at the sister school.

EndlessLight Thank you so much for all these leads, will look at these together on the map and see which I can visit. I know this sounds ridiculous but the ‘reasonable’ travel time thing is worrying me. DD hates getting up early because she sleeps so badly but whatever we choose will involve a certain amount of early starts and travel because it’s not the local school.
What is a reasonable amount of travel time in exchange for a school she could go to? I’m do desperate to find a school she can go to I worry I might think a crazy amount of travel time is sane at the moment. Do these alternatives have a shorter school day or I guess we could try to negotiate and they could maybe accommodate a later start if she needed that to account for travel?

The maximum recommended travel time for secondary is 1hr15. Some travel further for the right school. However, if that amount of travelling isn’t suitable for DD, that can be taken into account - getting evidence can help.

AP times vary. Some have set hours similar to school (except where they are not registered schools they can’t provide full-time education so don’t provide provision every day). Others have shorter days or just specific sessions, which may be in a morning or afternoon. Some provide 1:1, which can be booked whenever there is availability.

With an EOTAS package via an EHCP, you don’t have to be stuck with school times and some have provision in an evening where mornings don’t work for them. Some have it stretched across the whole year rather than just term time.

Miraculously (it feels) DS does have other provision in place to give full-time education.

Sorry to vanish - difficult family situation - your information has been so helpful @EndlessLight.
@Lovelymorning how are you doing with finding possible places? I'm discovering there are more places worth looking at than I realised and EOTAS is also worth investigating properly, there’s a place near us that does one day per week horticulture and outdoor activities for kids who have come unstuck with mainstream school.

@LilyFern there’s a lot more provision for EOTAS than most people realise. Some you will only find out about via word of mouth. LAs are selective about what they tell parents about.

You could look at Player Ready if DS likes tech/gaming/coding/robotics. (There’s one in Exeter too @Lovelymorning if DD would like that kind of thing and it is travelling distance.) Boot Up does outdoor learning. As does Imagine Outdoors. The Bicycle Project CIC in your LA offers AP. I know someone who has gone to Badger Forest School’s EHE group via their EOTAS package if that is within travelling distance.

Avoid Quantock Outdoor Education in Taunton at all costs, it used to be a bespoke provision until the director cut all funding and now it is a single field that they "teach" all the students in, no desperation and as an employee I have watched too many students be assaulted by other students.

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