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Special or Mainstream - which school is best?!

SusieL

HI - I'm new on here and have a dilemma I wonder if anyone could advise on please?

Our little boy is 5 - he has a diagnosis of autism and hypotonia. He started at our local mainstream primary school in September 2012. His Class teacher is also the Deputy Head and the SENCO at the school - she is fabulous and is doing all she can to include Jack in all that the class do. He has his one to one learning sessions and has a TA during lesson time and a lady that looks after him at lunchtimes. He has settled into the school better than we imagined - despite a rocky start when his newly appointed TA left before the new term even started and he had to attend part time until a replacement could be found. The second TA was amazing with him and used to working with autistic children - unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstance, he had to leave at Christmas. The TA who looks after him now isn't trained to work with autistic children but she is fabulous and very willing to learn everything she can to help him.

However, looking forward to September 2013 - I wonder if Jack will cope in Year 1 in a more formal learning environment that isn't sympathetic to a child with learning difficulties. We're now wondering if mainstream school is the right/best choice for Jack - are we being fair to him and would he be better off in a Special School? Has anyone else moved their child from mainstream to special - or, indeed, the other way round and for what reason? Any advice, comments would be most welcome. Thanks. x

Parents

  • Since I last posted I have visited the Special School closest to us! Oh God - it was amazing! 

    I spent 2 hours with the Headteacher, who showed me all around the school and introduced me to staff and, of course, some of the pupils who were curious as to who I was - and I'm proud to say I was able to sign a short 'conversation' with a little boy who wanted to know my name and why I was looking at the hydrotherapy pool and asked if I thought it was 'cool'.

    Anyway to cut a long story short - after my visit and discussions at home - I've contacted the LA SEN Dept and told them what we want to do. They're contacting Jack's school to request that they arrange an 'emergency' review meeting with the health professionals that have been working with Jack, and ourselves to discuss Jack.

    We have spoken with Jack's teacher and she admitted that they are struggling and have concerns about his future education there! We're a bit relieved that they won't disagree with us about his move but are very disappointed that they haven't discussed their concerns with us before - even though I raised the same in the last meeting we had.

    However, we just want to move forward now and get Jack into his new school - they have 3 vacant places - amazingly, in the 5-6 age range! Perfect - think this is meant to be! x

Reply

  • Since I last posted I have visited the Special School closest to us! Oh God - it was amazing! 

    I spent 2 hours with the Headteacher, who showed me all around the school and introduced me to staff and, of course, some of the pupils who were curious as to who I was - and I'm proud to say I was able to sign a short 'conversation' with a little boy who wanted to know my name and why I was looking at the hydrotherapy pool and asked if I thought it was 'cool'.

    Anyway to cut a long story short - after my visit and discussions at home - I've contacted the LA SEN Dept and told them what we want to do. They're contacting Jack's school to request that they arrange an 'emergency' review meeting with the health professionals that have been working with Jack, and ourselves to discuss Jack.

    We have spoken with Jack's teacher and she admitted that they are struggling and have concerns about his future education there! We're a bit relieved that they won't disagree with us about his move but are very disappointed that they haven't discussed their concerns with us before - even though I raised the same in the last meeting we had.

    However, we just want to move forward now and get Jack into his new school - they have 3 vacant places - amazingly, in the 5-6 age range! Perfect - think this is meant to be! x

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