SEN Placement - what does this mean?

[Happythecrocodile1]

My son is diagnosed autistic and although academically able mainstream isn’t working for him and a specialist placement is being sought. The specialist independent I have named as my preference in his EHCP has been consulted with and have agreed they can meet need but they are unable to say until spring time if they can offer him a place for September 2026.
Please can anyone help me understand what is going on here? What is the significance of spring time? How are placement decisions made? Thankyou!

This is the hard bit OP. We were in a similar spot, with a young child who couldn’t go to a LA special school as too able, but also couldn’t go to mainstream. She’s now in a non section 41 independent specialist. At our school, they’ll look at the EHCP and reports, and first decide if they can meet need. If they can, then the child will go in a pile with all the others , and the school will pick the ones that they think are the best fit. Even if they say they can meet needs, they are under no obligation to offer a place and the tribunal has no power to order a placement.
fingers crossed for you.

@MonsterMamaJam This is what I’m worried about, that even though they’ve said yes they can meet his need there won’t be a space for him. What sort of things do they take into account when deciding who to pick for a place?

Have they got a copy of their admissions policy available on their website?
I couldn’t really say how they made a decision in our case, but it did involve a home visit so they could meet her first, a visit to the school and a lengthy talk with the Sendco.
I’d guess that they would look at strengths, time out of school, gender, and how they might fit in with the kids that are currently there.
Also, I remember from the process that they are obliged to respond to the LA consultations, but still not obliged to offer a place. Also, the LA have to consult, but will ultimately name the closest, cheapest school even if you have made your preference known.

DD1 went to a specialist school in the January of Y6. She was probably lucky that the junior school class of 10 wasn’t full. She was in school full time, but they admitted she was too complex for any teacher in the county.

She wouldn’t say boo to a goose; but there was less challenging behaviour in the specialist school, because they didn’t generally take challenging behaviour, unless it was expected to disappear when the child was in the right provision. She had been in an additionally resourced unit in a mainstream school in a somewhat deprived area. There was more challenging behaviour in boys in the mainstream school - mainly imo, due to undiagnosed SEN!

When offering places wholly independent schools look at numerous things. For example, needs, age/stage, the provision DC require, their current cohort and compatibility, staffing, their curriculum, finances… some consider the balances of the sex of pupils and travel time.

Schools don’t always respond to consultations. For wholly independent schools, this is taken as a negative consultation.

SENDIST can Order a wholly independent school is named. What they can’t do is Order a wholly independent school be named if the school doesn’t offer a place. To get the placement named you would need to prove the LA’s proposed school(s) can’t meet needs &/or it isn’t unreasonable public expenditure.

Thanks for all your replies. It doesn’t seem like there is much I can do if the school don’t choose to give him a place as it is a non section 41 school.
I keep clinging onto the fact the school is 10mins away from our house so surely it would make sense that all the community skills trips that they do in the area local to the school would actually be in my son’s home area so would be of massive benefit to him, much more so than if he were doing the same exercises at a school miles away or if other applicants came from miles away so wouldn’t be “retracing their steps” with their families at the weekends etc

OP - I am sorry, but I don’t see that as a good reason to justify a specialist school placement at all.

I would have thought the LA would argue your nearest maintained school will be doing that?

You have to find things a specialist school can do to meet DC’s SEN, which no other maintained mainstream school within a reasonable distance from your house can do. For instance, small classes, specialist teachers, high staff ratio, ability to generalise say speech and language/OT input across all his staff during the day, say extra social skills groups, etc, his peer group, whatever - depending on what sort of specialist school, it is. That’s what you need to concentrate on.

@BlueandWhitePorcelain sorry don’t mean to drip feed, my sons case has already been discussed at an LA panel meeting where it has been agreed he needs a specialist placement and they are now looking for one. So it’s not a question mark over whether he needs a specialist placement or not, I’m saying I’ve identified the one I would like him to go to which I feel would best meet his needs and while that school have reviewed his paperwork and said yes they could meet his needs, they can’t advise on whether they will have a space for him until spring time and I’m asking why this would be and what affects the decision around which applicants to grant a placement to at a non section 41 school.

@Happythecrocodile1 my DS8 is also autistic enough not to be suitable for MS but academically able enough for LA SEN provision not to be any good. He started a non-section 41 independent school at age 6 and was the youngest in the school until the beginning of Y4.

We had exactly the same uncertain wait, after the independent confirmed it could meet need. The distance won’t be a consideration, unfortunately. The delay was because the specialists tend to mix by ability rather than age group to accommodate the classic “spiky profiles”. (DS does maths with the older kids, but has to have additional 1:1 for writing and spelling because his dyspraxia makes hand control difficult). This can make establishing each cohort much more difficult at an early stage in the academic year, especially because there can never be more than 6 in a class. DS is currently the eldest in a class of 3, and neither of the others are in his academic year by age.

It’s best to have a plan B although it seems counterintuitive. Where in the country are you? I can confidently say that I have visited every independent specialist in the NW (and many of the LA ones) if that helps!

Also as @BlueandWhitePorcelain says, you need to identify what the SS offers that (say) a SEN hub at a mainstream does not. For DS, the small classes, OT and SALT and sensory support were persuasive because they were all on his EHCP and until then, basically relied on untrained teachers and TA’s being willing to have a crack at it. He also has fairly extreme social and communication difficulties for which the school uniquely offered timetabled support.

I would also say that SEN provision is so stretched, you may find that many kids in the specialists have very high needs exacerbated by delays in accessing the correct provision, and long periods of being out of education.

Came here to say this. I do admissions for a SEMH special school, we had 7 places this September and I had 300 consults over the course of the year. The issue won’t be whether your child is suitable, it’ll be the compatibility with the rest of the cohort, after the children listed here have been placed. I wish the LAs would be more transparent about this with parents, good luck x

I agree with others that living locally to the school is very unlikely to be relevant in their decision. My son attended a specialist independent school an hour away from us (he was older - he joined in Y6) and he went there because that was the nearest school that could meet his need.

Are there other special schools that you think the LA may name instead, especially if they are state schools and therefore likely to be cheaper? If so, you need to look at every element of the schools’ offerings and how your choice can better meet your son’s needs. Our LA tried to place our DS in a completely unsuitable school simply because they thought it would be cheaper.

Good luck with it all.

The school isn't involved in transport, it's largely irrelevant to them whether your child is next door or in the next county. We work with 7 LAs. The only time we take locality into consideration is if we think the length of time in a taxi before and after school will have a negative impact on the child.
We tend to look at each child individually. Will they upset the applecart? Are there any other students that know the child and they don't get on? Do we actually fit what the child wants/needs? For example, weve have EHCPs where we know we can meet needs, however the child is really into football and loves playing it at break time and the school team. We don't have enough outdoor space for football nor do we have a team. So probably not the right fit.

Also we take students all throughout the school year too, so we've no idea how many students we will have on roll come spring so it's hard to offer a place now for a September start and miss out on the income that a child who can start now could bring.

I’m afraid LAs don’t always stick to what they have said. Saying they agree with SS before the EHCP is finalised doesn’t always translate to a SS being named/SS being named as type. They may still force you to appeal (and you would need an offer of a place to appeal for a wholly independent school). The placement named in section I is the logical conclusion of B&F. B+F=I. So you do need to look at those sections when looking at schools.

While most independent SS don’t consider location beyond checking the pupil is within a reasonable travel time when deciding where to offer a place, it, or rather the resulting transport costs of the location one lives, is something LAs can look at. In order to get a wholly independent school named, you need to prove the LA’s proposed school(s) can’t meet needs &/or it isn’t unreasonable public expenditure. Transport costs should form part of the LA’s consideration when looking at the latter.

The LA may say they agree to a placement; but they could decide another child is a higher priority for the same few places at that school, or they could decide on somewhere cheaper. Nothing is written in stone with LAs, until they issue the final EHC plan, or are ordered to, by SENDIST. (Even then, it can take the threat of JR to force them to)

The vibe I’m getting is it’s really, really hard to get a place at a non section 41 independent specialist and I’m unlikely to, would it be fair to say I need to find something else as this is unlikely to go in my favour?

It is possible to get an offer of a place from a wholly independent school and get it named. No, it isn’t always easy. Yes, many have to appeal. No-one here can say if the independent school will offer a place or if you will be successful in getting it named (either via the LA agreeing or via appealing). However, you do need to look at other possibilities. Not least because one way of getting a wholly independent school named is by showing the LA’s proposed school(s) can’t meet need so you need to know why others aren’t suitable.

This was exactly our experience and we were successful. It did take a fight though.

Sorry just so I understand, I can appeal for a placement at a non section 41 school if they say they don’t have space? Is that right? Thanks again for all your replies xx

In order for a wholly independent school to be named, you need an offer of a place/the school to agree to being named. They cannot be named against their will. That applies whether it is via appeal or not.

Oh ok, so if they agree to a placement but the LA says it won’t fund, that’s when I can appeal, but if the school itself says we can meet need but sorry there’s not a space, I can’t appeal. Is that right?

Yes, if the wholly independent school offers a place but the LA doesn’t name it when they finalise the EHCP, you can appeal for the school. Although some wholly independent SS will only hold the place for so long.

When the LA finalise the EHCP, if the placement named isn’t suitable (or the LA only names a type of placement), you can appeal even if you don’t know the specific school you wish to be named. An appeal is a process. When appealing, you don’t necessarily need to know the name of the specific placement when you submit the appeal.

Yes, fully independent schools choose their students. It makes sure the provision is excellent for students who fit.

I would be incredibly surprised if the LA agreed without tribunal due to cost. The non s-41 school I was looking at for my similar sounding son came in at £85,000 per year. In the end I was able to use this as leverage for him to stay at the school he was in (which for him is absolutely the right place for him) but with private SLT and OT provision included and massively beefed up wording of section F. The tribunal officer literally could not agree quick enough and meeting notes from a DSAR showed they knew tribunal would go in our favour for the indie specialist

I honestly genuinely don’t know anywhere else that would meet his needs. He is too young for other specialist schools catering for children of a similar presentation and he can’t stay in the school he’s in where he isn’t included or valued and just seen as a nuisance they have to babysit 😕