PDA and choosing a school?

[MyopicBunny]

In your experience, do children with PDA fit better into schools with smaller classes or is it more important that the school is willing to take on what PDA actually is?

My dd is able and has a kind of Aspie preschooler presentation with PDA. Since finding out about the PDA, I've been changing my approach at home which seems to be helping.

Her dad is insistent that she needs a small school above all else. The school I prefer is a bit bigger, ie 2 form entry but the head is a trained SENCO.

I'm just posting to ask what your experiences were.

IMO a supportive school that is willing to make adjustments, think outside the box and work with you is more important.

Thank you, this is what I also think.

My PDA 7 yr old is in a LARGE primary school. They keep the kids in "silos" (my phrasing) to keep their school experience smaller, but the classes are 30 kids with a three or four form entry. We have considered moving her to a smaller school, but have so far decided against it because:

1. small schools don't have the same resources. We have a SEN hub with various rooms, including sensory resources, a SEN team, a special autism room, another SEN- targeted room, various interventions available (including a morning drop off intervention, without which I don't know if she'd be in school at all), SENDCo and inclusion team are PDA aware, etc. We use all these resources constantly. They have also managed to cobble together 1-2-1 classroom support without additional funding (ehcp application in progress).

2. the teachers have said even a class of 2 kids would be too big for her - a smaller class won't help much.

@RaquelW1 thank you so much for your advice - this is such a helpful post :)