What to include in EHCP to support specialist secondary school placement?

[Sssteph]

Hi everyone,

I’ve just received the draft EHCP for my son. He’s a dyslexic boy in Year 5, and he’s really struggling in mainstream school because he hasn’t had the right support so far.

We’re hoping he can get into Burlington House in Fulham when he starts secondary school, as it’s a specialist school that could really meet his needs.

I’m wondering if anyone here has experience with this: what’s really important to include in the EHCP to strengthen the case for a specialist secondary school? Are there specific targets, support types, or wording that make a difference?

I really want to make sure his plan reflects his needs properly, because the mainstream setting isn’t giving him the support he requires. Any advice, experiences, or tips would be so appreciated!

Thank you in advance.

You can certainly state your preference but really it’s up to professionals to come up with targets and support/ provision based on needs. Has he had an EP, specialist teacher and other types of assessments? There would need to be clear evidence his needs can only be met in a specialist school. So wording you’re looking for are small group / 1:1 teaching, specific interventions etc.

You can state the setting
Specifically state need including strengths but also really hammer home needs and how that affects his daily life . If he has a diagnoses that needs to be explicitly stated in his section b. You'd be surprised how many young people have multiple diagnoses and it's not explicitly stated in their ehcp
Look at his section F does it state what the schools committing to provide, 1:1 teaching
Small class group size
Access to SALT

Look at the Admissions Indictors for your preferred school; these will be on their website (it’s a statutory requirement). Go though point by point and make sure as much as possible is covered in the EHCP.

Additionally, reach out to your local mainstream school sencos and make it clear that you want Sen so that they understand your parental preferences when they receive the EHCP consultation. I include just a couple of lines about why I don’t think x school could meet my child’s needs - specific things - and offer to discuss further if they want.

Those two things are the most important for secondary transition imo.

The content of EHCPs is based on the evidence, not written to fit a specific placement, so you need to go through the evidence to see what amendments you need to propose.

Go through all the reports with highlighters. Highlight all DS’s special educational needs in one colour and all the provision to meet the needs in another colour. Each need should have corresponding provision.

Then go through the draft and make sure all the highlighted needs are in B and the highlighted provision is in F. Make a note of anything the LA have omitted from the draft, any needs without corresponding provision, any woolly and vague wording, and anything the reports have failed to include.

When you come across vague and woolly wording, check the reports to see if they are woolly and vague or if the LA has watered down provision. If the reports are vague and woolly, ask the LA to go back to the report writer(s) to make the reports detailed, specified and quantified. Provision in EHCPs is taken from the reports, so if the reports are vague and woolly, the EHCP will be too. If the LA has watered down provision, make sure to request the LA sticks to the wording in the reports.

Make sure any health or social care provision that educates or trains is in F. For example, LAs like to put therapies like SALT and OT in G (health care provision) when it belongs in F.

When you state your preferred placement, while your views must be considered as per section 9 of the Education Act 1996, because Burlington House is wholly independent, you will need to show any other school(s) the LA proposes can’t meet needs &/or it isn’t unreasonable public expenditure. You will also need the school to agree to being named.

EHCPs don’t contain targets. Section E is Outcomes. Targets are aims. Outcomes are the result of provision. A subtle but important difference.

Schools can only accept/ refuse based on section F, so that's where you need to concentrate. Phrases about ALL STAFF like "all staff must provide a nurturing environment." "all staff must be trained and experienced in X (relationship based behaviour management/ trauma informed care/ PACE techniques)" "all staff must speak slowly and clearly" etc. Mainstreams have a lot of untrained staff so they can't guarantee these things.

Wholly independent schools can refuse to be named for things other than what is in F.

So, what I need to do now is compare the draft with the EP report and check whether anything has been omitted. I also need to check whether everything has been written accurately, and whether, in cases where the EP report specifies roles such as “assistant psychologist” or “specialist teacher,” they have just used the general term “staff.”

I would follow @ChasingMoreSleep's advice. Print the reports and the draft. Get highlighters and physically highlight all the outcomes and provisions.

Any wording such as 'opportunities for' 'access to' 'as appropriate', 'up to', etc., will make it unenforceable. For example 'opportunities to practice skills in small groups up to 3 times per week' sounds great until you try to pin down what a small group looks like, then realise that up to 3 times could be none, one, two, or three...

Yes, start by looking at the evidence. Not just the EP report, but all the evidence.

Staff is too vague. It needs to be explicit. What staff? Job title and training/qualifications/experience. As well as the wording mentioned by @Lougle, also look out for wording such as “would benefit from”, “regular”, “or equivalent”, “would be useful/helpful”, “such as”, “e.g.”, “as required”, “as advised”, “key adult(s)”.

Having done this a lot of times now i would contact the school that you want a place at. They will know what needs to be on the form and if you have them backing you on giving yoir son a place it will make the process a lot easier.

Thank you for all the precious advices. It is such a stressful time for me. I really appreciate the help. 🙏

We had 120 applications for 5 SEND places.
All have EHCPs.
Each one requires a report to assess whether we can or can not cater for their needs and if their funding mattrix is enough.
We can not take anyone under band 4 which allows us to break even.
The reports go off to SENDStart who will allocate the places.

You may find you are up against others all after the same place.

Speak to the school about what they can and can not offer and look at the local SEND offer.

But legally the school cant refuse a place for a sen student if they can meet needs right? Unless they are private. Any parent could force a place with tribunal.
Looks like burlington house is private so this wont apply.

@cabbageking is your school catwring for a similar cohort to burlington house? I have often wondered how private sen schools assign places.

The current peer group and how the child presents are 2 main factors.

Good luck with this - genuinely. I looked at BH for my DS2 who is also very dyslexic (and adhd) but it was way too expensive - understandably expensive, that's just what that level of support costs as Fairley House is similar price - and it didn't cross my mind to get a state-funded place. I wasn't very on the ball then. It's too late for us now and my DS has been just about okay in mainstream state with what SEN support was available (not much) plus extra tutoring after school, but I applaud your moxie for giving this a go. It's probably a super longshot given the number of dyslexic kids in London state schools. I'd have thought the funding for private places would go to kids with other issues where there are no realistic state options, but if you can make a strong case for it, you never know.

Btw, even if you're not looking at Fairley, their site has info on the EHCP process and links that might be useful.

In my case, my son has to attend a couple of full days at BHS. After that, they decide if they can offer a space or not. Honestly, I would love to send my son to a mainstream but they don't know how to support him. I want to fight to get Burlington on his plan, the mainstream has already failed him and it is very sad to see an intelligent boy left behind because he is not in the right setting.

I just looked on the admissions policy and it says they 'welcome both private payers and children (partly) funded via their EHCP' so does that means the LA covers some and you still have to pay the rest? Guess that makes sense and is maybe more likely than them funding the whole lot. Hope the taster days go well and you get the outcome he needs.

@pinkdelight wholly independent schools can be named in EHCPs and fully funded.

Sometimes when the legal threshold for naming the school isn’t met (or where the LA claims it isn’t met and parents decide not to pursue it), some LAs will sometimes come to an agreement with parents to jointly fund the placement, but LAs don’t have to do this and such arrangements are less common now than they once were.

Is this the admissions process for a non section 41 school?

My dc attends a similar school owned by Cavendish. I would contact BH ASAP. They will guide you.
Best of luck.

hi I have a DC at BH fully funded, what borough are you from ?

I live in Croydon but planning to move not far from BH if everything goes well. My school Senco called me, we are having a meeting after Easter. Many needs aro not mentioned on the plan, we need to fix the draft. Can I ask how did you get the school on the plan, did you go to tribunal?

Moving LA with an EHCP can be risky. When you move LA, on transfer, the new LA becomes responsible for the EHCP and where it is still feasible for the child to attend the named school, the placement named in I. However, the new LA will review the EHCP and potentially amend or even try to cease to maintain. You would have the right of appeal, but it is something you need to be aware of. They may also undertake a reassessment of needs.

Don’t rely on the SENCO for advice on the draft. Not all SENCOs have a good understanding of SEN law.

I have highlighted all his needs, they are not in the ehcp. My senco just said we need to add things that are specific for the dyslexia. That is why I want to use all the recommendations that I have on my son's dyslexia report. I want them to mention specialist support not just staff, teachers, adults. I want them to focus on the sessions for his grammar and sentences (20-30 min twice a week) 10 min daily reading with an adult,.not in front of the class, 15 min spelling I think daily. Organise and plan his writing, a specialist teacher has to explain to him the task and do check ins, use mind maps, an iPad to record his ideas etc etc all things he has on his dyslexia report. I technically had to highlight everything on his reports because most of the support suggested in them is not on the draft.