EHCP and the race to state

Are all three guaranteed to get into the same state school? If not then regardless of whether you move your DC with SEN from private school you may still end up with two different school runs.

They wouldn’t. Snobbery plays a huge part in private education and what some parents think “managing” looks like as opposed to reality local authorities will be well qualified to spot.

Depending on the age of the child spending £25k on a solicitor it may just be cheaper and easier in the long run to pay the vat

The LA actually usually just fail to turn up and nationally 96% of Sen appeals are won by parents/carers at tribunal.

It’s not the the highest need and less well off that should be prioritised; it’s that all children should be given the right support. Councils have recently been accused of wasting £60m of public money to prevent children from getting this.

If they could manage in mainstream without an ehcp the parents with children at the type of private school we are talking about would have most probably kept them in state anyway

It is good that you are confident that your DC would qualify for an EHCP but this is not the same as the LA agreeing to assess, granting an EHCP and this being adequately specified and quantified to meet need. Refusals are a common delaying tactic and tribunal may well be needed at some stage. I assume that you chose to place your DC in independent as siblings were already in the private sector and you wanted to avoid the stress and delay. Did your DC start in state and then transfer to independent due to failure to progress?

There are already DC with an EHCP placed in mainstream and specialist independent school funded by the LA where state can't meet need. There are also DC with an EHCP that attend mainstream independent school because parents choose to pay fees because the LA believe state can meet need. DC that need a high level of support tend to need an EHCP regardless of state or private.

It will be useful to focus on the support that your DC receives now in a mainstream independent without an EHCP for which you believe they will need an EHCP in a mainstream state school. For example do small classes mean they can function without 1:1 TA. In the abstract this will be difficult to argue as there will be no evidence that your DC is unable to function without 1:1 and from experience you will need to go to tribunal to specify hours rather than just access to a shared TA when required. I would recommend you commission reports by EP, SALT, OT etc. These would need to evidence statistically significant (bottom 2%) issues to have an impact.

Do you intend to move your DC to state before any EHCP is in place to collect evidence of failure to make progress?

The danger is that the LA will claim that there is no evidence and that needs do not exceed those the school can meet from their notional SEN budget ie they are not in excess of 6K per year.

I hope local authorities get wise to this and prioritise the highest need and less well off.

Most state schools can and do manage all that workout an EHCP. Most EHCPs don’t provide an extra member of staff. You’re deluded if you think an EHCP( should you qualify) will get you that.

EHCPs are reviewed by the SEnCO every year and you can’t dictate what is written.

It probably will. C£25k will get you an experienced solicitor here who has never failed to get a child into the parental preference school on an EHCP - obviously they won’t take on a claim if they don’t feel it can be won.

Sadly, the vast majority do not manage. Have you seen the increasing number that are home schooled or that around a quarter of secondary pupils are off long term. Even with an EHCP there are a lot of children who struggle with school, especially with mainstream state secondary schools.

Spending thousands isn’t going to get you an EHCP. The vast majority of children with SEN manage in schools without an EHCP.

Yes, we’re now applying for ehcp for both kids. We can afford the increase in fees but it’s likely our preferred school will close, it’s very small and most of the families are there because of SEN and can’t pay an extra 20 percent. So we need to spend thousands on getting ehcps. The education lawyer we’re using said he’s had to hire a couple of extra assistants as the demand right now is so huge.

Who is ‘we?’ Does this money come out of your personal bank account?

@Rainbowsponge

The other issue is getting a ehcp is an expensive and stressful experience.
But once a child has one that doesn't mean the teachers understand what is needed to support that child.
Eg teachers I've come across think dyslexia is all about giving colour paper and over lays.

I don’t think it necessarily makes a difference in one being granted but it makes a huge difference with regards to what is in the plan and what becomes accepted.

The LA wants to be able to prove that any school can meet needs and you need to write the EHCP and provide evidence to preempt their arguments and future justification. There are plenty of parents who are either not articulate enough, do not have the time or who are too overwhelmed with everything (as they will also be the carer at home) to be able to do this to a suitable standard.

@Rainbowsponge My son has an EHCP for his severe anxiety and it was a huge battle to get it. It took almost a year and what swayed it I think was the amazing report/letter/evidence from his private psychiatrist.
He doesn’t have the highest of needs if you compare him to other students but it meant with the funding it brings the school could put the money towards employing TAs who have been crucial to his return to school
after 3 yrs away.

But I wouldn’t have applied for one had I not had the support from external sources. It’s worth doing it, we got refused the first time, I went though the appeal process with help and I’m so glad I did it.

Plenty of children have high enough needs to warrant an EHCP and there will be many at any state school who have one that most would never have suspected they would need one from meeting them.

I’m not sure the quality of fhe application actually makes any difference, I don’t think our la look at it and think this is a case we would defiantly lose at tribunal let’s assess now and issue. It’s all game playing and delay tactics, so refusing to assess buys them an extra 10 months of savings while you go to tribunal to get the inevitable yes

But usually (always at schools I have known) the private school days are longer, so you should easily be able to do the normal drop off and pick up for one, with the state school being part of the journey but easy to fit in due to the different in times. Perhaps apply for state schools closer to the independent school because surely your EHCP argument should be for the fees to be funded by the LA and continuation at the school?

the thing is though kids needs don’t remain constant, so a child with a fairly low level of needs not supported can end up escalating into a child with high needs.

In my opinion there are several reasons which have all contributed. Lack of early intervention and cutting of early years services like surestart mean that children thst would have potentially been picked up and supported earlier on are left to have their needs escalate so they get to a point where they need an ehcp/ specialist school for the remainder of school life whereas potentially they would have been ok in mainstream with low level support given early. Schools have become more one size fits all exam factories and come down hard on children who don’t fit in. Overall school funding meaning that support isn’t given unless a child has an ehcp.

the powers thst be will have you believe it’s becuase parents think it’s a golden ticket and due for this their answer is to try and cut ehcps by refusing to assess and issue less ehcps, forcing more children often with very obvious and severe needs into mainstream. This then causes the situation to escalate further which increases ehcps and spending