DAO new starter with Dyslexia

[kenyancowgirl]

It is pretty appalling of a head to suggest that parents of children who require support should look elsewhere...

[ToadMum]

It is pretty appalling of a head to suggest that parents of children who require support should look elsewhere...

Yep. Just what nice Mr Goddard thought, too, strangely enough. And his audience.

No doubt the other schools in Potters Bar get pretty fed up with it as well, although they could always try the same tactic, of course.

[kenyancowgirl]

To be fair, it's enough to put me off the school as, any good school, should be able to cope with any additional needs. But, no doubt that is exactly what they hope!

[cherrypie999]

Thank you for all for taking the time to respond with useful information and to give advice, which I will be following up. It makes sense to contact the school directly. I have now a fair idea in my head how Y7 works at DAO and feel largely comforted that we made the right choice in choosing this school.

The Head most definitely made those comments at the open day in July 2018 regarding children who need extra support following on from saying how the school was largely buffered from the cuts other maintained schools were experiencing due to the generosity of the Brewers Company, but how SEN was limited. For pupils who require greater support, then another school might be more suitable and I remember at the time thinking it seemed a harsh thing to say given the school is classified as a partially selective comprehensive.

It may have been said to cut the number of applications. Nevertheless, we are delighted our DD is in the fortunate position to be joining DAO. She is our eldest child; we suffer from normal parenting anxieties on top of the guilt of not pushing harder to diagnose her dyslexia sooner. It's been a very tough year.

[ale21279]

Thank you for all for taking the time to respond with useful information and to give advice, which I will be following up. It makes sense to contact the school directly. I have now a fair idea in my head how Y7 works at DAO and feel largely comforted that we made the right choice in choosing this school.

The Head most definitely made those comments at the open day in July 2018 regarding children who need extra support following on from saying how the school was largely buffered from the cuts other maintained schools were experiencing due to the generosity of the Brewers Company, but how SEN was limited. For pupils who require greater support, then another school might be more suitable and I remember at the time thinking it seemed a harsh thing to say given the school is classified as a partially selective comprehensive.

It may have been said to cut the number of applications. Nevertheless, we are delighted our DD is in the fortunate position to be joining DAO. She is our eldest child; we suffer from normal parenting anxieties on top of the guilt of not pushing harder to diagnose her dyslexia sooner. It's been a very tough year.

I was at the same open day Cherrypie, the head definitely said those words, along with the school being "unashamedly academic" and if we didn't want that, was it the right school for us? It put a few of my friends off applying, but I think that was the intention.

I'm sure your daughter will be fine, remember that only 1/3 of the children get in on exam, the rest are siblings, local, children of staff, music etc. Congratulations on your place!