Advise SEN Secondary School ED Charter or Highshore

[YourOpalDreamer]

I am starting to look for secondary school for our son with ASD/Dyslexia. He is very high functioning, very happy and well supported in his primary school but needs a lot of learning in school which I think will need to increase as he transitions to secondary.

We always had in our mind ED Charter School but the feedback we have recently heard of is quite negative. Wondered if anyone here has any feedback.

Our SENCO has also suggested applying for specialized schools with mixed needs in Southwark- I think one specific suggestion was Highshore School in Camberwell. I am tempted as he would probably be better supported in his learning but wondered about the social aspects of moving him to a more specialized school. Has anyone had similar experience in the past?

Many thanks,

Marta

If you are using high functioning in the true sense of its meaning (i.e. DS doesn’t have a co-morbid LD), Highshore may not be the right school for DS. Even though it is classed as a mixed needs school, many of their pupils have at least MLD.

Socially SS can be better for some DC, especially as they move through secondary school and the social demands in MS increase and the gap gets wider. It largely depends on the individual child and the particular school, though.