Egerton Rothesay school - feedback

[Loueytb3]

Does anyone have any feedback on Egerton Rothesay school (positive or negative)? It looks as though we are going to see it this week. We are looking at secondary level for DS1 who has ASD. I am fully prepared that we may have a fight to get the LA to fund it.

I've also posted in chat but haven't had any responses yet.

Hi there

My daughter started there in September. She has an ASD diagnosis and a learning disability. She is only 7 though - she is in Poplar the junior school, which is in a separate building to the secondary.

We are very pleased with it. She is in a class of 8 (with two teachers and two TAs). She is much happier and is settled at ERS. Her main teacher is great. She has one to one social communication, OT, SALT.

We managed to agree part funding with the LA. ERS have a good statementing officer who was helpful as we were going through the process.

PM me if you have more questions.

Why don't you ask the school, if they have a list of parents, willing to speak to prospective parents, such as yourself?

mumsuzz - thank you. I may well PM you later. I am going along today and I will be asking about funding amongst other things. Small class sizes is one of the reasons I am attracted to it as DS1 has very poor concentration and large class sizes make it worse.

Anomia - yes I could, but I suspect they would only pass on details of those parents who are happy with the school and I was trying to see if there were any negative views on here as well. I want to hear about the bad as well as the good IYSWIM

It is true that some schools are better than others - there have been closures of specialist schools over the years. However, the bad eggs in the basket apart, I suspect that there will always be some parents, who are perfectly happy with a school, while others aren't! So for some children it will be a case of a round peg in a round hole - their parents will be very happy. Whereas, the choice of a specialist school may be a compromise by the parents, because there is no exact fit anywhere; some children are more square pegs in a round hole - their parents won't be so happy! (For instance, the most complex children in a school may not get their needs met so well, as the average child in the school's target group)

Its also a matter of expectations, and how clued up the parents are. Finally, parents may have a school imposed on them by a LA, against their wishes.

I suspect you could look at any specialist school, and find parents with positive and negative views, because its human nature! It does not mean to say that either will be your experience, with your child.

How did it go?

A boy in DSs rugby team goes there. He has a statement for dyspraxia. I know his father is happy with it.

We really liked it. We were shown around by one of the current yr11 pupils who was extremely eloquent and enthusiastic about the school (despite clearly being a little anxious). From what we could see from the other children showing parents around, they all came across extremely well. Class sizes don't really get above 8-10 in any class. The staff I spoke to all seemed very engaged and knew all the children. I liked the fact that they asked the children which GCSE subjects they wanted to do and then fit the options around them, rather than the other way around. It sounds like a good fit for my DS1. I spoke to his school afterwards and they have said that he is really struggling to concentrate in his class at the moment and smaller class sizes would really help him. We have a lot to think about though, including looking at alternative schools and thinking through how he would get there (which may involve us moving house).

I know a couple of children who go there and their parents are happy. Sadly ds was turned down as having too high a needs ( he has ASD with severe LD) I think there are buses to quite a few locations.

Mumsuzz I have sent you a PM. Thanks

Hi. Did you chose Egerton Rothesay? I'm looking at it for my 12yr old.

Hi Frobojo,

DS had an assessment there at the end of last year (2 day visit). They have offered him a place for the start of yr7 with a detailed list of provision that he will need. He really enjoyed his 2 days there and is very excited but we are trying to manage his expectations. We are about to start the transfer to EHCP and I have been told by SENDIASS that our LA is turning down all out of borough placements so I am expecting to have to go to tribunal at least once, and possibly twice if we move nearer to the school.

Hello. We are looking at this school for our DS aged 8 as it is prefect for all his issues. We are in Bucks though so are concerned they will try and make DS attend a school closer. How did you get on with getting the LA to fund you? Did you need to go to tribunal in the end and did you have to move closer?

I will pm you WannaB

Hi, how did you get on with a place and funding? I'm in Bucks too and considering for my Daughter.

WannaBMum
Did your girlie get a place? How is she getting on?
Are you self funding or la, if latter how did you achieve that?

I am also looking for placement at ERS for DS 8 years, ASD. Currently attending Specialist setting which now says they cant meet need. LA knows this but nothing is being done ( since Jan this year) I am pursuing this knowing it was be a fight. How did you get on please. I need all the help and pointers I can get. Thanks in advance.

I live in Bucks too.

Fabmum, can I ask what specialist setting your child is currently in as we are also in Bucks?

I have a 9 yr old son with ASD/ADHD whose mainstream with ARP setting can’t meet his needs so going to panel on Thurs so would be good to hear your experience of his current school..........sorry to hijack thread.

Have heard lots of positive reports about ERS but unfortunately my sons application was rejected when we applied over a year ago. According to the school reports they received his behaviour was too challenging.

Hi all, we are also in Bucks and our daughter has an EHCP at a small mainstream independent primary. She has a full time 1:1 LSA and OT, SALT etc. We are trying to decide if she will cope in a mainstream independent secondary with significant support (class size v important) or need a specialist setting (Alfriston not right). Does anyone have any updated feedback on Egerton Rothesay? @Fabmum0122 @Loueytb3 @WannaBMum @Frobojo

My son is there and has been since year 6 (we moved earlier in the end). Happy to provide any feedback / info you want. Your biggest issue may be whether they have any space.

Oh thanks @Loueytb3t! It is sounding like they might have space as we’re doing taster days later this year. It’s so tricky as you kind of need to commit by Year 7 or never as they don’t have spaces later. We think it would suit her from a social communication and speech and language point of view, and support her in very weak numeracy and working memory problems but some of her other abilities seem stronger than the typical cohort (her English in Year 5 seems stronger than the top set Year 7 work we were shown for example). It will be slightly different though as she may have to work a bit more independently but with specialised teaching rather than mainstream with a velcroed 1:1 LSA. She will do the taster days in the new academic year but just wanted some parents’ pros and cons. We are local but the social and friendship challenges of such a wide catchment worries me but I guess that’s the same with many secondary schools! It’s also traditionally been weighted towards boys but I think that is changing. Are there any cons you have found that we should take into account?

Hello. We gave up with ERS as they never responded to emails and we couldn't even get an appointment to visit the school. This was all before covid and I just found them very hard to deal with. We opted for Stony Dean which is outstanding and since choosing that school we've heard from people working in education that SD is significantly better, although ERS is also a very good school. Stony Dean is mainly boys but do take girls. Good luck :)

Ahh thanks @WannaBMum We also found it tricky in the past as they batch kids up by entry point I think and covid hasn’t helped but it’s been much better recently. New Registrar seems very on top of things. Yes I’d stumbled across Stony Dean last year and spoke to them again today just out of interest but they only have 2 girls now, right up in the top of the school so sadly won’t work. They also look great and are much closer to us as we’re in Amersham. Glad you found the right setting for your son and thanks for the heads up 🙏

@WannaBMum, @aanorthcote, everyone. This is an old thread. I'm also looking at EGS for 2 of my kids. We would ideally love it to be LA funded. Is it the funding that makes getting a place difficult? Not that we could ever afford 2 kids attending there.

@wizzywig really not sure, we're still navigating through it all but I've heard from legal channels that the lack of specialist provision for SpLD etc locally contributes to it being so oversubscribed. There was apparently another good provision not too far away (possibly Herts?) in the past but I was told that was closed because of a significant safeguarding incident, although the educational provision was thought to be good - all hearsay though! Sorry I can't be of more help!

I'm also looking at ERS for my 14 yr son, so any comments or experiences welcome!