Question for admissions experts?

[fleshmarketclose]

Tribunal at SENDIST December 2018, ruling 1st February naming a school I didn't want. Dd classed as medically unfit for school February 12th and that continues. No out of school provision made despite me repeatedly asking. Formal complaint about this quoting the law, DfE guidance and LGO ruling. Stage one response is fundamentally "no we haven't made provision and going forward we don't intend to make provision send her to school" Stage two response much the same only cherry picks one sentence from a two page report detailing her medically unfit to suggest it is parental choice (school is not my choice but dd's absence is down to ill health but LA carefully quoted to alter meaning). Sent complaint to LGO.
Beginning of May I started to question why nobody was seemingly bothered by dd's continued absence as had had nothing from the named school or educational welfare regarding continued absence. Emailed school asking for attendance records as was curious as to how dd's absence was being recorded. As is normal school ignored but on third time of asking I got a response stating that dd wasn't registered at the school despite being named on the EHCP because they hadn't received records from previous school but would do that on Monday 20th May and she would be a pupil from then.
I suspect the school haven't registered her as a pupil so as to avoid her absences being recorded. My daughter has seemingly been invisible since December when she stopped being a pupil at her previous school. She has had no provision as a child out of school, no welfare checks and the £49k cost of her EHCP is either still with LA or with the school, as LA state in both complaint responses that dd had a place at the named school, despite her not even being registered there.
Can someone explain what should have happened and what I should do about it please? I know schools don't have to wait for school records to admit a child and after all the school had the EHCP that explains dd's needs far better than a school record could anyway. What is the usual timescale once an amended EHCP is issued? Should dd have been on school roll and did the school have a responsibility to my daughter once the amended EHCP was issued?

I don't know the answer but there is a great group on Facebook called EHCP experiences England where I am sure you would get a proper answer if you posted.

"Schools must enter pupils on the admission register and attendance register from the
beginning of the first day on which the school has agreed, or been notified, that the pupil
will attend the school. For most pupils the expected first day of attendance is the first day
of the school year.
If a pupil fails to attend on the agreed or notified date, the school must establish the
reason for the absence and mark the attendance register accordingly.
All schools must3 notify the local authority within five days of adding a pupil’s name to the
admission register and must provide the local authority with all the information held within
the admission register about the pupil. This duty does not apply to pupils who are added
to the admission register at the start of the school’s youngest year – for example pupils
who are registered at a secondary school at the start of Year 7 - unless the local authority
also requests for such information to be provided."

"Code I: Illness (not medical or dental appointments)
Schools should advise parents to notify them on the first day the child is unable to attend
due to illness. Schools should authorise absences due to illness unless they have
genuine cause for concern about the veracity of an illness. If the authenticity of illness is
in doubt, schools can request parents to provide medical evidence to support illness.
Schools can record the absence as unauthorised if not satisfied of the authenticity of the
illness but should advise parents of their intention. Schools are advised not to request
medical evidence unnecessarily. Medical evidence can take the form of prescriptions,
appointment cards, etc. rather than doctors’ notes."

From Guidance on School Attendance 2018.

So they obviously haven't done as they should have done so do I start a formal complaint now? @Lougle

If I understand you correctly, the LGO is already investigating this case. Add the information about the school to your existing complaint. If the school is an academy you could also complain to the EFA but you would have to go through the school's complaints procedure first.

@prh47bridge No LGO is investigating why LA won't make provision for dd as a child unfit to attend school. LGO won't address issues to do with schools they advise alerting OFSTED which seems pretty much last resort to me.
I haven't complained about the school because section 19 says the responsibility is the Local Authority's.
I asked the school for the attendance records because I couldn't work out how a child could just not attend school and nobody question it. I assumed that due to safeguarding there would be rigorous procedures in place but apparently not as dd hasn't been seen by anyone from education since mid December when the LA stopped the tuition because of Tribunal.I assumed school would have alerted education welfare who would have in turn contacted Out of School Tuition as dd's being unfit is documented and on record.
Dd isn't in danger at all but think that her not being seen by anyone for five months plus is pretty worrying because nobody in education knows whether that is the case.

What happened with the school she was attending prior to lodging the tribunal claim? Was she deregistered from that school? If she was registered at a previous school and she wasn't deregistered, could they be recording her as absent?

My thought process is that if you made it clear that the school in question is unacceptable to you, and Tribunal named that school, but you immediately took action to exempt your DD from attendance due to ill health (I'm making the assumption that, if your claim had named the school you wanted, she would not have been too unwell to attend?), then the school/LA may see it that you had no intention to attend, so she was left on the roll of the previous school as absent?

@Lougle No I know she isn't registered at her previous school as I keep in touch with them and have been in contact with them since December and in fact up to a month ago.
The LA knew she would never be able to attend the named school but at Tribunal the barrister they used told Tribunal there was no legislation in place that meant I could refuse a school because placement there would be triggering of her phobias and damaging to her mental health and because it was cheaper and my choice was not a list 41 school it was named.
Dd was unfit for school before, during and after Tribunal that hasn't changed. The LA has had documentary evidence throughout. The letter from CAMHS in February was because they were so shocked at the named school and fearful for her MH if the LA persisted in trying to place her there so they wrote to reiterate she couldn't attend so that I wasn't pursued for non attendance and also to ensure the tuition stayed in place. Of course neither happened anyway but they wrote with the best of intentions.

Added to which when dd was at previous school they were red hot on attendance and would phone by 10.30am if they hadn't got the required absence text. I would have known within two hours had dd been registered and marked absent at previous school it certainly wouldn't have taken five months to let me know.

That's clear, then. Let us know what the LA/school do.

@Lougle well that got a response anyway mere mention of a safeguarding fail and the LA are now going to make provision as a child unable to attend school. I have never known our LA respond so quickly to anything. It generally takes three emails to get an acknowledgement
Raised a complaint with the school as well, hoping they call an emergency review of the EHCP but who knows, I suppose it's whether they consider a safeguarding fail worth the £49k on dd's EHCP.

Great 😁