Secondary provision - Surrey/Sussex/Kent

[CharlieG83]

Hi all,

This is likely going to be a long post, so bear with me, but the crux of it is that I’m looking for specialist secondary day schools in the south/southeast or anywhere within an hour’s commute of central London to meet my daughter’s needs. Even signposting of where I can find a list of state or non-maintained specialist secondaries would be a big help. I can find loads of independents, just not the lottery win to pay for them, and I very much doubt she would get LA funding, particularly with our specific circumstances (see below).

My daughter is 10 with a variety of additional needs, including but not limited to: high-functioning ASD, mild ADHD, SPD, nystagmus and cystic fibrosis. We live in Wales, where she currently attends a mainstream primary (year 5), but due to being ‘not autistic enough’ and ‘too academically able’ (she’s academically capable and MAT in some areas), and despite the fact that she struggles significantly in mainstream, there is currently no specialist provision in Wales suitable for her needs at any level. If we remained in Wales, the plan for year 7 would be mainstream education with a limited amount of support from unit staff, but being in with the mainstream cohort most of the time due to her academic ability: she has the emotional and social capability of - at best - a 5 year old, inflexible thinking, the typical spectrum bluntness, has huge amounts of generalised anxiety and would leave the house without underwear if left to her own devices. We’ve already had significant issues with school refusal, and there is no doubt in my mind that she will sink without a trace in mainstream if she doesn’t have a breakdown first. Her current school agree with that assessment, and support the idea of a specialist setting, but that means we’re going to have to move to England for me to access that for her. Tbh, I’d probably move us even if mainstream was suitable, but that’s a whole ‘nother rant completely that reaches far beyond our LEA. I’m sure some of you can relate. She is statemented (sort of - we’re now 40 weeks in to SA but there have been issues in getting it finalised and in place, she was part of a Welsh Assembly IEP pilot project on starting school (biggest parenting mistake ever)) and an official decision on type of setting is going to be made at the post planning meeting in June, but the general consensus is a ‘specialist’ specialist is the way forward educationally.

I’m already aware of Limpsfield Grange in Surrey, I’ve visited and that is a very definite option for her, it’s exactly what she needs imo, but should we fail to secure a place there, I need to find other options that might be suitable - essentially, we will move wherever there’s a suitable school willing to offer her a place. I’ve looked at the NAS schools, but none of those seem to fit the bill, and also a specialist school near Guildford (forgotten the name, St something, red uniform), but otherwise am struggling for options. I hate to admit they’re right, but as per the LA’s words, a lot of the schools I’ve looked at aren’t suitable due to the less severe extent of her autism and her academic ability. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Any help, thoughts, signposting etc. would be so very gratefully received!

TIA,

Charlie
Single dad to E

St Dominic,s in Surrey
Knowl Hill
Riverston Eltham
Centre Academy
Blossom House Wimbledon
Canbury in Kingston
Priory group schools but very pricey
The Moat
Cambrian group but very pricey
Egerton Rothesay (north of London not. South)
Sos sen may be worth a call .They know lots of schools
How visually impaired is she? New College Worcester has some funded Welsh pupils.
Mainstream but supportive Bethany in Kent.

Should of added maybe worth contacting Frances Lilly education advocate at Nystagmus network. She also has lots of experience

In an entirely non-creepy way, I could actually kiss you! I’d pretty much resigned myself to not getting any replies. St. Dominic’s was the school I couldn’t recall the name of, but the head at Limpsfield suggested it might not be ideal given her academic ability? She pointed me in the direction of the Priory Group school near there instead, but the funding would then be my concern. I’m having to be completely guided by anyone more in the know than me atm.

Thank you for taking the time to reply: I know exactly what I’ll be doing tonight. I don’t particularly care where we end up to a degree, as long as her needs are being met, so north or south of London is irrelevant as long as it’s roughly an hour into the city by train. The only reason I’ve focussed on south so far is because she would fall under either GOSH or the RBH for her specialist cf centre. In terms of her degree of visual impairment, to all intents and purposes she has fairly good general visual acuity, like a lot of people with nystagmus, but struggles somewhat in the real world in terms of her null point. Pretty sure she’ll never be able to drive as a result of it, all her other difficulties aside. She has termly review with our local VIT, and their recommendations currently include working on a laptop wherever possible, careful classroom positioning for board work, individual white board for some things, printed materials in no less than 16pt, high contrast colours etc. and they’ve already said she meets the criteria for extra time on the grounds of visual impairment, but I don’t think she would be in any way considered suitable for a specialist setting catering to the visually impaired. I’ll definitely get in touch with the two organisations you mentioned, though - I really do need all the guidance I can get given the logistical scale of uprooting. I need to try and get it right first time if that’s in any way possible, because the alternative doesn’t bear thinking about. Her anxiety is already sky high and just the thought of leaving primary, let alone the idea of moving towns, hospitals and medical teams too, is proving to be a challenge with over a year left before it happens.

Thanks again!