To think if you can no longer afford school fees...

"As has already been pointed out to you there are lots of DC in private schools with SEN who don’t have an ECHP. It’s only those with an ECHP that will be exempt."

So the most vulnerable are being protected?

Thanks for confirming.

To be fair, if I could afford private for mine it would be a no brainer. The state school mine go to isn't bad, but there seemingly are a few deeply problematic kids that can be highly disruptive, and are disrupting those who want to do well and the teachers hands seem tied in dealing with them. Private seems to be a much better learning environment.
I'd be upset if I suddenly couldn't afford it, but moaning on and on, on a forum (and not on the correct board) where the vast majority couldn't afford it pre VAT, does come across as first world privileged problems. Equally starting a thread, again on an unrelated board, to say it's tough is just as bad.

No because as you well know lots of vulnerable children with SEN in both state and independent schools don’t have an ECHP because the process of getting one is so tortious.

But the most vulnerable do have them, yes there will be some who don't, but again the majority are protected.

You know that is wrong. Stop denying it. Given the tortuous process to get an ECHP soke parents give up and find an independent place to support their child’s need without an ECHP in place.

I wonder if it's area dependent, because my son, my great nephew, my cousins son, and several of my friends kids didn't find the process of getting a ECHP or even the relevant diagnosis torturous or gruelling, this was across different trusts and LAs, although in the same region of the country.
It seems stupid how there mustn't be a set process for this across the board and it seems to be harder for some.

In general, mainstream private schools are very good at supporting children with what I would call minor SEN, on the dyslexic or dyspraxic spectrum, high performing ASN or mostly controlled ADHD. They have zero desire to take on disruptive pupils, regardless of the cause for the disruptiveness.

The above is often why parents choose them.

It is hard to defend inclusive SEN teaching in the state sector and choose a private school which doesn’t have to worry about it.

At one of the schools I used to teach at, there were about 100 (out of 600 odd) on the SEN list, but the majority of them had no formal diagnosis and a fair few were, in (polite) old fashioned terminology, just not academic. The ‘Head of academic mentoring’ (this is new popular private school term for SEN person) was constantly battling with parents to keep the list down to a size that actually made it possible to help those with genuine need (if you teach a class of 24 and 10 claim SEN, it is impossible to remember who they are or help them).

"In general, mainstream private schools are very good at supporting children with what I would call minor SEN, on the dyslexic or dyspraxic spectrum, high performing ASN or mostly controlled ADHD. "

This is very true, often children who do not qualify for an ECHP in state school. There is also then the issue of private diagnosis. There is also a higher percentage of students in private schools that have special considerations for exams.