Parents

A parent writes …

When your son becomes a pupil at Breckenbrough school you can rest assured that he will have the best possible education that has been tailored to suit his needs. The teaching, care and administration staff all have vast experience in dealing with boys just like your son, and they are not fazed by his behaviour or eccentricities!

More about the school can be found on these pages:

* Ofsted 2009
* CSCI 2005
* Article in ‘The Friend’
* School ethos
* Aftercare provision
* Conflict resolution
* Anti-bullying policy
* Our pupils
* Sanctions policy
* Guardian Article

Other parents’ experiences

Read about the experiences of other parents …

Academic life

Read about the academic life of Breckenbrough school …

Residential accommodation

Residential accommodation at Breckenbrough school …

During my sons’ years at primary school it felt like I spent more time at his school than he did. He was finally diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome with some ADHD behaviours when he was 8 years old, pretty late compared to some children. We had quite a few nightmare years when he just couldn’t cope with the overall class sizes of 30 children and reacted by becoming aggressive, out of control and disruptive in class. In the end we got him into a special needs primary school which had a Language unit that was more suitable to meet his needs. After 3 very successful years there it was time to leave and take his chance with mainstream secondary school. I knew this would never work, he couldn’t cope with that sort of environment at the best of times and as for gaining an education in that environment – well you could forget it. He explained to me once that it was like trying to listen, understand and study in the middle of a noisy disco – not conducive to successful learning! I knew about Breckenbrough school through friends and I desperately wanted my son to complete his secondary education there, no other school could offer anything remotely similar to meet his needs. Needless to say it was a very long and difficult task to get him there but I am happy to say that we got there in the end!

He is now half way through his fourth year at Breck and he is a changed person. He has an education that is second to none and he is happy, confident and one of the nicest young men that I know. (I suppose I am biased but a few years ago I may not have felt the same.) He began his education at Breck as a day boy as we live fairly locally but before a term had gone by he was desperate to become a weekly boarder so he could join in even more of the social activities with his classmates. As a day boy he was allowed to stay behind on certain evenings to socialise but that wasn’t enough for him, he wanted to be there all week! After a consultation with the LEA and the head teacher his wish was granted and he was allowed to become a weekly boarder from his second year onwards. He has never looked back and joins in happily with all activities that interest him, with confidence and a smile. There have been difficult times of course but these are outweighed by the good times. He has friends, joins in the school productions and sports day, joins in evening activities – everything that I hoped for him and more. He has just come back from his first time abroad without me – a truly ‘wicked’ school ski trip – a week in Italy and is already looking forward to going again next year. I could go on, but I think you get the idea!
Published: March 2006
Author: Breckenbrough School