To wonder where these kids are meant to go?!

Can I point out what should be obvious - most parents want the best for their child. They want them to thrive and be calm and happy. If they know that can’t happen with the current state offering, then they have no alternative than to look at private sector and neither does the LA.

DC don’t get an independent MS named just because it is better. There is no legal right to the best possible education. Provision in EHCPs has to actually legally be reasonably required. To have a wholly independent school named the parents need to prove the LA’s proposed school(s) can’t meet needs &/or it isn’t unreasonable public expenditure. They don’t get the independent MS named just because it is ‘better’.

Not all DC who can manage in an independent MS can be supported in a state MS. If they could be, the independent MS wouldn’t be named, and thus funded, via their EHCP.

Sadly DC of parents who know the system and can advocate for them get better support. It shouldn’t be like that and fails the most vulnerable. However, instead of blaming the parents of DC who secure provision their child is legally entitled to, all parents should be supported to enforce their child’s rights.

”A child who can manage in mainstream private should be able to manage in mainstream state when supported.”

If the private one offers tiny classes, break out spaces, sensory/quiet areas and a broad curriculum and they are things that cannot be delivered in state, because they simply don’t have them, then what should happen?

This!!!

The reality is we can't afford to pay for private education for kids who cope better with smaller class sizes.

The vast majority of kids learn much faster/better with a better ratio of adult input. We can't afford it.

A child who can manage in a mainstream private, should be able to be supported in a mainstream state.

I suspect there'll be a shift towards providing "autism friendly" classes in state schools.

Still waiting for your current alternative…

Finding private education for a few with proactive parents isn’t sustainable and IS a race to the bottom for the majority. We don’t have a magic money tree.

And you certainly don't
Are Labour your paymasters?

@TesterP0t i don’t think you’re really getting it the SEND provision isn’t fit for purpose it’s a shit show it’s not a race to the bottom

Please enlighten us as to what is changing?

@TesterP0t state schools cannot cater for all DC with SEN. Neither can independent SS. By removing other options, you won’t see a reduction in costs. There will be an increase in expensive EOTAS/EOTIS (with or without the C on the end) packages. And they can be far more expensive than an independent mainstream school. They are not the cheap option. And LAs like EOTAS/EOTIS even less than independent placements.

Your average mainstream doesn’t want EHCP kids. They are expensive and tricky and protected by scary legislation, and often don’t produce the academic and sporting results schools like. They are square pegs in round holes. And the underfunding makes them even less attractive as they’re then scapegoated as the kids who are “taking all the resources.”

I don’t think you speak for all schools.

Things will be changing so it’s best to look ahead to how best to provide better provision for more children rather than a few.

It really doesn't in many schools

And? Run through the current alternatives

It does in many schools.

@TesterP0t i think you must be in a parallel universe because most SEND provision isn’t like that and the only people bankrupting council are these insane ministers spunking £1 mill plus on the briefs defending their socialist ideologies

Apologies.

The government are right with this. We simply don’t have the money anymore to continue as we are. Funding private education for a few is not a good use of the limited funds that we have.

So you should know then! The utopia of state supporting SEN properly doesn't exist in any universe. It's really not as easy as just tipping them all into mainstream schools and hoping for miracles.

This is what I mean about missing the point : the councils have a legal duty to discharge. And they are forced by tribunal to do it but the only options at their disposal are private provision because there are not enough specialist places and mainstream simply isn’t suitable/accessible for many kids.

So they need to change the way in which local government is funded, and also simultaneously build more special schools whilst changing the culture of the existing mainstream provision.

This situation is not the making of parents and children. It’s of a structural inequality in education and society. And also legally the law (Children and Families Act) would also have to be rewritten. None of that happens overnight.

Yes I work in SEND provision and have a child with an EHCP.

"Once it stops".....jesus christ! You need to understand how bad SEN support is in many mainstream schools, that's why children end up in specialist SEN schools in the first place(whether state or independent).
The government won't divert funds to mainstream, they will tinker around the edges with tiny % increases which are insufficient to meet the needs of those children.
Have you even stepped foot in a mainstream school to look at their SEN provision?

@Laughingdoggo the high court case the pp was talking about is about VAT. Not about how SEP/placements in EHCPs are secured.