Northease Manor School

[Lozzie12]

I am looking for a secondary school for my DS with HF ASD, he is currently in mainstream primary with a 1:1 TA but we have been advised he won't manage secondary. His main problems are anxieties and SpLd. I am going to look at Northease Manor School, does anyone have any knowledge / experience of this, many thanks.

Thanks for your post. I'm not going to risk it for my DS. I'm looking all over the Uk now as we are prepared to relocate to find a suitable placement. Do you or any other parents have suggestions?. I'm wondering if a Priory school is a good fit for him. He won't want to go anywhere as he's school refused for three years. Where did your DS go after Northease and is he doing well now?.

Hello - I read your review about Northease - I am in a pickle. My son is Year 7 and hasnt been at school for three months now. We have had two lots of taster days at Northease and My son seems very happy there and they have offered him a place. We are just waiting to see if our local authority will pay. The reason I am hesitating is that my son is very reluctant to go there as he is very high functioning, hence he doesnt quite fit - he says the children are very different to him and socially he is totally okay and friendships are very important to him. We went to look at Ringmer school (a normal mainstream) last week and they are happy to accmmodate him but i am worried about giving up my place at Northease - the decision is being made by KCC tomorrow and if I want to change my mind I need to do it asap so any advice right now would be very appreciated. My son has dyslexia and very mild autism but anxiety when stressed and phobias but he is very bright and sociable. thank you Nicky

I have just read this thread on NOrthease Manor school - we are literally in the throws of getting our local authority to fund this school and there is a Panel meeting about it tomorrow to agree a place for my son -but I am very worried if I am making the right decision now after hearing all of these comments - please help

Hi all - I have been reading all these reviews on NOrthease - wish I had stumbled across this before. My son has had two lots of taster days here and they have gone well. OUr local authority has panel meeting tomrrow and I am panicking if I have made the right choice for my son. I thought it seemed an amazing school but after reading these comments I am so worried - lots of the comments are about the head - is the current head new and is she okay?

Hi, I can't advise you as I don't know enough about Northease personally but I do have a DS in a very similar profiled school with a dx the same as your son and I'm not going to lie that yes, the social side is the problem. BUT I have yet to find a viable alternative. I keep an eye on this thread, just in case, but I think it's the same in all of these type of school. Our son joins lots of clubs and activities outside of school to form "normal" social relationships and activities. His dyslexia is so severe there is no way he could cope in a mainstream and the likes of seaford or Moonhall say he's too severe. (Have you looked for your child?) isn't Frewen your way? We are also considering a split placement with a technical college when he's 14 to do vocational course and broaden his horizons socially but I haven't researched that route enough just yet. Hope panel goes ok for you.

Tainbri - same here. DD in a specialist school ( not Northese) Lovely teachers, excellent teaching, socially awful for her. Also always ion the look out for a school that might bridge the gap... Tough isn't it?

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I would be happy to discuss any of the above with prospective parents and would also be delighted to invite any of you to see what Northease is really about. The staff and young people here are a testament to what it means to be a community. Please come and experience it for yourselves. As a parent myself, I understand how difficult it is for parents to find the right school and completely appreciate why this thread exists. Nonetheless we have come so far since this discussion began.
Rather than tell you in words what it means to be a Northesian, I invite you to come and experience it for yourselves.
Claire Farmer, Headteacher, Northease Manor School.

Hear Hear !! My son has joined after me having wobbles from.reading the posts on here and it is the best thing I ever did - any incidents have been dealt with impeccably - my son started off not wanting to go at all and now admits - I actually don't mind school after only a month and HAS made friends despite mine and others on here worries of it may be missing the social side with play dates set for the summer. The school is awesome and the staff incredible I am truly proud to say my son comes here they have saved us both! Nicky x

Legal fees paid out in 2015/16 amounted to more than 95k.

Having worked at Northease for two years I experience every day a nurturing, loving and thriving school full of positivity, achievement and dedication. I wouldn't want to work anywhere else, and I have worked with children/ families since the 1980s, in most types of settings. Yes the school has been through some tough times in the past - but with sheer hard work, commitment to the children and excellent standards of professionalism we have built it up together to be an environment in which to thrive. I'm a stickler for high quality standards - having led on the Let's Protect Quality Assurance scheme in Brighton & Hove many people know that! - and I would not be here if I didn't have every faith in the school, it's leadership, it's staff, it's ethics, and the children. Recent visitors from other schools, local authorities, and prospective parents have commented on the undeniable positive and loving energy we generate here. Someone sounds like they are deliberately trying to bring us down but we are a lot more resilient than that and we won't let our children down

Just a quick positive shout out for Northease. It is now an absolutely superb school and has been an absolute game changer for the child I know. Said child is relatively new there and started after all of the well-documented problems there had been resolved.

Northease completely turned things around for the daughter of people I know. Previously her education history had been a series of disasters: she has Asperger's and a very obsessive personality, and was out of school for a long time due to anorexia and other health-related obsessions. Eventually she went to Northease at around 14 and is now about to go to the connected specialist college for post 16 education. Her parents said they couldn't believe it when they went to the last annual review meeting: virtually every previous meeting they attended about her had been a crisis meeting, whereas this was a lovely celebratory, calm meeting talking about how much progress she had made and her plans for the future. At one point they had seriously doubted that she had any future at all.

Legal fees paid out in 2015/16 amounted to more than 95k

No, the accounts say those are legal and professional fees. Therefore it presumably includes things like accountants and auditors, and possibly people like surveyors and architects.

How do you know it doesn't include other professional fees, Freeadvice? And how do you know the school could have had no valid reason to employ surveyors under any circumstances? They aren't inevitably a luxury, after all.

Looks rather like freeadvice has an axe to grind. Personally I can't speak too highly of Northease, it's proving to be an absolute life changer.

Freeadvice, you seem to have ignored Ceto's question from last August?

How does sending a simple query about an unanswered question indicate that I don't understand financial statements, Freeadvice? If you only knew it, that assertion is in fact richly ironic.

You are coming over on this thread as extremely chippy and with some sort of axe to grind, and indeed it is clearly a major disappointment to you for some reason that Northease is still functioning..

What on earth are you talking about, Freeadvice? I haven't said anything about the merits or otherwise of the school.