Choosing a school

Choosing a school for your child can be a stressful time. For most parents of the non-SN variety choice is based on location and OFSTED reports. For SN families we have the added stresses of, can the school cope with our child? can our child cope with the school? what provisions does the school have for special educational needs? And is the school accessible?

When the time came to chose a school for Dude I had no idea where to start. I'd always imagined my son to go to the local school but when i was told there where quite a few sets of stairs I panicked. I wasn't even sure if mainstream was the right choice for him. So, I enlisted the help from the education welfare lady at the CDC unit Dude was under for his disabilities.

At first we had a look around the Special School that served our area. Taking Dude with us, we looked at the early years class.  I thought it was great. All accessible for his special buggy and his walking frame. Changing facilities and on site physio, occupational therapist and speech and language therapist. He could access EVERYTHING in the classroom. Then the staff told me that they felt that as he got bigger they wouldn't be able to keep up with him academically. 'He is too clever' I was told.

You'd probably think GREAT! But no, i felt like he didn't 'belong' anywhere. That feeling was made bigger when I went to see the local mainstream school. The foundation unit (nursery and reception classes) were built separate to the rest of the school with no corridor between the classrooms. It was a real struggle for Dude to get around the classroom. No changing facilities and to get through to the hall was a complete nightmare. Once we fought our way through to the rest of the school I could see that the classrooms where bigger and set out better. But Dude had 2 yrs before he was to be in them classes. There were stairs with one having a platform lift and the other avoided via the playground and ramps. The Headmistress and Nursery Teacher did seem like they wanted Dude though and we're willing to try out whatever so that he could access the school.

We had one more school to look at. The local CofE school. It had much better access and tons of space to move around the classrooms. There wasn't any changing facilities in this school either. But there were no stairs to contend with and unlike all the other schools, once he had a place we didn't have to apply again for him to have a place in the main school. I really liked this school. We found out that his name was down as the 31st place and there was only 30 places in the class. Head had said that they don't normally get all 30 places taken as people change their minds or they move away so he should be ok to get in. I wouldn't know untill April if he got his place.

Meanwhile the first mainstream school had said they'd hold a place there until April as well. They changed their minds. They wanted to know if I wanted the place NOW! I couldn't give them an answer. It's not that easy with a kid like Dude to just say YES! I needed to know he was at the right school. I wanted to know if he'd got into the CofE with the no stairs and the added extra of a CORRIDOR!

Alas, he didn't get the place at the CofE. All 30 places were accepted and so I had to accept the place at the local mainstream. It didn't turn out as bad as I thought it would. We had a transition meeting where the education welfare lady said Dude didn't require any extra support. Erm, the boy is unable to stand or walk unaided, was doubly incontinent, was under going assessments for autism and epilepsy and has dysphagia. He needed full 1:1 support for his safety, well being and to access all aspects of his education. Fortunately the school agreed with me and employed a 1:1 for him.

We had a few teething problems, but who doesn't, and hes loving school. We still have little wobbles with access regarding his frame or wheelchair every now and then but after some trial and error we get there.

We'll always come across challenges whilst at school. I'm abit apprehensive about next year. He's going to have to deal with the first lot of steps to access dinner hall, assembly hall and playground. These are the steps with the platform lift so we'll see how it goes.

School, they try hard to be accessible!