TO MAKE A REQUEST FOR A NEW SCHOOL / EDUCATIONAL SETTING, YOU MUST MAKE A WRITTEN REQUEST IF YOU WOULD LIKE PARTICULAR SCHOOLS TO BE CONSULTED WITH.

This should be done when you respond with your comments on your Childs / Young Person’s draft EHCP, or during the Annual Review process.

The LA should consult and consider requests for school consultations up until the EHCP has been finalised.

To request a different school/college after an EHCP has been finalised you may need to wait for a new annual review to be started or consider making an appeal to the SEND tribunal if you are still within legal timeframes (2 months from the date of the final EHCP).

Your allocated EHCP Coordinator / SEND officer will consult with the setting you request.

They should send all the information gathered from the EHC Needs Assessment Process or the amended draft EHCP following an Annual Review to the schools for formal consultation.

Whilst the LA will formally consult, a young person or parent can also approach a school themselves and ask them for views.

Education settings should respond to the LA within 15 calendar days with their comments. In practice some settings will take longer to respond. The LA can also consult other schools they feel are appropriate.

Following consultations, the LA will decide which setting to name on the EHCP, including special schools or ARP. In most instances an LA will use a panel system to make the decision where there are requests for special schools or APRs.

In Central Bedfordshire this is called a Special Provision Placement Panel.

It is the LA’s duty to secure the special educational provision in section F of the EHCP.

If the LA does not name, the young person or parental preference of nursery/school/college the LA should give clear reasoning that meets the legal test as described in the Children and Families Act Section 39 and/or Education Act 1996 section 9 (as appropriate to the type setting being requested).

Parents or young people have a right to request particular types of settings are named in an EHCP, as set out in section 38(3) of the Children and Families Act (CFA) 2014.

The types of setting you have a right to request are:

• • a maintained school or nursery (mainstream or special)
  • an Academy (mainstream or special)
  • an institution in the Further Education sector
  • a non-maintained special school, and
  • a section 41 school.

Independent settings are not one of those types of settings.

If you have found an independent setting check it is a wholly independent setting and not a ‘section 41 approved’ setting or a non-maintained special school, the LA could still consider naming it as an ‘appropriate’ setting.

The LA must consider yours and your child / young person’s views, wishes and feelings.

This set out in section 19 CFA 2014 and includes where the child or young person wants to be educated.

If you are asking your LA to name an independent setting, they need to have regard to the general principle that pupils (which are usually those under the age of 19) are to be educated in accordance with the wishes of their parents, as far as that is compatible with:

• the provision of efficient instruction and training, and
• the avoidance of unreasonable public expenditure.

This general principle is set out in section 9 of the Education Act 1996.

If you are not sure what type of school you’re asking for, check on the government website Get Information about Schools - GOV.UK

Naming an additional resource provision (ARP)

If the provision is part of a mainstream school, you have a right to request that the school is named in the EHCP.

However, the provision should not be named in section I of the EHCP, but instead, be described in section F.

It is essential that section F of the EHCP includes a full description of the special education provisions (SEP) that your child / young person requires, which is provided for in the provision, for example small class teaching, onsite speech and language or occupational therapy, or specially trained staff.

Without a clear description in section F, your child could be placed in the mainstream school within which the provision is based and not have any access to the provision.

LAs can name a provision in section I even where it is not a separate provision, but they are not legally obliged too.

If you need to appeal to the SEND Tribunal so your child / young person can access the provision, the SEND Tribunal will not be able to order the LA to name the provision in section I.

The only reasons the LA can refuse a request for a particular school are:

• • The setting is unsuitable for the age, ability, aptitude, or special educational needs (SEN) of your child or young person.
  • The attendance of your child or young person would be incompatible with the provision of efficient education for others, or
  • The attendance of your child or young person would be incompatible with the efficient use of resources.

This is set out in section 39(4) CFA 2014.

There are no other lawful reasons.

A school being full is not a lawful reason.

If the LA refuses your placement request, they must prove that at least one of these conditions applies for the refusal to be lawful.

Cases where each of these conditions have been considered can be found on IPSEA’ s case law pages.

If the LA considers that one of the above reasons does apply in relation to your choice of school / placement, it must name a school / placement (or type) it considers would be “appropriate” for your child or young person.

Efficient education means providing for each child or young person a suitable, appropriate education in terms of their age, ability, aptitude, and any special educational needs they may have.

Where the LA is considering the appropriateness of an individual institution, ‘others’ is intended to mean the children and young people with whom the child or young person with an EHCP will directly come into contact on a regular day-to-day basis.

If you request a particular school that is set out in section 38(3) of the CFA 2014, and the school is named in section I of the EHCP then that school / placement must admit your child or young person. This is set out in section 43 CFA 2014.

If the LA refuse your request and name a different school in section I, then the school / placement named in section I, has a duty to admit your child even if you are unhappy with the LA’s choice of school.

If you cannot find a school or college you would like to ask the LA to name, and do not make a request for a particular setting to be named, the LA must:

• • name a school or college it considers appropriate, or
  • name a type of school or college it considers appropriate.

However, there is a chance that you may not agree the LA’s choice of setting, or type, is appropriate for your child or young person.

Some EHCP’s name just the “type” of setting a child or young person is to attend, for example ‘mainstream,’ or ‘special.’

This is lawful if…

• • The LA can show the school / setting requested by the parent or young person should not be named, because one of the exceptions applies, and/or
  • Neither the parent, young person, nor the LA has identified an appropriate setting to be named.

If the EHCP has been finalised with just a “type” of setting to be attended, this means that there is no school/college with the duty to admit your child or young person.

There is no legal deadline for the EHCP to be amended to specify the name, (in addition to the type) of the setting.

Once a setting is found, the LA should take steps to amend the EHCP and name it in section I.

In the meantime, the LA must make sure your child / young person gets all the provision specified in section F. (this duty is set out in section 42(2) CFA 2014)

The responsible commissioning health body will still need to arrange any health care provision in section G of the EHCP.

If your child is of compulsory school age, the LA must make sure they receive suitable alternative education whilst they remain out of education.

List of schools, including Special Schools and Additional Resource provisions (ARP’s)  

Specialist Education | Central Bedfordshire SEND Local Offer

An EHCP must fully describe a child / young person’s special educational needs (SEN) and specify the provision (SEP) required to meet the identified needs and outcomes as agreed in the EHCP.  This then provides the evidence to which type of education setting / placement is most appropriate for the child / young person.

Therefore, it is important to ensure that section B and F are specific and quantifiable.

You have the right to appeal to the First tier SEND Tribunal if you disagree with the LA’s decision to name a particular education setting. You can only appeal once the EHCP has been finalised.