Choosing a Boarding School for a Child with Dyslexia: What Should Parents Look For?
This week is Dyslexia Awareness Week. The British Dyslexia Association's theme this year is “Dyslexia in real life: At work”, looking at the experiences of dyslexic adults in the workplace.
It made us think about what dyslexia can mean for a child in the everyday life of a boarding school.
Choosing a school can feel daunting for any parent. When your child has dyslexia, there can be an added layer of worry. Will they get the support they need? Will their teachers understand how they learn? Will they keep up academically? And, perhaps most importantly, will they be happy and confident there?
There is no one type of school that is right for every child with dyslexia. Some children may need a specialist environment, while many will thrive in a mainstream boarding school with a good learning support department. It comes back to understanding your own child and what they need.
For parents, the difficult part can be working out what that support should actually look like in a school.
Start with your child
We always say that choosing a school should start with the child.
Dyslexia affects children in different ways. While difficulties with reading and spelling are often the most obvious signs, dyslexia can also affect how a child processes and remembers information. It can also have an impact on organisational skills. At the same time, many dyslexic children may show strengths in areas such as reasoning, problem-solving and visual or creative thinking.
Before looking at schools, think about the whole child. What are they finding difficult at the moment and what support is working well? What do they enjoy and where are their strengths? When do they feel most confident? Think about the sort of environment that brings out the best in them.
If your child has a diagnostic assessment or other relevant report, share it with the schools you are considering. It gives the school a much clearer picture of your child's individual profile. You can then have an open conversation about how they could be supported.
Understanding the support a school offers
There are some excellent learning support departments within mainstream boarding schools, as well as schools offering more specialist provision.
If learning support is likely to be an important part of your child's school life, make time to meet the team when you visit. When Claire and I visit schools, we always find that talking to the people involved tells you far more than reading about the provision on a website.
Ask what support might look like for your child. Would it be individual or in a small group? How often would they receive it? Would they miss other lessons? Is there an additional cost? What technology is available to help with things such as reading, writing or organising their work? How closely does the learning support team work with subject teachers?
It is also worth asking what happens as your child moves through the school. The support they need at 11 or 13 may not be the same as they need when they reach GCSE or Sixth Form.
Most importantly, listen to how the staff talk about your child. You want to feel that they are interested in getting to know them, their strengths as well as the areas where they may need some help.
What does CReSTeD mean?
You may come across the term CReSTeD when researching schools.
CReSTeD is the Council for the Registration of Schools Teaching Dyslexic Pupils and maintains a register of schools and teaching centres that meet its criteria for supporting pupils with Specific Learning Difficulties, including dyslexia.
The schools on the register offer different levels of provision. These range from specialist dyslexia schools to mainstream schools with dedicated learning support centres or specialist tuition. Importantly, CReSTeD says that one category should not be viewed as better than another. The categories help parents understand the type of provision available and how it might fit their child's needs.
In our school visits, we see both specialist schools and mainstream schools with excellent learning support departments, and there can be excellent provision in both. CReSTeD is therefore a useful resource, but I would still want to visit the school, meet the people involved and understand how that support would work in practice for the individual child.
Think about boarding life too
For a boarder, school life doesn't stop when lessons finish.
There is prep to complete, kit to remember, activities to get to and a busy timetable to manage. Difficulties with processing information, memory or organisation can therefore affect life outside the classroom too.
This is something I think parents should explore when they visit.
How well do the learning support, teaching and boarding teams communicate? Will the boarding staff understand your child's needs? If prep is regularly taking much longer than it should, will somebody notice? Is there someone your child can turn to when they need help?
Boarding is also about gradually becoming more independent. The right support should help a child understand how they learn, develop strategies that work for them and become increasingly confident in managing things for themselves.
Confidence and finding what you are good at
Confidence is another important part of this. A child who is working hard but still finding certain aspects of school difficult can understandably become frustrated, and this can sometimes affect their confidence.
This was something that particularly struck me when I visited Frewen College in East Sussex last term. Frewen is a specialist dyslexia school and what stayed with me was the sense that staff were looking at the child behind the report. There was an understanding not only of what a child might find difficult, but of their strengths, interests and what could help them to flourish. The academic, pastoral and boarding support also felt very joined-up, rather than learning support sitting separately from the rest of school life.
One of the lovely things about boarding school is the sheer amount going on outside the classroom. Art, drama, music, design, sport and all the other activities on offer give children the chance to find things they enjoy and are good at.
For a child who may not always have felt successful in the classroom, finding something they love and discovering that they are good at it can do wonders for their confidence.
Finding the right school
Finding the right school is about bringing all of these things together.
Visit the schools. Meet the learning support team and talk to the boarding staff. Take your child's reports with you and don't be afraid to ask lots of questions. Our advice on what to look for when visiting a boarding school may also help when you are planning your visits.
Above all, watch your child.
How do they respond to the school and the people they meet? Do they seem comfortable? Can they imagine themselves there?
Ultimately, it comes back to the same question we ask when helping any family choose a boarding school:
Will my child be understood, supported and happy here?
Finding a school where a child with dyslexia can get the support they need, recognise their strengths and grow in confidence can make an enormous difference.
Written by Linda Lloyd-Jones, Senior Consultant, Claire Calder Consultancy and shared with us with permission.
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