Every school will tell you it supports dyslexic pupils. The gap between the schools that mean it and the schools that have a policy document is very wide, and it is not visible in a prospectus.
Here is how to tell them apart.
What good provision looks like
Specialist qualified staff, not just a willing teacher. Ask who leads learning support and what their qualification is. You are looking for a specialist teaching qualification in specific learning difficulties, or membership of a relevant professional body — not simply "our SENCO has done some training". Ask how many specialist staff there are relative to the number of pupils on the register.
Support built into lessons, not only withdrawn from them. The strongest schools train all their teachers, so a dyslexic child is well taught in a history lesson as well as in a support session. Withdrawal-only provision means your child is well supported for two hours a week and unsupported for the other twenty-three, while also missing whatever the class was doing.
Assistive technology treated as normal. Laptops, speech-to-text, text-to-speech, audiobooks, and — crucially — a culture where using them does not mark a child out. Ask whether pupils can type in class as a matter of course, and how digital access arrangements work in internal exams.
Multi-sensory, structured literacy teaching for pupils who need it, delivered by someone trained in it.
Realistic assessment practice. Are worksheets legible and uncluttered? Is homework set in a form a dyslexic child can access? Is content available in more than one format?
Access arrangements handled early and routinely. Extra time, a reader, a scribe or a word processor in public examinations must be the pupil's normal way of working and supported by evidence. A school that starts this process in Year 11 has left it too late. Ask when they assess for access arrangements — good schools do it well in advance.
Questions worth asking directly
Take these to the visit rather than the phone:
- How many pupils are on the learning support register, and how many have dyslexia specifically? A school with 2% is either not identifying, or not admitting, or both. A school with 25% is genuinely set up for it.
- Who teaches learning support, and what are their qualifications?
- Is support included in the fee, or charged extra? Practice varies widely in the independent sector and the annual cost can be significant. See the hidden costs of private school.
- Can I meet the head of learning support? If the answer is no, that is your answer.
- How do you identify a child who is struggling but has no diagnosis?
- What proportion of your pupils have access arrangements in public exams?
- How do you handle modern foreign languages? Often the hardest subject for dyslexic pupils. Some schools offer a disapplication or an alternative; others insist. Worth knowing early.
- What happens with homework? Ask about time limits and alternative formats.
- Can I speak to a parent of a dyslexic pupil here? Good schools will arrange it.
Accreditation to check
CReSTeD — the Council for the Registration of Schools Teaching Dyslexic Pupils — maintains a register of schools that have been independently assessed on their dyslexia provision, in categories reflecting the level and type of support offered. It is not exhaustive, and excellent schools exist that are not on it, but a CReSTeD listing is meaningful evidence rather than a marketing claim.
The British Dyslexia Association also runs a quality mark scheme and publishes guidance for parents on what good provision looks like.
Mainstream, specialist, or somewhere between
Three broad options:
Mainstream with good support. Right for most dyslexic children. The child stays in a broad peer group and follows a full curriculum, with targeted help. Requires the school to be genuinely good at it.
Mainstream with a specialist unit. Some schools run a dedicated department with substantial staffing and, in effect, a school within a school. A strong option for children with more significant needs who can still access mainstream teaching.
Specialist school. For children whose needs are severe enough that mainstream, however well supported, is not working. Smaller classes, every teacher trained, the whole curriculum designed around it.
The decision usually turns on how much the difficulty affects everything else. A child who is coping academically but tired and frustrated is in a different position from a child whose self-esteem has collapsed.
Warning signs on a visit
- Learning support housed in a converted store cupboard at the end of a corridor. Facilities signal priorities.
- Staff describing dyslexic pupils primarily in terms of what they cannot do.
- No clear answer on who leads support or what their qualification is.
- "We treat all children the same" offered as a virtue.
- Reluctance to discuss access arrangements.
- A prospectus emphasising academic selectivity above all — not disqualifying, but ask harder questions about the middle and lower ranges.
The academic-fit question
Be honest about the level of the school. A highly selective school with excellent dyslexia support may still be the wrong choice if your child will spend seven years working twice as hard as everyone else to stay in the bottom set. A slightly less selective school where they sit comfortably in the middle, with equally good support, is frequently the better outcome.
This is worth more thought than it usually gets. Our article on how to read school league tables explains why the highest-ranking school is often just the most selective one.
The state sector option
Independent schools have no monopoly on good provision. Many state schools have excellent SEN departments, and the statutory framework is stronger: a child with an Education, Health and Care Plan has legal entitlements in the state sector that do not automatically transfer to an independent school. Our guide to EHCPs and independent schools explains how naming an independent school in a plan works.
If you are weighing both, our comparison of state and independent schools may help, along with SEN support in independent schools for the sector-specific detail.
Next step: filter schools by SEN provision on the school search to build a shortlist, then take the questions above to a visit.