Secondary school application

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faz1992

Hello everyone

I hope everyone is well 

I’m having a very difficult time with secondary school applications my son is starting year 5 soon but finding it so difficult to decide to send him to a mainstream school or special needs school. 

Also I am very worried about bullying and other children taking advantage of him. 

Please can someone give me some advice

i am looking at schools and doing my own research but nothing is really catching my eyes. 

Ross_Alumni

Hello @faz1992

Welcome to the community, and thanks for making this post.

It must feel like a really tough decision to make. I'm not a parent myself but I imagine that you're just very keen to get your son into a school where he will be happy and thrive.

Have you had any conversations with his current school about your options? Perhaps they would be able to offer some insight as to what they think might be best for him.

Does he have an EHCP or have you discussed the prospect of one?

I'm not sure what access requirements your son has, but if there are any mainstream schools that you would prefer him to go to, whether it be due to locality or something else, maybe you could contact them to speak about your concerns in order to help ease them a bit.

I totally understand your worries about bullying, I can imagine that many parents also have concerns over it, I know for sure that it was a concern for my parents during my school life.

If I was a parent, I'd naturally be more concerned about bullying being more of a risk at a mainstream school, but upon considering it I suppose it could happen regardless of the school. Of course, nobody should be bullied or taken advantage of at all, and I hope that isn't the case for your son.

IPSEA is a super suggestion above.