Secondary/Senior school thoughts in west sussex.

[Freya82]

My son is going into year 5. We are looking at Christ Hospital (not sure about boarding) Seaford college, Great Ballard, Bishop Luffa, Philip Howard and Ormiston (six villages). He’s bright, musical, loves maths and sport. However he’s autistic- doesn’t have an EHCP as hasn’t needed one in his current setting and copes fine in school. Just is exhausted when he gets home. Interacts socially really well, just can be shy around adults untill he feels comfortable with them. We would be looking at scholoship/ bursary for private, if we went down that route. Currently he’s in a private setting- so worried about going into mainstream for larger classes. Just wondering if anyone had any thoughts or feedback on these schools? It would be nice to save money if the mainstreams are good but would rather get the right setting for him…..

So Bishop Luffa and Philip Howard are both church schools (PH is Catholic and BL is CoE). Bishop Luffa is very sort after and strict on recorded church attendance, not sure about PH. Christs Hospital has that variable fee structure so its catchment is quite wide. Seaford still has a high proportion of children needing additional help, so their teachers are pretty adept at teaching a vast variety of abilities. Great Ballard only goes up to 13, I think. Don’t know about Ormiston, sorry.

It depends where you are and whether you meet the criteria for admission. The faith schools will have their own criteria. Ormiston Six Villages Academy is the only non faith state school on your list.

There’s also Chichester Free School, The Regis, if you’re looking at state, but again, it depends where you live.

We do go to church, so that’s why we are looking at Bishop luffa. We live just on the outskirts of chichester. My main concern is going from such a small school, with very few pupils in a class to such a big setting. However, I have heard good things about Bishop Luffa.

We do go to church, so that’s why we are looking at Bishop luffa. We live just on the outskirts of chichester. My main concern is going from such a small school, with very few pupils in a class to such a big setting. However, I have heard good things about Bishop Luffa.

Go and visit CH. We visited 3 of the schools on your list and ultimately child decided against CH (as would need bursary which I believe must be a boarding place) once he saw the boarding houses. It's probably the most diverse school in the county (a plus for us) and has amazing opportunities for extra curriculars. SPH very hard to get into, if you're outskirts of chi and church goers if imagine Bishop Luffa would be easier to get into.

Personally didn't like ormiston, no 6th form and seemed quite small with less extra curriculars on offer. A friend daughter is there and they've been very good with her (autism plus ongoing health issue