And what would you do as a parent?
DS is in Y4 and has been in mainstream (3 years in one school, they decided he had MLD, he does have ADHD and had been refusing to do any work - his first EHCP had Y6 targets that he'd already reached in Y2).
Then he went to a school where they had a revolving door of TAs (5 in a week sometimes) and restrained him and he became (more) aggressive and was PEx in Y3.
He was in the PRU part time in lockdown but didn't cope well when the other children came back, and some of them are very scary to him, and some of them target him.
He likes to work in small groups outside the classroom EVEN in his current specialist setting. He is now coping well in this setup - so you could say it just took him 1 1/2 terms to settle in to small group teaching.
His current ECHP says mainstream with 1:1, and targets are roughly age appropriate (he's doing Y4 Maths, Y3 SPAG and is supposed to have OT for his handwriting. At home he can write 20-30 words on Nightzookeeper but isn't keen on writing at school).
He gets very carsick. Especially on rural roads.
He loves play parks, running around outside, pretend play, maths, his teddies, music, Lego Batman, Hey Duggie, Angry Birds. He's quite young for his age and most of the other boys in his school play Fortnite (he says he'll play it when he's 17). He coped with school trips, performances etc. in his first school, had friends, misses them a lot. He can't cope with crowds. This extends to the classroom at the PRU (8 pupils but we aren't clear if this is due to the group size, the noise, or the specific pupils).
Local SEMH schools (these are ALL independent, we have looked at EVERY one believe me) fall into:
A, B very aggressive or nonverbal children, primary, down long windy rural roads.
C, tacked on KS2 section to secondary. No play area. Down a long windy rural road.
D, primary only, not QUITE as aggressive as A and B, down even longer and even windier country road, boys only.
E: mainstream school has an SEMH resourced provision (this is the only one in county). It's 50 minutes away but it's on a motorway. Smaller older building with less outdoor space though they have two large rooms for the RP. They have said they'll take him.
F: mainstream school is 35 minutes away and has small class sizes, lots of outdoor space, great reputation for SEN, and a sensory base (though it has declined to take on a resourced provision as the LEA weren't offering enough). Also mainly motorway.
DH wants him in a school near home (but the mainstream schools near us have declined to take him and there are no SEMH schools near us).
I want him in a mixed school with ambitious curriculum and the possibility of going on to a secondary with a RP and/or a TA.
HT says he would just be sat outside the classroom in mainstream (but that's what he does now, but with no opportunities for play/fun/outings/clubs).
SENDO at the LEA wants him in SEMH school so she doesn't have us bothering her all the time to actually do something for him like arrange his OT which is on his EHCP.
The secondary SEMH schools are AWFUL, some in special measures, really aggressive children, mainly all boys, no or almost no qualifications achieved and my worry with primary SEMH schools is that he will only have the option to go on to the secondary ones.
There's a good boarding secondary school he could go to that's a couple of hours away but obviously not now and I don't think he'd be ready at 11 for even weekly boarding so he needs somewhere that will a) be good for him now and b) enable him to move on to somewhere he can cope with until at least 13.
He doesn't have ASD and we would have no more options if he had a diagnosis of ASD (plus, the SALT and the psychiatrist said he doesn't show enough features for a diagnosis).
TL;DR he has challenging behaviour though is relatively able, but is coping better now with group teaching in the library area, is traumatised by others' challenging behaviour; he isn't in the classroom in a small setting anyway; and we don't want him being sick in the car every morning of his school days either, and all the SEMH schools are in the middle of nowhere.