AS grandchild moving to UK from USA

[catiesnana]

Greetings from the USA! This is my first entry on your site. My daughter is married to a British citizen and living in the UK these past 5 years. Her daughter, who just turned 13, has always lived here in america with my husband & I. My Grandaughter has mild AS, ADD, OCD and mild Tourette's. Do to my own health issues, the time has come to send her to her mother and step dad. She spent the summer in the UK and had a wonderful time. I think there may be more opportunities there for her to persue her "special interests". We live in a very rural area and it's hard for her to find friends and she wants so much to fit in. She has normal intelligence, but has the usual quirks that most AS kids have. She has no behavioral problems at school. "Meltdowns" are always saved for the people who love her the most. Math is very difficult for her. Staying organized and focused are her biggest problems.

 

I know nothing about the UK school systems, except for what my son-in-law tells me. Things like, she will have to be in class with 10 and 11 year olds since the English school system is 2 years ahead of the US system. Also, it is too late to get her into any school there yet this term and we will have to wait until Sept of 09. Here is the states kids move from school to school constantly and there never seems to be a problem.

 

My question to any AS parent is, do your public schools mainstream children with IEPs as they do in the states? Does anyone know of any good public schools in the Hertsfordshire area? I see in some listings of schools the word Community School. What does that mean? My son in law attended private schools and does not think much of public schools. Any help I can get from a parent who has delt with any of these problems would be appreciated. I really need to get up to speed on how your education system works. Thanks a bunch!

 

Nana in Nebraska

Edited September 12, 2008 by catiesnana

[aro]

Is this site of any use?

 

Herts council

 

A x

[NobbyNobbs]

depending on what sort of school you go for you should be able to get her into a school for the january-april term at the very latest. most 'normal' schools will accept children at any time under the circumstances you've stated.

 

if she's 13 i doubt she would be put in with 10-11 year olds in a mainstream school as the age in which children more from primary to secondary school is 11. they *might* put her into year 7 (ages 11-12) to give her a chance to catch up a bit.

 

communitry schools are just regular schools, but with different levels of specialism in certain things. ive heard of technology colleges, communitry schools and acadamies.

 

SOME comprehensive (public) schools are very good. these are more often religious or specialist schools, such as technology schools. it really is a case of picking what suits the child best. religious schools also generally are better for discipline and a positive school community as these things are stressed more, but obviously if you dont want a religious background to her education there are still a lot of good non-religious schools out there.

 

as aro suggested look on the county council website, they'll have a list of schools. you can also check the school inspections and ratings on various websites to get a better idea of how well a school is achieving. OFSTED do the detailed school inspections and publish a report for each school.

 

as far as i am aware the british and american school systems are not that different as far as special educational needs go (or in education standards, in fact the US schools seem to be better than the british at the moment). british schools offer a system of teaching support, individual education plans and so on, you just need to get in contact with a school and ask if they will be able to offer the support you feel your granddaughter needs, as well as being able to support you through the process of applying for this support (the schools need extra funding to offer it). my knowledge of private schools is limited, but they tend to not be overly helpful if you need to stray from the 'standard' education offered there.

it might be worth using your advantage in that she has not been in the british education system to really push for a good comprehensive school. i moved areas part-way through my education and managed to get straight into a very good school because of this.

 

if you are looking for a specialist ASD school (Which it doesn't sound like you would get to be honest if she is generally doing okay, and just needs extra support) then i can't advise you, but there certainly are people on here who can.

 

if you have any more questions let me know and i'll try to help ( i did part of my university course in the US so i might know a little more than others about that side of things, and have worked as a teaching assistand in welsh schools so know that side too)

[catiesnana]

depending on what sort of school you go for you should be able to get her into a school for the january-april term at the very latest. most 'normal' schools will accept children at any time under the circumstances you've stated.

 

if she's 13 i doubt she would be put in with 10-11 year olds in a mainstream school as the age in which children more from primary to secondary school is 11. they *might* put her into year 7 (ages 11-12) to give her a chance to catch up a bit.

 

communitry schools are just regular schools, but with different levels of specialism in certain things. ive heard of technology colleges, communitry schools and acadamies.

 

SOME comprehensive (public) schools are very good. these are more often religious or specialist schools, such as technology schools. it really is a case of picking what suits the child best. religious schools also generally are better for discipline and a positive school community as these things are stressed more, but obviously if you dont want a religious background to her education there are still a lot of good non-religious schools out there.

 

as aro suggested look on the county council website, they'll have a list of schools. you can also check the school inspections and ratings on various websites to get a better idea of how well a school is achieving. OFSTED do the detailed school inspections and publish a report for each school.

 

as far as i am aware the british and american school systems are not that different as far as special educational needs go (or in education standards, in fact the US schools seem to be better than the british at the moment). british schools offer a system of teaching support, individual education plans and so on, you just need to get in contact with a school and ask if they will be able to offer the support you feel your granddaughter needs, as well as being able to support you through the process of applying for this support (the schools need extra funding to offer it). my knowledge of private schools is limited, but they tend to not be overly helpful if you need to stray from the 'standard' education offered there.

it might be worth using your advantage in that she has not been in the british education system to really push for a good comprehensive school. i moved areas part-way through my education and managed to get straight into a very good school because of this.

 

if you are looking for a specialist ASD school (Which it doesn't sound like you would get to be honest if she is generally doing okay, and just needs extra support) then i can't advise you, but there certainly are people on here who can.

 

if you have any more questions let me know and i'll try to help ( i did part of my university course in the US so i might know a little more than others about that side of things, and have worked as a teaching assistand in welsh schools so know that side too)

[chris54]

Hi

 

Just to confuse every one .In the UK a "Public school" is in fact a fee paying private school.

 

If you go onto the Direct.gov.uk web site and follow the links to school it should be helpful. From there you can link to local council sites and find what school are in the area were they live.

From the government site you can find all the school withing an area you select. Link to them and look up the most resent OFSTED report and sometime all sorts of other info on the school.

The first thing I would do is explore the government site, it would help if you have the post code of were they live.

That is what we did when me moved from the south to the midlands.

 

If she is 13 then she will go into a class with children of her own age. And should be given the help if any she need to catch up. In theory as we start school at a young age we , in the UK, are ahead of the u.s. but I doubt that in general term there is much difference at 13, other than subject pacific. Also if there is a place available then she will be able to start school as soon as she moves. We moved in on saturday and our son started school on the Monday. He has ASD/AS is 8 and we moved in June. <'>

 

What happens is that once you have selected a school with a space, you contact the school direct and take it from there.

There is no reason why you should not be able to line up a school before she moves. We did. And we did not tell the school about our sons problems until they had offered him a place. The reason for this is that when we first contacted the school we had not received an official diagnosis.

 

This is a bit rambling but then it has been a long day.

 

Good luck . Chris.

[Tally]

I think your son-in-law is trying to discourage the move. Have they even contacted their local school and asked?

 

It is quite feasible to get a child into school mid-way through the school year. It's possible that the nearest school will have no places, but there will definitely be a place at a school offered to her.

Children are put into school years according to age and not ability. Very occasionally, children who struggle are kept back a year to offer them the best support, but this is unusual and two years would be extremely rare. Your granddaughter would be put into a class with other children of the same age. If she was behind them academically, she would be placed in lower ability classes. This might not be appropriate as she may not be pushed hard enough. Her parents might need to press for extra support or even consider some lessons outside of school to help her catch up.

 

Our public schools are called state schools. In Britain, a public school is a top, fee-paying private or independent school

 

If they are willing to find a private education for her, they are more likely to find a school willing to be flexible and make changes to support your granddaughter. In the state system, they may need to push to get the right support. There are many, many parents here who have been through this and would be able to advise your daughter how to go about it.

[Kathryn]

Hi catiesnana,

 

Welcome to the forum

 

Your granddaughter would probably go into year 8 or 9 depending on when her birthday is, i.e. the second or third year of

high school.

 

There are some good public (ie state) schools around but not all of them are equally good at accommodating the needs of children with AS and other special educational needs. Your son in law and daughter would really need to visit some schools in their area and talk to the head and SENCO (special educational needs coordinator) to get an idea of what the school could offer.

 

I'm from Hertfordshire. I'll pm you with some information.

 

K x

[catiesnana]

Thanks Kx - My daughter lives in the St Albans area, London Colney - Radlet area, if that's familiar. I have visited them there several times. It is a nice region and have to believe there would be a suitable (state) school in the area. If you or anyone knows of any, please let me know. I really appreciate any input!

 

Nana

[aro]

have pm'ed you

 

A x

[Kathryn]

Thanks Kx - My daughter lives in the St Albans area, London Colney - Radlet area, if that's familiar. I have visited them there several times. It is a nice region and have to believe there would be a suitable (state) school in the area. If you or anyone knows of any, please let me know. I really appreciate any input!

 

Nana

 

It's very familiar.

 

I've pm'd you too.

 

K x