Choosing secondary schools, any hints?!

[wendywoo]

I have a son in year 5 (unstatemented) and I am about to start looking at secondary schools for him. With a pile of prospectuses sitting in my house, I've realised that they all paint a good picture in their glossy brochures. What I'm wondering is how to get through all the PR and actually choose the right one!

Has anyone done this recently and got any tips as to what questions I should be asking?

Also he thinks he might like to try for grammar school (stress!!) and I was wondering if anyone has an ASD child at a selective school and is it any good?! (for the child I mean)

Wendywoo.

[CarerQuie]

I'd visit any potential school and make sure you visit the special needs department to see what experience they have of meeting the needs of children on the spectrum.One of our local schools had an AS boy who was Deputy head boy and lthough he'd has some social difficulties,the school had managed to make adjustments and help him to thrive.xx

[kathkin99]

Hi Wendywoo,

Sorry cant really help with your question as my son is only in Reception but

Just to say good luck and I really hope it will be an obvious choice at the end for you once you have had a look around the schools.

Lots of luck.

Kathy

[jb1964]

Wendywoo,

 

My daughters 12 and only recently diagnosed AS. She managed to 'cope' through primary but mainstream hit her (and us) like a tonne of bricks. Luckily we've had help from the school/LEA etc and she's now being flexi-schooled (part-time mornings only in school and home tuition in the afternoon).

 

Obviously it depends on what your childs needs are and what the schools have to offer.

 

You need to know what their arrangements are for Special needs - although my daughter hasn't told anyone so it's extremely difficult for us as she doesn't want to be seen as different and doesn't want help from them.

 

Some of the things I would have asked are obviously those areas my daughter has struggled with i.e.

 

What provisions do they have for the time before school, breaks and lunchtime, do they have a room aside from the canteen/playground etc.

 

If they feel ill, upset etc, time-out cards - and a room to go to should they need 'time out'.

 

Homework policies and information for teachers.

 

Contact at school for any problems and how easy to get hold of.

 

Support should they need someone to take them from class to class, go over any changes to routine (exams etc).

 

Probably loads more but can't think right now.

Jb

[phasmid]

Transition Advice.

 

For Parents:

 

The following is based on our experiences as parents and Mrs Phasmid's role as a governor, my experience's as a SEN TA and our joint knowledge generally of SEN issues. All we can say is it worked for us.

 

Even before admission papers have been issued asking you to choose schools start doing your groundwork. Visit all the schools you are considering. Do not let other parents opinions of a particular school put you off visiting that school. Whilst it may not be the right school for their child it doesn't follow that it isn't the school for yours. As for the timing of your visit try to arrange to go round them on a normal day and see the school at work. Do this without your child. Most schools will be happy to do this. I'd be very wary of any that won't! The exception to this might be any special schools where the disruption caused by visitors coming into the classroom may be something they wish to avoid. Ask to speak to the Senco, get copies of the SEN and any other policies you want as well as a school prospectus.

 

Once you have done that, compare your thoughts on them. Then arrange for you AND your child to visit on a normal day. See how the staff re-act to them and your child to the staff - likewise the pupils. Then, yet again, sit down and compare notes. If, when the forms come out, the schools have open evenings go along. Take a list of any questions you have and take the time to speak to the staff. Then sit and talk it all through (AGAIN).

 

After all that, fill in your application form and wait for March (normal time for being told whether you have got the place in the school of preference) and see what you are offered.

 

Once you know the school, get talking to them. Identify as soon as possible the names of important staff if you don't know them already. At this point we took Phas Jr's new school a letter describing him. His likes, dislikes. The sort of things that would upset him and how he would react and ideas of how they should react to him - the sorts of things that would be missing from the academic records. We also arranged for him to have visits to the school in the summer term so he could get to know the staff, layout of the building, noise levels between lessons and so on. This was in addition to the between schools 'Transfer Day'. Through all of that, and the normal academic exchange of information between the schools they had a very good idea of what Phas Jr was going to be like. They told us the 'this is Phas jr' letter was brilliant, what's more, they circulated it around all staff that he would be taught by - we know this as we saw the copies!

 

We also made it clear we wanted to work with them. If anything happened at home that might affect his mood at school we phoned them. Likewise if anything happened there that we should know about. We got talking. We all knew each other well long before he set foot in the school as a pupil. It was really worth the time and effort. We knew exactly who to contact when there was (is) a problem and they knew we were there to back them up.

 

Basically be careful when choosing a school - don't go on other people's opinions, what's right/wrong for their child may not be the case for yours! Once you know the school it's COMMUNICATION, COMMUNICATION, COMMUNICATION!!!!

 

 

For teachers:

 

Try and prepare the child in advance as much as possible of what to expect in your class by providing a booklet detailing the following:

 

Pictures of:

 

You.

TA (and any1-1new to the child)

The classroom layout.

Doors.

Toilets.

All other 'significant adults' likely to be a part of their day-to-day school life.

 

Give details of normal day-to-day routine in a clear timetable provided in a way accessible to the child.

 

Invite them in when school is finished one day. Introduce yourself to them. Get talking to the parents and ask them what you can do to help - show willing.

 

Useful websites:

 

NAS websiteAspergers tips

 

Simon Midgely website

 

Tony Attwood's site

 

Tearchernet - LSA advice

 

cbf websiteAspergers tips

 

 

Hope that helps.

Edited March 18, 2006 by phasmid

[Kazzen161]

Here are some of the intitial questions I asked the schools:

 

How many teachers/LSA?s have training in Aspergers? (course=how long?)

 

What help can you offer re:

Support in class eg to start a task, to plan it, to remind him of what next, to check he has heard, to encourage.

 

Organising himself: eg: books needed, getting to classes on time,

 

Recording/doing homework: (eg:club ? with Teacher help?)

 

What can you do re: group tasks? Eg: PE,

 

What can you do to minimise/warn him of changes eg: teacher/timetable?

 

Somewhere to go during class if necessary?

 

Somewhere to go during break if necessary?

 

What can you do to improve his handwriting? (+ laptop?)

-Has problems with literacy due to this.

 

Any social skills classes (if needed?)

 

What is your discipline policy? Is it flexible for kids like Rhys?

What rewards/punishments are there?

 

How are the group settings done? One gp for eng/science/maths or different ones?

Based on SATS? (R may not do as well as he should at these esp. english)

Would he be upgraded if necessary?

 

Can they drop some subjects in Yr10/11 if necessary/

 

What assessments do you do in Yr 7?

 

How is your home/school communication done?

 

Copy of SEN policy?

-------------------------

 

Speaking to other parents of chilren with asd there is the best way of finding out what REALLY goes on.

 

Karen

[LKS]

wendywoo some brilliant advice has been given to you so far . What really worries me though is how much choice parents actually get. My statemented AS son transferred to secondary in Sept. 2005. Everyone was pretty certain that he would be able to manage quite well at mainstream as long as everyone was aware of his difficulties(that's another story though)We applied to our local mainstream secondary because that was where ds really wanted to go. When we got the brochure listing all the secondary schools in the borough they all had the same admissions criteria (apart from church schools)

SUMMARY OF ADMISSIONS CRITERIA

1) Children in public care where **** is the nearest maintained secondary school to the normal place of residence

2) Children who have a sibling attending the school at the time of application and who would reasonably be expected to still be attending the school in 2005

3)Children who have evidence to prove to the Governor's satisfaction that there are medical grounds that make it essential that they are admitted to **** school.

4)Children living nearest the school, measured in a straight line from home to school

 

If all LEA's follow this criteria unless you can maybe get the child in on medical grounds you are unlikely to be offered anything other than your nearest secondary school I suppose. I think Pinksapphireangel has found this out lately. Sorry If I have got this wrong or if things have changed.

[Kazzen161]

Different LEAs and schools have different criteria - our LEA's are different to LKS's - they give less priority to siblings.

 

The nearest school may not be the catchment school either (our catchment school is a mile and a half further away than the nearest one!)- it pays to check.

 

Karen

[pepper]

hiya wendy, lots of great advice there about how to pick a school, i can just answer the quiery about

Also he thinks he might like to try for grammar school (stress!!) and I was wondering if anyone has an ASD child at a selective school and is it any good?! (for the child I mean)

 

My son was already accepted into Grammar and diagnosed in 1st chaotic year but I think I subconsiously matched him needs to his senior school as best I could. In our case its a very good choice, Its a selective christian brothers school and the general ethos matches sons aspie traits rather well ( even if he is a 'screaming athiest' Joke ) But the school has very good pastoral care and is always commented on in ofstead reports. Son has a strong sence of justice and sees everything as 'black and white' and this melds in fairly well with catholic ethos ( my personal viewpoint)

 

There were 2 other grammar schools he could have entered and was accepted in ( 4 selective schools in our area) But two were absolutely massive and I knew he'd struggle and 3rd was fee paying and burser wasnt offering a decent enough deal on scolarship pmsl - and i thought it was maybe 'too selective' ie insular, LOL

 

Most of the core subjests at grammmar are traditional acedemic ones - concentration on sciences/ tecnology/ IT so suits son too. Children top 30% accademically, then graded into sets for 4 subjects+ so son has better opportunities to work at an education level that suits his abilities, meaning - less chance for him to get bored and unfocussed and mess about in class!

 

His is a small school of around 800 pupils and i feel this is better as the likelihood of him being known by most teachers and pupils is a bonus ( i think!) Quite a few asperger children can be very bright and capable of passing selective exams, especially with verbal/non verbal reasoning tests and I'm actually pleasantly surprised by how many boys in sons school have As. although the senco does comment that all the boys needs are so dissimmilar it can be difficult for teachers to guage individual needs as some read IEP and presume to treat all the same.

 

Its still not without dramas at school but in our case the education suits, for one, son will never be teased for being accademic as whole pupil role is expected to attain to best of ability, and two - in our area, where it isnt automatic that the children sit enterence exams, a high proportion of the boys come from families where parents take a very active role in childs education, and a third of boys come through local private prep schools - dare I say a high proportion of school pupils seem well behaved!!

 

I think it depends on the child as well, my son is mild As. and in general doesnt have too many problems- probably judged as 'quirky' by his peers. His natural immaturity is probably the biggest issue, but again, school have a learning mentor and she is very handy ( a sort of mummy he can pop and visit when hes having worries and she keeps a close eye on my lad since i explained that he doesnt realise when hes on meltdown path, so she checks )

 

Obviously i can only blather away about own childs situ, but hope it gives u a perspective and ive tried to point out some plus points. Im certainly not saying that its a bed of roses but probably the best of a bad bunch for my family. I always think of own child as a square peg in a round hole in the education system and its more about getting him through as best we can!

 

xx pep

 

ps if son does want to try 11+ paper he is entitled to extra time to complete it in

[wendywoo]

Thanks everyone, this is exactly the sort of stuff I wanted. I'm going to make myself a checklist of questions to take with me when I look at schools.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Wendywoo.XXXX

[madme]

Youve been given some good advice. We attended quite a few. I suppose its a gut feeling and who knows how it will work out for us. I remember seeing some pupils of a local school outside school- and this is a fee paying school that takes high achieving but "quirky" kids. If that was what my child was going to behave like I was sure us and lea would be wasting a lot of money. I think that communication and being given the time to talk to the Senco is so important- at one school she just wouldnt meet or talk to us but rejected our child when Lea sent papers to the school- in the end it was what we wanted but it hurt that she couldnt even spend 5 minutes. Academics are important if your child has ability but it is very important that they feel safe and there is good pastoral care.More than anything I want my child to be happy.