Sandringham School St Albans or Ashlyns School in Berkhamsted

[Pleasemakeitalarge1]

Hello :) My son has an EHCP and we are looking for a school with great pastoral care & SEN support, as well as a great teaching. He is smart and so kind, but lacks confidence and can struggle socially due to the ASD. He is also waiting for ADHD diagnosis. We are looking at either Sandringham school in St Albans as had a great feeling about the place when visiting and also Ashlyns in Berkhamsted. Ashlyns is closer to us and logistically less of a change, but we would move eventually if we decided on Sandringham. Would love to know if anyone has any thoughts and/or experirence on either school. Open to all viewpoints!
We also looked at St George's in Harpenden, which also looked / felt good. But Sandringham so far came out on top. Thanks x

We know many at Sandringham and it is not known to be great with pastoral and SEN. I only know St Albans schools so can't comment on Ashlyns. Beaumont in St Albans gets a lot of good praise for pastoral and SEN.

Not Sandringham. It's a cooker cutter school focusing on test scores and conformity, very busy with very aspirational competitive cohorts anyone with additional needs may well get lost in the system. It depends on your dc and their needs I suppose. St George's is a state boarding school with day places for local children, maybe a bit less intense than Sandringham but similar, I wouldn't. Beaumont is much better. Verulam works for some but not for sensitive souls. You have to be a practicing Christian to get into St George's.

You have to be a practicing Christian to get into St George's.

Not with an EHCP, you don’t. OP’s DS has an EHCP.

True

I know Ashlyns. They have repeatedly failed my SEN child and they have been pulled up on their SEN failures by Ofsted. They do not make adjustments without extreme advocacy beyond anything academic - they are a wholly academic obsessed school. The leadership team do not understand additional needs imo and it’s our feeling they don’t really want kids with additional needs there at all.

is this recent or current students? this is key as pastoral care is so important.

Unfortunately we didn't look at Beaumont, but will see if we can visit before the EHCP deadline in Feb. Good to know they are meant to be great

wow surprised to hear this as heard it was very good all round. I am going to add Beaumont to our list.

Sorry to hear this. Was this recent? They have a new SEN co-ordinator join their team, and they apparently are trying to step things up, but I do still hear mixed reports, which is why we aren looking.

Thanks for all your replies. I know there is no perfect school, but some are more stand out and thats what i am hoping we can get for our DS and also our DD as she will join the following year. She doesn't have an EHCP, but has SEN needs.

Yes, current - we know many current year 7s and year 8s and I also know a few teachers. We also know many at Beaumont and hear much better things about pastoral and SEN. This is why you'll see Beaumont gets more EHCP applicants as it has a reputation for being good with this, while still being a very academic school.

Really good to know. Thanks for sharing

The new Sen person is covering maternity. But everything goes through senior leadership which doesn’t seem to support Sen children at all. I’d go so far to say they have gaslit us. I have a pal who is a Senco so I often ask them for their opinion and they can’t believe it.
Ashlyns is also very dark and narrow corridors which are a nightmare for sensory kids. They put ‘naughty’ kids in inclusion. Which means they are excluded. And they give out detentions like sweets for things that relate to symptoms like forgetting to remove a coat 1 second within coming in the door. So your child ends up with a complex basically.

Thats a shame to hear. I heard it was a maternity cover, but that they were trying to improve things.
I have heard that Ashylns hand out detentions like sweets too.
No school is perfect and for SEN support we are up against it to get the best fit. Pastoral care is key and forward thinking!