How can I tell how good a schools SN provision is?

[SofyaPavlovna]

DS attends MS school nursery three mornings a week at school X. For 2/3 of his time there he gets one on one help from someone from school Xs SN unit. The other two days he goes to a SN Nursery for his severe social and communication difficulties. Difficulties I had not noticed but, to be fair, i can be spectacularly unobservant.

DD transferred to school Y in January as we live very close. When we applied for a place for DS we only applied for school Y.

Last week DH and I had a meeting with the SN teacher. She was talking about when he gets his ASD diagnosis and his statement of special needs. (I am certainly not averse to him getting a dx or statement but are they really foregone conclusions?).

She strongly recommends DS goes to school X and suggests DD transfer back there for Year 3.

DD is adamant she will not transfer back, she says she is not a yo-yo and her new teachers would miss her too much. I can see her point.

How can I tell how good the SN provision is at school Y? Obviously if DS gets statemented and the unanimous recommendation is school X we would be churlish to go against this advice (and would have to find the money to put DD in ASC as I can't quite make the collection at both schools).

Would it be worth suggesting a meeting with the SENCO in school Y to "get a feel for them"?

Or do I just need a good shake and a telling off for borrowing troubles!

I can't offer any advice sorry, but am bumping your thread for you :)

I'm not sure if you can really until you try it.

Ask if the SENCO can pass your details on to another parent of a special needs child so you can have a chat to them maybe?

You can get a feel of the place, talk to the staff etc but until your child is there, you don't know that they are actually going to do what they say they will.

You need to spend as much time as you possibly can at both schools. Ask if you can spend a bit of time in the classroom (reception) at both. Try and imagine ds in each setting.

It sounds to me like school Y are subtly trying to tell you they can't meet his needs; the fact they're recommending school X is quite telling! School X sound pretty supportive to me actually.

Tricky about DD but you have to weigh up both childrens needs, which schools best meet them, and see if there's a way round the pick-up problem (after-school club?).

Also if you don't pursue (or get) a statement, you are totally reliant on what the school offers (out of their own pocket) so you really do need to find a school which is supportive.

Are you not happy with School X?

The best way is probably to speak to other parents who have experience of the school's SEN provision. My son goes to a school which scored as 'outstanding' on everything, including SEN. I found this to be true of the infant school but certainly not of the juniors.

As the previous reply suggested, perhaps the school can put you in touch with a parent for you to talk to (preferably one with a child that has similar needs to yours).

Thanks everyone. It never occurred to me to talk to parents at school Y but its such an obvious solution. Its also the reason we know the SN provision in school X is good - we know a few parents with ASD children there. You would think it would occur to me to do the same at school Y!

It looks like we will end up with the children in different schools if DS gets his statement. I am very sceptical getting a statement will be as easy as his SN nursery say, lurking here has given me the impression it may not even happen until he is already in Reception and will be a fight - though things are happening quickly so far. It may be DS has no choice but to attend school Y as we didnt actually apply for school X.

I prefer school X. We know his teachers, we know the school will provide the help he needs, teachers chat to parents before and afterschool so any issues are dealt with quickly, he is happy at the nursery there so would stay with his class and if being in a busy reception class gets too much he can go into the unit. DS gets overwhelmed easily if he is in crowds of children, particularly if he is expected to interact with them.

DH reckons I prefer school X because I know it and people tend to prefer familiar things. School Y to be fair is not bad. DD is happy there, at parents evening there was lots of work displayed on the walls (of varying standards so not only the "good" work was displayed which is as it should be) and her teachers comments show that she knows DD. My only concern is the lack of communication between parents and teachers (seems limited to parents evenings). I can't trust DS to tell me what he is doing in school, in fact i can't trust DD to do that either if I ask her what she did she doesn't remember, I get told who played with whom at playtime or I get spun a yarn (according to DD today was spent doing the 53 times table and doing so much writing her arm fell off and had to be sellotaped back on).

The best idea is probably to make an appointment with the senco and headteacher at school Y to ask for a tour. If thats not possible then I guess I have my answer. If it is possible school Y might surprise me.

Thanks again, the advice is appreciated

You can also look at the OFSTED for school y on the internet, and ask for a meeting with the Governor with responsibility for SEN, and the Headteacher. A headteacher should always be happy to meet prospective parents and discuss how the school would meet their child's needs.

Will do that. School X was inspected last year and school Y was inspected very recently so I know results are very up to date.

Just have to wait impatiently for them to be published.

Then I can find something else to fret about relax and enjoy the holidays.

Good luck with finding some more information.