Schools in England

Post Reply New Topic

Thank you! I think the team from our current school could probably help too. They could probably talk with the school in the UK and get things going -- I hope anyway.

I couldn't possibly say a nice thing about the UK school system with regards to special needs treatment. Our son went to a proper SEN school for his first year as he was totally unable to communicate or learn, they did wonders for him. He then moved to mainstream education with a special needs plan and each and every school we tried just treated him worse than the last. His needs were ignored with such terrible statements as "we don't think he's as bad as people make out" and was basically treated like he was a trouble/stupid child despite the fact he had an autism diagnosis with over two years delay in all areas at minimum. He lasted two terms before he regressed to worse than he was when he entered that first SEN school. They basically broke him utterly. They even decided to throw out his special needs learning plan without consulting or informing anyone.

Our daughter has pretty severe Asperger's and she did fine for the first few years but at about the same time our son hit problems, so did she. All her problems with understanding 'normal' things started coming to the front and she just got more and more in trouble for 'not trying' or 'being lazy'. And in the areas she was ahead in she got told she wasn't allowed to use her advanced knowledge and had to stick with the simple methods being taught to make it easier on the teacher.

So we pulled both of them out of the state school system and now Home Educate them. There are frighteningly large amounts of parents of SEN children who do the same, it's pretty much the norm these days it seems. The school system just doesn't and won't look after SEN children properly.

Hey there, I went to school in Essex. What part of Essex are you looking into?

Some parts are particularly rough, (well, a fair amount of Essex can be) such as Basildon, Stanford etc. It isn't too bad but there are probably some nicer areas.

I specifically was in Thurrock area. What do you want to know about Essex schools in particular?

Chelmsford is fairly nice, think there's quite good areas there too. Think there are a few private schools dotted about too and a grammer school too.

Some places I personally would avoid: Dagenham, Ockendon, Grays, Stanford-le-hope (or Stanford-no-hope as they say), Corringham isnt too bad but I think it's going down hill.

Education wise, can't really comment but I think it will be better if you get into a good school. Experience, not so sure, I had the "normal" experience I guess, bullying etc.