Don’t know what to do about Secondary School. Sen advice.

[asdbaybeeee]

Ds is in year 6 and is autistic. Every school year has differed massively, some years he’s had an amazing teacher and has thrived other years he has struggled. He has had a full time 1:1 throughout school. This year has been a struggle, he’s been out the classroom a lot being taught separately by his 1:1, he’s had a lot of bullying and it feels a bit lik e school are taking the easy route rather than trying to support him developing independence. He does achieve well academically.
We had to choose secondary schools last October, we followed sencos advice and went for mainstream, we did look at a couple of Sen schools but the ones in our town only do a few GCSE’s or life skills. Two mainstream schools said no in consultation and one didn’t respond so that school was chosen by default.
I had a meeting yesterday with the chosen secondary school senco and she was extremely negative, said she couldn’t understand why we hadn’t applied to Sen schools and he’s obviously not going to cope in mainstream and they can not put the support in place he will need.
I don’t know what to do, we could look at Sen schools but the council have chosen this school so I’m not convinced they will change it now plus we are running out of time for a September start and the local Sen schools are full.

His current primary believe he will manage mainstream if well supported but this school clearly don’t want him.
He has a EHCP and higher level funding, his EHCP states 25 hours of support which is a combination of 1:1 and small group. He has always had a consistent 1:1 since nursery.
Any advice?

You could get a SEN solicitor to enforce the funding as the plan must be funded and provision given exactly as written. This will cost though.

A school that he got dumped in because they didn't even bother to respond to the consult - the word "bargepole" springs to mind. Especially with the nos from the more diligent schools.

If EAR is triggered and current school says they cannot meet need they are still obliged to keep him until a suitable placement is found, so I don't think you will necessarily do any harm by trying that route now. That said I don't know if that applies if he's not even started there yet. The lack of suitable schools is a worry but somewhere he can't cope is not the answer.

Like PP we have come across a (private) SEN school saying no because they don't take children who have 1:1. I think this can be challenged. A child who needs a 1:1 in a big school environment may not need one in a smaller environment - it's very hard to make an EHCP truly agnostic to the environment the child was in when it was written. Some common sense and interpretation should be possible if you are up for that, but be careful it doesn't not reduce his funding.

In our county a lot of specialist places are awarded in the last couple of days of the summer term. Don't believe them when they say the schools are all already "full". We appealed an EHCP in May and he started the new school in Sept. But I appreciate this doesn't solve the significant problem of finding a suitable school. A bespoke package does sound worth considering. He who dares wins.