Sticking or twisting with school?

[KateGrey]

My dd has autism, ADHD and spd amongst a few other conditions. She’s 8 and currently in a mainstream school with ft 1:1. She’s doing well, I suppose (school aren’t communicative at all and senco is beyond useless). She’s not overly academic, noise is a huge issue and I’m concerning about schools. She’s going into year 4 in sept and looking ahead our local secondary is VERY academic (this from people whose kids attend there). About 25 minutes away there is a local school (takes from age 8) that is for children with HF asd. Kids can dip into the local secondary mainstream as it’s on the same site. It’s very boy heavy though. I don’t know what to do. My dd goes into school okay and seems happy but education wise this school isn’t pro Sen not forward thinking. A friend of mine whose a teacher and another who is a senco is very pro this other school for education but I’m not sure. I’m going to see how she goes this year but I’m hugely worried how she’ll cope when our big academic secondary is looming. She has already said she doesn’t want to go.

Well it definitely sounds worthy of serious investigation! An AS friendly school which would avoid secondary transition sounds very interesting.

Go to have a look at both schools and speak to the SENCOs. Decide for yourself. Friends might think schools are good, bad, whatever.... none know what will suit your DD better than you. Secondary transition is very difficult for our kids. The increased demands with lesson/teacher transitions, self advocacy and increasing academic & social demands really don’t sit well with their typical weaknesses. I’d not worry too much about the boy heavy cohort but I’d ask more about behaviour and levels of aggression. Are their pupils similar in “pen profile” to your DD? Good luck

Do you need an EHCP to get a place? Do the have spaces?

Go (on your own initially) and visit as many schools as you can and see which is the best fit for your dd.