Choosing a school with an EHC plan

You can request a special school when you receive the draft EHC plan, in the same way as you would request a mainstream setting. 

Special schools are particularly designed to support pupils with additional needs. Some special schools may take pupils with a particular diagnosis such as autism, or may be adapted to support children with physical disabilities, whilst other schools will take pupils with a wide range of needs.

They will usually have much smaller classes and specially trained teachers as well as a higher staff/pupil ratio. A special school may have speech therapists, occupational therapists or other professionals based within the school who work closely with teaching staff. There may also be specialist facilities such as play equipment or computer software, and the environment may be designed with the needs of its pupils in mind.

You can consider:-

• What the EHC plan says (or you would like it to say) your child's needs and provision are
• Your child's views - a good example might be where your child says they do not understand the lessons or perhaps have low confidence or self-esteem due to feeling 'too different' in their current school. 
• The school, Enhanced Provision, or setting's own website and their SEN Information Report- the type of school, specialism, experience of teaching children with similar SEN - link it to your child's needs where you can
• The curriculum followed and qualifications children are entered for
• The range and nature of the needs of other children in the school/year/class
• Information you have gathered from visiting the school - pin-point what it is that makes you feel it is the right school, the environment, the children you saw when visiting and how they were being taught, the classes, or the staff and facilities available etc.
• Assessment/specialist reports showing the areas of difficulty, levels and rate of progress and particularly where there is deterioration with their mental health

 If your child already has an EHC plan,  annual reviews provides the opportunity to raise any questions or concerns about needs and provision, including whether the current setting remains appropriate.  

Types of Education Settings

Essex has worked with primary and secondary mainstream schools to develop additionally resourced provisions. These are called Enhanced Provisions for Other Needs (Essex Local Offer). 

Enhanced provision covers the following needs:-

• Hearing Impaired Provision
• Autism Provision
• Speech & Language Provision
• Social Emotional & Mental Health Provison
• Dyslexia Provision
• Severe Learning Difficulties

Though these Enhanced provisions are attached to mainstream schools, apart from exceptional circumstances, your child will need an EHC plan to be able to attend. 

 Read more about Choosing a school with an Education Health & Care Plan.

You can 'make representations' (request and give your reasons) for an Independent school to be named, though the local authority must consider your wishes there is no conditional duty to name. They will only name an independent school where a place has been offered.

Some Independent schools and colleges have 'opted in' and are included in the list of schools you can request. View the list of approved independent schools and colleges, known as 'section 41' schools.

Where the local authority reject your request, they will be relying on one or more of the reasons shown (s9.79 of the SEND Code of Practice 2015)

Often the reason the local authority reject a request for an Independent school is due to costs (the third of the reasons 'incompatible with the efficient use of resources'). They will name a school in the EHC plan they believe is suitable and if you disagree you will have the option of appealing.

To learn more about Independent Schools and Appealing a School (or School type) named in a plan

The SEND Code of Practice 2015 says: 

Under section 7 of the Education Act 1996, parents have the right to educate children, including children with SEN, at home. Home education must be suitable to the child’s age, ability, aptitude and SEN. Local authorities should work in partnership with, and support parents to ensure that the SEN of these children are met… 

 

(10.30)

A parent or carer can choose to educate their child at home, this is known as 'Elective Home Education or EHE'. (If your child is currently attending a special school, you will need to get permission from the local authority before they can be removed from the school register).

You can request to home-educate your child when you respond to the draft new, or amended plan, from the local authority which asks you which setting you would like to request to be named. Please read information below on ‘Education Other than at School’.  

It can be helpful to also include your views about why you have made this decision. If the current educational placement is not working, it may be better to amend the EHC plan to set out different special educational provision and/or name a different school rather than attempting to take on home education without support.  Deciding to educate your child at home can be a rewarding choice for many parents, but it does require a lot of dedication, hard work and patience.

Provided the Local Authority are in agreement that you can provide a suitable education, they will make it clear that you are electing to home-educate in section I of the EHC plan (this is where the school or setting gets named).

The Local Authority (LA) has no duty to provide education (or secure special educational provision outlined in an EHC plan) for your child if you have elected to home-educate, provided they are satisfied the arrangements you have made are suitable. (s42 Children & Families Act 2014). 

The local authority will retain responsibility for maintaining the plan for example carrying out annual reviews. As you will be assuming responsibility to educate, you must carefully consider how you can provide what your child needs. 

The commissioning body are still responsible for any health care provision detailed in an EHC plan though you can make your own alternative arrangements for health provision too. 

Yes, there is no legal reason why an EHC plan cannot name a dual placement in Section I. It will be for you to tell the Local Authority why you think that this is the option which best meets your son/daughter’s needs as set out in the draft EHC plan and to provide them with any supporting evidence that you have.

An example might be where a child attending a special school has made good progress, and it is felt they may benefit from more opportunities to develop their social or communication skills. If you think your child or young person would benefit from a mix of mainstream and specialist education, you can discuss this with their current school and with the SEND Operations Service at the local authority. 

The SEND Code of Practice states:-

Children with EHC plans can attend more than one school under a dual placement. Dual placements enable children to have support from a mainstream and a special school. This can help to prepare children for mainstream education and enable mainstream and special schools to share and develop their expertise in supporting children with different types of SEN. In order for a child with SEN who is being supported by a dual placement to be deemed as being educated at a mainstream school they should spend the majority of their time there. (9.85)

 Section 33 of the Children and Families Act 2014 says that a child or young person with an EHC plan must be educated in a
mainstream setting, unless:

• it is against the wishes of the child’s parent or the young person; or
• it is incompatible with the provision of efficient education for others and the Local Authority shows that there are no reasonable steps that it could take to prevent the incompatibility

Even if the Local Authority successfully argued that a mainstream school was unsuitable for the ability, aptitude or SEN of the child or young person (one of the lawful reasons for refusing a school, if they wanted to name a special school against the parent or young person’s wishes they would also have to show that it was incompatible with the provision of efficient education for others.

However, this is a right to mainstream education but not necessarily a right to a particular mainstream school.  You can read further on Ipsea's Right to a mainstream education

If a child has an Education Health and Care plan (EHCP) and you choose to electively home educate, the local authority no longer has a legal duty to secure any special educational provision set out in the EHC plan, because you are deemed to be making your own suitable alternative arrangements.

If, however, the local authority (LA) deems school or college to be inappropriate for your child or young person, the LA can arrange for your child’s special educational provision to be delivered somewhere other than in a school, college or early years setting.  The LA would then be responsible for continuing to secure and fund that provision.

A parent may need to educate their child at home because there is no viable alternative due to their child’s particular needs, whether medical or otherwise. This is different to elective home education because the parent has not chosen or ‘elected’ to educate them at home. Instead, it is known as ‘education otherwise than in a setting’ (“EOTAS”) or ‘education otherwise’.

For further information read Education Otherwise

An LA, before naming a school, must consult:

(a) the governing body, proprietor or principal of any school or other institution the authority is considering having named in the plan, and

(b) if that school or other institution is maintained by another LA, that LA.

(Section 39(6) CAFA 2014.)

Provided you have requested a type of setting listed in section 38 of the Children and Families Act 2014, The local authority must consult with the setting asking if they can meet the needs of your child, giving them 15 days in which to respond. 

If the school fails to respond, the LA does not have to wait to make a decision about naming a school/college on the EHC plan.

The LA still needs to keep to the statutory deadlines for issuing a final plan - you can read about the legal timeframes for when a plan is being issued for the first time (EHC Needs Assessment - How long does the process take?) or changing an existing EHC plan (Preparing for an Annual Review - What happens next?)  The LA should issue the draft EHC plan (or amendment notice) well before the deadline to make sure it can comply with its consultation duties.

The local authority must consider any response from a setting very carefully before deciding whether to name them in the final EHC plan. The LA will make the final decision and consider the closest most appropriate school to where the  child or young person lives. Even if the school or college, and/or the LA where the school or college is located (if different), objects, the home LA can still choose to name the school or college in the plan.