Can a school insist that a child is moved to a special needs school?

[Faciadipasta]

A child in my DC'S school, aged 7. Parent us being told the school dont have the support available and the child will have to.move to a special school. Parent doesn't want the child moved away from all their friends. Can the school insist? Obviously this isn't really my business but just wanted to offer this mother support and advice. Seems very unfair that the school can just wash their hands of a child like this.
For reference the child is not disruptive, and has no extra physical needs. Just requires extra learning support due to ASD as well as difficulties with handwriting and spelling for example. Don't the school have a responsibility to get the support in for a child with an EHCP?

Under the current way of thinking, the school should be doing everything in their power to keep them in mainstream school. This sounds like a money thing. Budgets are very limited, pots of money are ring fenced and with the bills going up, schools are struggling just like everyone else. They should in theory be able to get funding though?

In theory no but what happens if the school truly cannot support the child to be in school and learning? Do you keep them there but fail them? If the la won’t hand over more money for more support. Tricky for both I guess.

The school cannot insist, though sometimes they try and persuade parents to move children to an alternative setting if they cannot cope, or feel the child would be happier elsewhere. Sometimes it is (and shouldn't be) budget or staffing (or lack thereof - shortage of TAs, as with everything else) related, too

They should be trying to support the child remaining in mainstream in the first instance, though - can they prove to friend that they've exhausted every avenue.

Does the child have an EHCP already? Is it any good (they are not always!). Does the child already have the maximum amount of hours of 1:1? Is that in the best interest long term of the child?

The school has a right to say they cannot meet the need as laid out in the EHCP.
It may be more about the child’s well-being as a whole.

My son has an EHCP and I trying to get him out of mainstream. His school agree mainstream is not right for him. He has friends there and likes his teacher sure. But he is 3yrs behind his peers and even with full time 1:1 the mainstream environment wi the it’s full and busy classroom and many transitions in the day, it’s not the an environment conducive for him to learn.

A child who is in and out of the classroom for 1:1 or small group work, that can be disruptive to a class. And in the case of my son, who has to have work massive adapted for him and has an adult with him all the time, it’s isolating and marks him out as ‘different’ which he is now noticing and effects his self esteem.

Yes he will miss his friends initially, but he will
make new ones, and in the bigger scheme of things, it’s critically important that he is in the correct learning environment with the right support so he can achieve his potential, wherever that may be.

Schools can't insist ,but I would encourage the mother to have a look around ,my son has severe autism and learning disabilities, and has always been at a special school, hea 12 now ,his school is the best environment for him ,that's obviously not going to be the case for everyone, but it's good to know whats out there ,she should probably contact the local SEN Independent advisory service for support to if she hasn't already.

Well you can't just rock up to special school and get a place. Your friend needs to look into an ehcp, the school can apply or you used to be able to start the process yourself

The Local Authority can only refuse a place if a mainstream education would be incompatible with the efficient education of others and there are no reasonable steps the Local Authority could take to rectify this. They have to prove this too, they can't just say it.

Your friend would have grounds to take the LA to tribunal, I'd suggest she speaks to SENDIAS and IPSEA for advice on this.

Mainstream is always (rightly or wrongly) the default but a school can say that they can’t meet the needs as outlined in the EHCP. Obviously the parents can appeal this and the LA would expect the school
to evidence why.

sounds like the parents and the senco need to sit down and discuss things properly and then the parents need to consider if that is the right environment for their child

I was heavily pressured. I suspect because they were only 1 child over the limit to reduce their staffing levels Tbh since up to this point they just kept saying they needed more funding and kept getting it.

If near enough coping in mainstream then a school with a designated provision sounds more appropriate than a proper special needs school.

It was a good move for us both academically and to get much better pastoral care but down side is that it is miles away so long journeys in the taxi and no friends near by.

We'd move but he is more attatched to the house than anything else.

Ah read the last part wrong, if he already has an ehcp and the school feel they still can't meet the child's needs then they should be providing evidence . Mainstream is not the best environment for every child, even with an ehcp

The parents needs to find out what specific needs the school feel unable to meet. Students don't go to special schools just because of behaviour. If he is for example unable to read so cannot access the curriculum then he might benefit from specialist teaching that a teaching assistant is unable to provide.

SEN schools are difficult to get into. There isn't enough of them. I doubt the school would be suggesting it unless they really thought the child needed it.

If a child has been offered a SEN placement at a specialist school, the parents would be fools not to accept. Those places are worth more than gold. So many children being denied an appropriate education because of lack of funding. If the child is deemed to be in need of a specialist setting, it's neglectful to deny them the support they need.

But no, the school can't force it. It is ultimately the parents choice.

What support is the school currently offering?
What is the impact of that support and how has it been reviewed?
What does the child need that the school aren’t able to offer?

It’s true that mainstream school isn’t always suitable for some children, but the school can’t decide it’s not suitable without evidencing what they’ve done and its impact.

If the school is saying that they don’t have the support available, then an emergency review should indicate that they need more funding to give more support. Specialist teaching might be a part of that.

Some schools are notorious for off-rolling children by stealth and children with SEN are more likely to fall foul of this practice. DC old school would suggest special school to a lot of parents of children with SEN and/or disabilities, make a lot of noise about being unable to meet their needs, and would be deliberately difficult (e.g., disciplining children for behaviour related to their SEN, providing the bare minimum in support, not differentiating, refusing or withdrawing reasonable adjustments, etc). They could meet needs, they just didn't want to because they didn't want the extra work involved so employed all of these tactics to force these children out.

Schools must provide the provision set out in the EHCP. However, they can state that they are unable to provide that level of provision. That could be for a wide range of reasons (funding, resources, specialist support, staffing, impact, etc). The local authority is the one who then makes the decision as to whether or not they think the school can offer that level of provision.

Unfortunately, it is in the local authority's interest to act as if the school can meet the needs as it's cheaper for them. As such, they tend to claim a school can do it even if they can't. If they agree that the school can't meet the child's need for provision as set out in the EHCP then they must provide an alternative (potentially another mainstream but it could be a resourced provision setting or even a special school). It's also why they encourage "trying" the child in mainstream first as they know the child is less likely to move to special provision even if they need it.

Parental choice goes a long way here too. If the parent is pushing for resourced or special provision, the local authority is more likely to agree (though certainly not definite). If the parent isn't pushing or is, instead, saying they want mainstream then the local authority almost never recommends special.

@FarmerRefuted yes rather depressingly that's is true. Although I have heard it more for secondary schools rather than primary.

My DD's school were adamant she had to go in to specialist. I refused and tackled the LA to get her plan properly provisioned and subsequently funded. It worked and she is doing phenomenally.

I'm happy to chat via message for specifics.

A child has a legal right to a mainstream education and I do think there is a divide between those who simply can't cope in mainstream due to things no one can control and those who just need lots of support to do so.

Whilst this was something that happened in the past in a small number of schools, the practice has been identified and action taken against it. As such, any child who needs a move from mainstream to special must have a huge amount of evidence that supports it. The school must be able to prove, when questioned, that off-rolling isn't happening and must keep hold of all of the evidence to support this for several years as it will be something Ofsted look at if there is any suspicion or parental report that it might have happened.

My DD's school gave me an ultimatum of specialist or remove her. This was 18 months ago. It very much still happens.

They can say they can't meet his needs but they will have to show evidence ..

Usually it's a conversation with parents and teachers though and it's done amicably ..

My son did 3 years in MS then I moved him to Sen school in year 2 because it was becoming overwhelming...

I would suggest to your friend she starts looking for schools and doesn't wait for the LA to do it ..

There is obviously reasons why they can't meet his needs so she needs to talk to them about that . I was very upset at first but knew it was the right thing for my son ultimately.

School can try but parents can fight it - I did and won. School really didn't want the hassle, I was dealt with like a pushy parent, head had the audacity to say girls couldn't be autistic and drs were diagnosing on demand! Upshot was she was sacked within 2 weeks, sorry moved on to a non school based role (conversation wasn't recorded so my word against hers, they believed me but compromised to avoid a tribunal situation)

tackled the LA to get her plan properly provisioned and subsequently funded.

This is a really important point. Most EHCPs have over-promised provisions but an underfunded level of support. Most parents don't realise that they can challenge the LA when these don't match and the LA banks on schools either "making it work" or quietly not coping.

Whilst they may say that, and it's very worrying for parents, there's no bite to this bark. They don't have the power to remove her, despite what they may claim, and there is not a single LA that would allow a threat like that to stand up in tribunal.

The school will have to prove with evidence that they can't meet the child's needs and if mum is adamant she wants her child to stay they will struggle to go against parental choice.
However believe me they will make it unpleasant for the mother if they really don't want the child there!