More House, Moon Hall, Slindon, Seaford - any experience of with ADHD?

[Liblob2016]

Me again - I have woken up with a purpose this morning...3 posts and counting.
I have a 10 yr old recently diagnosed with ADHD and social communication disorder.
He will be moving in to secondary school in Sept and I wondered if anyone had experience of the above schools, or others, for children with ADHD.

Hi, my son has been at Slindon for a year. He has asd. I don't want to run it down as I'm sure it's great for lots of boys, but personally I feel that the boys aren't sufficiently supported socially and particularly in unstructured free time, to the extent that we feel our sons anxiety levels have actually increased since being there. The SENCO is permanently off sick and i don't have confidence that teaching staff have the knowlege or training to support boys with social communication disorders. We are looking for another school because of this. I have contacted Moonhall but dyslexia is the main criteria and they read his statement and said no without even letting us meet them! I understand from a friend more house has a great reputation and I've got an appointment to view first week of February. I am hoping to book for an open day at seaford as its meant to be amazing with lots of brilliant facilities, but it's quite a big school and it's expensive and I think it's unlikely we'd get funding.

I have a son at More House with a similar diagnosis to your son Liblob.

Please feel free to send me a pm

I'm new to this thread. I was really interested to know if you found More house suitable. Our DS has dyspraxia, language processing and mild ASD. Really liked More house when we looked around, just confused about its "we take intelligent boys" statement. Is that academic intelligence?. Our DS has educational delays of about two years in his mainstream stare school. Don't want him to feel social outcast as he feels now. Want him to fit in. Any advice please.

When I was an SEN Officer we placed a young boy with ADHD and a language disorder at More House. They talk a good spiel but we weren't that impressed with the progress and grades he came out with.

Oh dear, I'm not sure yet as they may be far to academic for our DS.
I'm hoping our SEN officers will look at out of county also to find suitable schools as we have two DS's with EHCP's who need a school for Sep. We are willing to move county as we can't find suitable placements for them in East Sussex. Somerset & Gloucestershire have some options if they will consider. Our 15 year old DS has to go to a Priory school or somewhere similar. Any help much appreciated.

How do you find a good school for children with ADHD- either state or private? My son has ADHD and ODD and has massive problems at school. But I don't even know where to go to find the right information. Any ideas please?

It depends. If your DC has an EHCP and needs a specific type of school you can get a list from the LA of schools which will include state and section 41 independent schools. The Gov.uk website should also have a list of the same nationwide. For other independent schools, private schools etc it really the likes of MN recommendations or internet searches. Of course the theory is your child has a right to mainstream and your local one should be inclusive.... in the ideal world where council funding grows on trees!!

Thank you Tainbri, he doesn't have an EHCP, he doesn't seem to be deemed that bad- at any rate the school doesn't seem to think we would get one for him. But he is adhd and oDD, and is basically just not engaging with the learning process. It's too hard in a mainstream school to get the right amount of support- he is continually in trouble for misdemeanours like talking, not standing in queues etc. And his self esteem is really taking a beating. Is like to find him somewhere that he will start to be excited again about learning- but I hardly know where to start. He's in year 8 at the moment. The school are giving him extra literacy but are hardly set up to give him the extra attention he needs. They are an outstanding school - but like all others just don't seem to have enough people.

I would see if you can find any local support groups for SENs, other parents can be a massively useful source of information. I am in a local National Autistic Society FB group locally and it is very useful (no need for an autism diagnosis, many children have ADHD or ODD as well as ASD and the same info about schools is often applicable).

Where are you squeegle? I'm assuming sussex/Surrey/Hampshire if you're on this thread?

tainbri, no Im in Herts- I saw More House on this thread and have heard about it by its good reputation so was thinking it may be suitable for my boy. But was also wondering how I could find out about any similar schools which might be nearer.

Why not give the admissions tutor at More House a ring Squeegle? They should be able to give you an idea about whether or not they could support your son and if not might be able to suggest others that could.

Yes, I think that's what I will do, thanks

Unfortunately there's just no easy solution other than researching and viewing and cruitally speaking to parents of children already there and ensure your son has a chance of a trial and go with your instincts. The trouble is what suits one might not suit another so worth keeping an open mind.

Ps: I agree with phoning round, it's amazing how much you can gain from the attitude to the person on the phone!! The senco is key and if they "get" your son and understand your concerns as a parent, it makes such a difference!!!

If you are in Herts have you tried Egerton Rothsay? Or depending on situation Bruern Abbey in Bicester?

Thanks curly, Egerton Rothesay is not too far away, have you any experience of that school?