Special school to university?

[inappropriatelyemployed]

Does anyone know whether there are any statistics on the numbers of children who have been in specialist provision who go on to university?

Does a specialist school place impede in any way?

I look at reports for some Indy SS and they are often rated very highly by Ofsted but expectations of academic achievement are substantially reduced so you get phrases like 'compares favourably with national averages' even in reports for AS specific provision which is considered outstanding. Why? This wouldn't be considered outstanding for mainstream schools.

I know there is more to Indy SS than academic provision but at 65k a year, you'd be wanting some decent exam results too.

But only the pupils who got into grammar school were subject to high expectations, WetAugust. My mum ended up foisted into Office practise and my dad whizzed through the curriculum in secondary modern (he passed his 11+, but there weren't enough places on his side of town) then spent his time rebuilding motorbikes until he was allowed to leave.

Goodness knows how may people were written off by that system because they were dyslexic, or were neurologically immature because of ADHD.

The ways things are organised now, unless you are lucky enough to live in the catchment area of a 'good school' your child's opportunities in life are severely limited by a shit poor education.

Even the parents that live within the catchment area of this supposedly 3rd best in county I mentioned above try desperately to send their kids to a neighbouring county's comp, which has a much better results record.

If the 3rd best in county is that rubbish, the one's rated even lower must be dire

Why don't parents get enraged about it?

This school sounds amazing

www.newforestsmallschool.com/

Small, flexible and with impressive academic results

www.newforestsmallschool.com/secondary/secondary-assessment-procedures/

I saw it before it moved premises and it was a bit too chaotic for DS. I am sure things have settled.

I am not sure how experienced they were with anything other than very mild SEN but they seemed willing to try.

I think they tried to become a free school but we're knocked back which is a shame. I think they used to offer part-time schooling too.

That is a shame. I think they still offer pt schooling though.

I definitely think they are worth looking at particularly as the child gets older as they seemed very willing to learn and help.

yes, I haven't gone through the whole site yet, but they do seem very flexible.

According to the last OFSTED there were no statemented children there, I wonder if this is because no one's tried, or no one's succeeded!

I wonder also, if you moved with a statement, whether the LA would be prepared to name the school in Part 4???

Obviously the LA would then have to pay fees but it is a fraction of the fees of some special schools.

Maybe it is just me but I don't like their tone with regard to SN. Namely

All children have special needs. All children are different. All children need special care and support to help them fulfil their potential.

if you are going to allow children with Aspergers Syndrome and other ?special needs?, such as ADHD to attend ?normal? schools

We have had remarkable success with children with mild to medium spectrum Aspergers Syndrome, ADHD, depression, dyslexia, dyspraxia and behavioural challenges, to such an extent that many of these children are soon able to lead perfectly ?normal? lives.

What's the difference between this and 'we are all on the spectrum'? The definition of special needs as including all children and the placing of quotation marks around the term special needs suggests that they don't believe in the existence of special needs. It's all stuff and nonsense and in fact

Parents who have struggled with their child for many years, for various reasons, suddenly find that they can start to enjoy their family life, as their children, content in themselves and self-disciplined, no longer need to push the boundaries.

No mention of meeting need then or recognition that need does not suddenly disappear but is very likely to continue throughout the child's academic career. Of course it is expected that the right school would have a positive impact but there seems, to me, to be an uncomfortable suggestion that the child will become 'normal' or at least functionally indistinguishable from the real thing if we ignore their different needs and treat them just like everybody else. I think DS1 needs to learn skills to cope with being different so that he can better fit it. Only a school that makes the implicit (like social rules) curriculum explicit and specific can do this imo.

It seems that the real question is whether the school would allow you to name them in part 4 if you were to move with a statement especially when indi specialist schools have said his needs were too severe. I know the point is irrelevant as you can't actually get him into the classroom atm, but assuming that he felt OK in a different educational setting, would he still be classed as severe by his CT, would he need 1:1?

The stats showed that LA's in general fund a far greater proportion of statemented children at m/s indi, perhaps with a unit, than they fund to attend specialist indi. Could this be an option and where you are most likely to find the right place for DS?

Thanks Keeping.

I was just commenting on someone else's interest in this school. I am not considering this myself at present as I agree on points about handling complex needs.

However, I do believe that children's needs can change with the right support to develop personal skills so who knows in the distant future, maybe as part-time, as a teenager, something like this might suit him? A school not wanting to do everything the same way for everyone: one you can dip in and out of.

Personally, I aim to have my son to learn skills to enable him to be happy and live the life he wants not to fit in to a particular school and I think that is the problem with any school which doesn't have a high degree of flexibility.

Sorry, I should have been clearer. School is not the place to practice skills but a safe place to learn them.

I think in the long term and the relationship between a potential imagined future and the present. What needs to be the case now in order for DS1 to have the best opportunity of successfully shaping an adult life (whatever that may mean in individual circumstances)?

As DS1 gets older, post-secondary, there will be increasing reliance on him actually practising these skills. I want him to have the option of uni but, for him, this is more dependent on his developing non-academic skills.