School In Bucks for autistic son

[Looking2Move]

Hi there,

We are looking to move out of London to Bucks and are struggling to decide on an area. We think our autistic son (4.5 yrs old with an EHCP) needs an ARP so are narrowing our search to those school but still lost regarding areas.
We have explored Bourne End and Flackwell Hill but feel it's too rural and a big step from built up London.

Does anyone know any good areas with a mainstream school with a unit but not too green belt?!

My current search is around Princes Risborough!

Thank you,

Hi, we used to live in Buckinghamshire and my son has had a Statement (which is now an EHCP) full-time 1:1 support since age 4. He didn't attend a school with an ARP because we couldn't get one named on his EHCP as his needs "weren't severe enough" to warrant one. We moved counties when he was in Year 3 and he now attends a residential special school. Make of that what you will!!

I would suggest - if you haven't done this already - that your first step would be to call Bucks LA and talk it through with them. When we looked into the Bucks ARPs - this would have been 5 or 6 years ago - I phoned a few of the schools but none of them was prepared to talk to me at all unless the county had already contacted them about my son. Most of the units were full to bursting (this may not now be the case?) and it was hard to get a place anywhere. The units that I'm aware of were attached to mainstreams schools that weren't brilliant, tbh - a couple were in High Wycombe and one in Chesham - but as I say, this was a good few years ago. I strongly recommend calling the Bucks county SEN team first and seeing what they recommend. Good luck!

I think you will find that the places in ARPs in Bucks are highly sought after and you are very unlikely to get a 'choice'. Also bear in mind that places have just been allocated for Sept 2018, so availability is likely to be scarce. The Primary school in Princes Risborough does have an ASD ARP but admissions to all ARPs in Bucks are managed by the SEN team. They will be able to advise whether there is any availability, but they will not begin to process an application until you have a confirmed address in Bucks.