Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone, This is my first time writing here... I’m seeking advice on excellent secondary schools for my daughter (currently in Y5). She has a diagnosis of ASD, select mute and needs a lot of support with academics (this is not a priority for us - we just want her to be happy and willing to go to school). She is otherwise high functioning but prone to high levels of anxiety.School would need to be in Guildford or very near as have 2 other children and extended travel time would cause her anxiety anyway. We are currently awaiting decision on EHCP.Any advice would be much appreciated xx
Hi NAS63124,
It might be worth having a look at the Surrey county schools section of the county website - https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/schools/admissions/child-with-a-ehcp-or-a-ssen - which goes through applying for a school place for a SEN child, and has links down the page to a directory of mainstream and special/independent schools in Surrey, information, advice and support for parents looking for a school place, and other kinds of help that sound like they might be appropriate to your situation. You also might want to look at this page - https://www.autism.org.uk/services/education/mainstream.aspx - as the NAS operates four specialist support centres in mainstream schools in Surrey (although none is in Guildford). Hope this is of some help,
Ross - mod
Thank you for your reply, Ross-Mod, I will have a look at those links.
I was kind of hoping there might be someone out there who already went through the process in my area and would be able to give me some personal insight and give me a few names of schools that they viewed and were considering. I appreciate that each child is different and thus one school might suit one child and not another, it's just I don't know where to start really and I feel quite overwhelmed as I feel we left it a bit too late... I wish we got our diagnosis earlier (I tried in Y3 but was told that there is no problem and year expectations are met...).
Thank you, NAS63124