We recognise that every student is unique and each person has special needs.

We also accept – perhaps reluctantly – that as a school we cannot be all things to all people: Bootham is a small school offering an academic curriculum.
We recognise our obligations under Disability Discrimination legislation and will do what we reasonably can to assist access to those with learning difficulties and differences and physical needs.

So, learning differences are no bar to studying at Bootham: all we ask is that prospective students are able to access the academic curriculum which we offer. In other words, they will need to be fairly bright children, and have developed (or be able to develop, with suitable help) strategies to overcome their particular learning difficulties. They might have help in their present schools, or through another provider. Sometimes, because children change so much during their junior education, they learn to cope as they develop in their junior school years, and provision is no longer required at secondary level.

Bootham caters for those with degrees of dyslexia, dyspraxia, attention deficit disorders, Asperger’s and other kinds of autism, cerebral palsy and has in the past catered for students with aural, visual and motor problems. Our approach is based on helping students benefit from our curriculum through strategies learned in additional individual or small group lessons, at additional cost to parents. Under our response to legislation, we are doing what we reasonably can to improve access to our buildings. However, prospective students will need to be aware that we work within historical buildings, many of architectural importance, and on at least four different levels.

We ask that all known learning difficulties and differences are declared at the time of enquiry, so that our assessment of the prospective student is made with the fullest knowledge. Reports, assessments and other supporting information should be shared at an early stage of enquiry. Candidates may be allowed extra time in the entrance examination. Sometimes, specific needs are identified through the entrance process – our trained staff look carefully at written papers for signs of undiagnosed dyslexia, for example. An offer of a place might be conditional upon the student receiving, at extra cost, some support lessons from the learning support department. We are able to provide an initial level of diagnosis within school, for an extra charge, and will be able to do so in response to a student’s performance or parental concerns at any stage in their school career. All tuition, whether individual or in groups, carries an additional charge.

The Learning Support department also takes a lead in training all Bootham teachers in managing learning differences in the classroom, and regular whole-staff training takes place.Parents whose child has a learning difficulty or difference should talk in the first instance to the Registrar, who will be pleased to help with any enquiries. It should be noted that Local Authority funding for those with statements of educational need is not normally forthcoming to students attending an independent mainstream school – this is a matter beyond our control, lying with the Local Authority.