Last minute panic about secondary school

[elliejjtiny]

Ds4 is 10 and has moderate learning disabilities. Today I filled in the forms for secondary school and he had to sign the home school agreement. He wrote his first name in his usual illegible scrawl (he can't write our surname yet, 7 letters and spelt phonetically so not really difficult). His learning is better than his writing and because of the endless repetition and a scribe he will probably nearly pass his reading and maths sats next week. But his writing is still illegible and he still needs to be reminded to leave spaces between words.

He is going to mainstream secondary school and he has an ehcp. We looked at special needs schools as well as mainstream and the special needs schools weren't right for him. But it scares me how he will manage in mainstream when he can't even write his full name.

When I was at school in the 1990's children similar to my son would have gone to special needs school. I know it's different now and there will be other children similar to him but it's still scary. He is so confident and excited about going though and is really looking forward to the practical things like using the Bunsen burners and doing woodwork.

What's the SENDCO been like, OP?

DS looking forward to moving to secondary is really positive. Is he receiving an enhanced transition? If so, and DS has had extra visits how have they gone? If not, have you spoken to the SENCO to request an enhanced transition?

If DS’s writing is out of sync with learning and a scribe, at least in part, mitigates the writing difficulties, does the EHCP include a scribe?

Has DS tried a laptop and assistive technology?

Did you look at all special schools within travelling distance including any independents and out of area schools?

Thank you both. Sendco has been really good and she has talked a lot with us about his needs. She seems confident that the school can meet his needs and has been telling us about all the help he can have. She suggested we do the open evening in year 5 as well as year 6 to give him extra time to look round which we did and he really benefited from that. He is doing the enhanced transition but that hasn't started yet. His ehcp includes a scribe and the use of a laptop and he does extra handwriting as well as fine motor skills activities in primary school which they will carry on with in secondary school. They have paired him up with an older child with SEN who will look out for him and he's got a lovely TA assigned to him as well who is going to visit him in school soon.

I looked at all special needs schools within 30 minutes drive including the independent ones. He really struggled with a 40 minute commute to school when we lived with the inlaws last year so I didn't want to go further than that. They were all lovely and some had amazing facilities but none of them seemed right for him. Most of the children had much more severe learning disabilities than my son or autism or challenging behaviour. Children with moderate learning disabilities and no autism are all in mainstream.

It's great that your DS is looking forward to secondary. It sounds like you've done a really good job at getting everything in place to ensure the transition is as smooth as possible.

It is worth asking - if you haven't already - if there's a place where your DS can go at break/lunchtimes if it gets a bit much for him. My DS (ASD) finds the unstructured parts of the day at secondary the hardest.

I would also say that I know people who help out/teach at secondary schools and there are DC there still working on phonics so he won't be the only one who has a different academic profile/pathway.

Have you got transport sorted? Or is he an independent traveller? It sounds like you're an experienced parent so I'm sure you've got all that in hand.

A supportive SENCO makes all the difference. I would push for the enhanced transition to start ASAP.

Thankyou. We have transport sorted and the SEN department has a place where he can go at break and lunchtime if he wants to. There is normally a few children in the year 6 class on enhanced transition so they go together. Usually starts after half term but I will chase it up if we haven't heard anything by next week.