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jayjay

cornwall

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Hi all, wonder if you can help me, we are considering moving to cornwall as we have some family there aswell as some family in bedfordshire where will leave now. The school our son is at here is excellent, they have been so supportive and helpful and i couldnt have asked for a better school, and this is what is holding me back from making the decision to move as i dont what to take him out of a good school and then make the mistake of going to a school that is awful. Does anyone live in this part of the world and know what the schools are like and the education system that way, also how clued up are they on ASD in generally thanks

Jayne xx :wub:

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Hi jayne I hate to write this but I live in South Devon which is absolutely beautiful, about 10 miles from cornwall, I moved here 10 years ago to send my son to steiner school, when he finished first school he was at and I felt state system wasn't working for him, unfortunately he had a breakdown, and later was dx with asd, and he went to another alternative school where he was fine, for 2 years in hindsight much as Ilove steiner schools, the whole creativity side of stuff was not right for his type of learning. Our clinical psychologist and paediatrician were fantatastic really clued up on asd, but the paediatircian left a year later when we needed her when an inappropriate statement was put in place at secondary school, by educational psychologist who did not know was asd was, and he had another breakdown after a year and I had to take him out, when I say breakdown he became aggressive withdrawn depressed and self harming and paranoid, I found out after taking him out he had also been horrendously bullied and was going to school at 7 in morning to avoid bullies.

 

I buried my head at this point not knowing what to do, he went to another alternative school funded by a charity I wasn't that happy about the school, particularly but was just relieved he wasn't depressed etc, but now he is out of school the probs are horrendous, he isn't qualified for anything, his self esteem is rock bottom and mental health probs have arisen again, although his social skills are better than they might have been due to the nature of his school.

 

We have had contacts with various agencies, and the understanding is diabolical there is none basically, we wrote to our MP who contacted regional co ordinator or director of NAS who came down and said it was the worst he had seen, no coordination of any services etc.

 

I wont go on and I'm not saying your expereince will be the same some of this was 10 years ago anyway maybe it is better for children now, but I have heard on local news about 2 children with autism being taken to court for school refusal even though they were being bullied, I think you should look into it deeply and there may be things that can be done to improve services but it is about whether you want to put in the time, I f you already have a good professional where you are you may be able to get them to advise in some way. Sorry this isn't more psoitive hopefully someone else will have a better story, I hope so.

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hi

we have always discussed moving there our selves ,we always holiday down there devon/cornwall and love it ,life seems so very rlaxed . so if you have room we,l come to [please]

hope you find the answers to what u want sorry can,t help just full of envy

 

 

 

bye for now palgem

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Hi guys, hectors house is a member on the forum.........she has had alot of experience with the system in Cornwall.........I,m sure she,d be happy to help if you pm,d her...............hope thats ok

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thats the trouble isnt it, i would love to move but at the mo we cant. good luck

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Oh yes, it is beautiful here ein Cornwall etcetera etcetera.

 

I don't want to disappoint you, but unfortunately the Cornish LEA is known to be one of the worst in the country for SEN.

There are also NO services whatsoever.

And Social Services bury their heads in the sand and don't do ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING AT ALL.

 

My experiences have not been good, and I have spoken to other parents who have had the same problems.

Breakdowns etc like you described, for years, one parent even had the school supporting them all the way, but LEA still took 2 years and intervention by the MP before they allowed him to be sent to a special school. (By the way, before you're even allowed to visit and have a look at a special school, the LEA needs to have given their permission for this to happen). This same parent struggled for 5-6 years, constantly pushing SS before they finally agreed to become somewhat involved. I've tried for a whole year now, and they still haven't even finished our assessments.... they only pay lipservice when forced by solicitors and then stop again...it is very frustrating. My son's school knows silch about ASD/AS, and their communication skills are non-existing. It's a brilliant school for my eldest, who is very very bright, independent and capable, there won't be a better school for him. But it is not so for my son with AS, I've had terrible troubles and they have totally ignored them. I was refused statementing, till I got a solicitor involved. The draft was absolutely cr*p (IPSEA agrees with this), I've requested a meeting about it with the LEA and instead of taking one week to meet, it will have taken 6 weeks by the time it takes place.

 

Should I go on...?

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Hi Jayjay ... sorry I'm a bit late to your post, like MIN (who bless is still in cornwall) I was there until last year with my little brood ... unfortunately it is a provision backwater, the LEA unfortuately are not very helpful and the lack of special provision (unless severe) is precisely lacking ... there is however one school that is predominantly for children who are ASD but places are as rare as rocking horse do do's ... if you get my drift!

 

If you want to know what it is like then check out any of Mother In Needs threads and also my blog which you can get to by clicking on the link in my signature section ... if you want to ask anything feel free to pm me.

 

Apart from that though, it is a beautiful part of the world, one that I am still drawn too but unfortunately it wasn't the place to live for us, not only that, changing boroughs is a nightmare, it can be done but it is fun and games with the LEA's and schools, and if you already have good provision that you are all happy with (a rare thing!) I would advise that you really think about the benefits of such a move, but it is not for me to tell anyone what to do, I can only speak of the experiences we have had.

 

Good luck, HHxx

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