Brooklands School Reigate

[Rudeypoohs]

Hi, please would anyone with experience of Brooklands School in Reigate mind sharing this with me? My son (4yrs old) is autistic, academically able but on a massively reduced timetable in his mainstream primary due to dysregulation/hyperactive behaviour like running around. Has an EHCP and a full time 1:1 but still only accessing a few hours of school each day. Would love to hear of any experiences others have had at Brooklands as I am going to be viewing it soon. Thankyou xx

If DS is academically able, you may find Brooklands doesn’t meet DS’s academic needs.

Unless the school is formally suspending DS, he can attend school full time if you want him to.

thanks so much for your reply. Yes he is very academically able, would you say his needs couldn’t be met even at the site for children without PMLD?

If DS is very academically able, I would say neither site can fully meet DS’s academic needs, particularly as he gets older.

Academic needs aren’t everything. For example, it is little use being academically very able if DC can’t function in everyday life due to mental health difficulties. So, you may decide the school as a whole meets DS’s other needs and for now not being able to fully meet DS’s academic needs is a payoff you are willing to accept.

Well yes this is what we’re finding at the moment. He is so impulsive/dysregulated that there’s hours of school he misses each day and he hasn’t made any friends partly as he’s not there enough and partly because he’s so self directed and with a social communication disorder, playtime isn’t as straightforward as it may be for the others in his class.
very torn what to do.
I don’t want to make any hasty decisions, maybe when he starts ADHD meds his presentation may change and he will be able to participate more, but of course it may not. I’m pretty certain that I would be looking at sending him to an ASD support centre within a mainstream when he’s 7 regardless of whether he were to make progress with meds or not, it’s what to do in the meantime?

If you think specialist support centre would be suitable from 7, have you considered one for now?

When does DS turn 5?

The only centres that seem like they’d meet his needs locally to us are described as being for children with significant behavioural issues, I don’t really know what that means but in my mind I’m conjuring up images of children attacking their teachers etc, the problem I’m finding as well is most places don’t allow you to visit unless you’ve already requested a place because it’s disruptive to the children having what I would imagine is a constant flow of people looking around, but how do you know if you wnantyoue child to go there if you haven’t visited?!

Unfortunately, lots of places don’t allow you to visit without the LA having consulted.

It is a little easier for the ARPs, because at this time of year you could look for open events or request a visit as though you are a parent applying for a reception place for next year. You won’t get in-depth information about the ARPs at these visits but it would give you a feel for the school and how inclusive/supportive they are.

Have you looked at ARPs a little further away from you but still within travelling distance? Particularly the High COIN centres. Some DC there may display some challenging behaviour at times when they are dysregulated, but their primary needs won’t be SEMH.