High Functioning ASD Haberdashers or Kingsdale?

[JazzyJ]

Hello, does anyone have any experience of these two South London schools? My son has high functioning aspergers and a statement...

Hi - DS is at Kingsdale and we are applying for a statement now. So far, experience has not been as good as we had hoped for. Individual teachers can be extremely good, BUT I have found the SEN dept poor at parent liaison and they are not pro-active at all. I have heard glowing reports from one parent whose child has a dyslexia statement - it may be that with a statement things will be fine. I would go and talk to the Senco and see what he says (I'd be interested to hear what you think).
There is an SEN centre there that lots of kids use and feel safe in at lunchtimes, etc. It is supervised by an experienced staff member.
I know my DS, who is v. anxious, found the culture quite hard - some of the kids can be pretty macho - even tho' he came from a very mixed primary. He is super-sensitive to any classroom disruptions and this is one aspect he continually complains about.

On Haberdashers, I know plenty of parents who really like the school, tho' none of their kids have statements and all are quite academic and social.

If you want more details on Kingsdale PM me.

Thanks for that. We went to visit both today. Kingsdale is the one DS is happiest with, although it is so hard to gauge how helpful the SEN will ultimately be! Even with the statement it's still a lottery, although for once not as much of an up hill struggle as some of our life with ASD has been. Good luck with your DS' statement. So much of what helps our kids is down to individuals who actually 'get it', I have found that, even with training there are always going to be staff at schools who just cannot hear what they need to, which is a great shame as it benefits them, our kids and ultimately the whole school. We are taking a leap of faith, crossing our fingers, expecting the worst and hoping for the best!

I'm sorry I don't know what 'PM' means! but the more information the better, Knowledge is power!

Hi JazzyJ - I hope all goes well for you and DS. The parents forum at Kingsdale is one of its strengths so if you can attend those every now and again it's great to air your views and put forward suggestions.

I think PM is private messaging but not sure how you do it!

My DS is in Aske's (YR 7), I think that the ASD is the special need that they have extra provision for. My son loves his school, when we went on the school tours he prefered Kingsdale due to it's modern spacious layout, but now he says we can't ever move house as he doesn't want to leave Aske's! We have already had 2 school reports and an open evening and the communication between the school and parents is good. For Charter the speciality special need is dyslexia.