Northease Manor School is a day and weekly-boarding independent, co-educational Special School for potentially able pupils aged 10 to 17 years who have Specific Learning Difficulties (Dyslexia).

Our aim is to provide success and restore self esteem in order to encourage the balanced growth of the whole person, enabling the pupil to overcome their specific learning difficulties and fulfil their true potential as an independent learner.

The school is set in beautiful surroundings at the foot of the South Downs near Lewes in East Sussex.  It is approved by the Department for Education and Skills, listed as offering specialist provision by CReSTeD, inspected by the CSCI according to the National Minimum Boarding Standards, a member of the Independent Schools Association and is a supporting member of the British Dyslexia Association.

My child is...:

•  experiencing difficulties with reading
•  wrongly spelling words which he or she can read, or spelling very poorly
•  suffering with numeracy difficulties
•  writing in a way which is confused and almost impossible to decipher
•  unhappy with the way in which he or she is being helped
•  experiencing rejection by peers and/or his or her teachers
•  suffering from low self-esteem and lack of self-confidence

1. What is dyslexia?
Dyslexia, formerly known as word-blindness, is in fact a combination of factors which cause specific learning difficulties, affecting a person's ability to cope with reading, writing, spelling and/or numeracy.

2. What are the typical symptoms of dyslexia?
   * Reading difficulties
   * Writing difficulties
   * Spelling difficulties
   * Putting letters in the wrong order
   * Turning letters or numbers back to front
       (Often in combination with normal or superior intelligence and good oral ability)

3. What other difficulties can dyslexia cause?
   * Difficulty with rhyming words
   * Short attention span
   * Short-term memory difficulties
   * Confusion between left and right

4. What behavioural effects can result from dyslexia?
   * Anxiety
   * Withdrawn behaviour
   * Distracting others in class
   * Temper tantrums
   * Reduced self-esteem and self-confidence
   * Reluctance to attend school

5. Are there any other factors involved in dyslexia?
    * Other family members with dyslexia
    * Complications at birth

6. Can dyslexia be cured?
Unfortunately, no. But there is no reason why, given the appropriate help and education, children with dyslexia should not reach their full potential.

7. How best to help the child with dyslexia
    * A multi-sensory approach to education, as opposed to "talk and chalk"
    * Particular help with literacy skills, involving a phonological approach
    * A whole-school, holistic approach (especially if diagnosis has taken place late in the child's           development)
    * Developing areas of responsibility to allow the child to experience success, in order to raise          self-esteem and confidence.

7. What else can you tell me about dyslexia?
Click here to read about why mainstream schools may not be the answer for your dyslexic child

1.  Our School
* Northease Manor School is an independent, co-educational, specialist school for dyslexic pupils aged 10 to 17, catering for both weekly boarders and day pupils.  It is a charitable trust and there is a bursary system.

* We provide a holistic approach to Specific Learning Difficulties (Dyslexia) within small teaching groups and with on-site access to Speech and Language Therapy, and Occupational Therapy.  All our staff have specialist in-service training;  most teachers have additional specialist qualifications and some have led teacher-training courses, both in the UK and abroad.

* Our school is housed in handsome Grade II listed buildings which are set in beautiful surroundings at the foot of the Sussex South Downs, three miles south of Lewes.

2. The Education we Provide
* Our pupils enjoy full access to the National Curriculum and benefit from an intensive multi-sensory input which provides for their literacy and language needs across the curriculum.

* Detailed pastoral support is given to enable pupils to fulfil their potential and to become independent learners.  All our pupils have an Individual Education Plan, which caters for their academic and pastoral needs.

* The typical Northease pupil is of at least average cognitive ability but has been unable to realise his or her true potential due to learning difficulties, normally in literacy skills and sometimes in numeracy skills as well.

3.  Recommendations and Endorsements of our School
* According to Ofsted (July 2007), Northease Manor “is an excellent school" which "provides outstanding value for money".

* Northease Manor has been recommended by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools as one of the top ten Special Schools in the country.  There is a mixture of private and LEA funded pupils who in some cases live locally but in others come from as far away as Wiltshire, Warwickshire, Lincolnshire and Essex.

* Northease Manor is one of the few schools of its type approved by the Department for Education and Skills, listed as offering specialist provision by CReSTeD, inspected by the CSCI according to the National Minimum Boarding Standards, a member of the Independent Schools Association and is a supporting Corporate Member of the British Dyslexia Association (our Headmaster is a former member of the BDA Management Board).