Admission: sibling policy and Educational, health and care plans

[user1475317873]

Hi

I am looking at the admission criteria for a school and would appreciate any help interpreting the following admission criteria:

Children who have a sibling who already attend the school and who will continue to do so on the date of admission. I am applying for my youngest daughter; my oldest one already attends the school and will be attending on date of application and on the date the offers are made, but will move to secondary school in September when my youngest will start. What does it count as date of admission? is it when the child is offered a place or when the child start school?

Priority is given to pupils with Education, Health and care plans where the school is named on the EHCP. My daughter has some educational needs and is having speech therapy and is in the interventions groups at school; she has an education plan at school and we get a report called Individual Educational Plan. Could I apply under this criteria? what would I need in order to do so?

Thank you for your help

As the older sibling will have left the school the day your youngest starts, your youngest daughter can not be counted on that criteria.

No, an IEP isn't the same as an EHCP.

Sibling priority won't count.

For it to come under the EHCP you would need to apply for an EHCP for her - but that can take up to 20 weeks so you would still need to apply via the normal channels. Even with an EHCP you would need to be able to show why that school could meet her needs better than others

"Even with an EHCP you would need to be able to show why that school could meet her needs better than others."

That isn't true. When a parent expresses a preference for a school, the Local Authority must name that school unless it can't meet need or it isn't compatible with the efficient education if other children.

However, to secure an EHCP, your child needs to have SEN which cannot be met within the normal resources of the school provision. If her needs are mild/moderate and are being met well within school provision via speech and language therapy and interventions, then she will not qualify for an EHCP. The criteria in the admissions code for preferential admissions only applies to children who have an EHCP which names that particular school as the school at which their SEN will be met.

As for the sibling priority, she won't qualify because on the day of admission, her sibling will have left the school.

Anyway doesn't sibling priority only count if your younger DC was born in 2011 or before?

Thank you

That's what I thought regarding the sibling policy but I thought the term admission was a bit ambiguous.

A bit more info: I am applying for a junior school as the school my youngest daughter attends only goes up to year 2.

Does dyslexia count as a SEN? and if yes how do you secure a EHCP

Dyslexia is SEN but very rarely qualifies for an EHCP.

To get an EHCP it has to cost the school more than £6,000 a year to help her SEN - as the first 6K comes from their normal budget.

Dyslexia does count as an SEN. However if your DD is progressing at school with the help she currently has then you are unlikely to be successful in apply for an EHCP.
My son is autistic and has one (he still has the old Statement but converting to an EHCP this year) and the hoops we had to jump through in order to get this were horrrendous...and that was even when the school were behind us and putting in massive amounts of support (above and beyond what they were obliged to).
Is it definite that she won't get a place if you apply and list it first?

Dyslexia is SEN but in most areas unlikely to warrant an EHCP.

Anyway doesn't sibling priority only count if your younger DC was born in 2011 or before?

This varies by LEA as each council can choose their own admission criteria (for community schools).

As others have said, Dyslexia is definitely SEN. It shouldn't be said that dyslexia doesn't qualify for an EHCP, because blanket policies are illegal under the SEN Code. Each child's SEN should be considered in itself and not simply categorised as 'worthy' or 'not worthy' of an EHCP because of the label it has been given. Having said that, dyslexia is very common, although official standards for diagnosis are not widely agreed on and many Local Authorities don't really accept Dyslexia diagnoses readily.

In terms of whether a child needs an EHCP, a rough guide is £6000. That equates to 12.5 hours 1:1 TA time. So a child needing more than 12.5 hours 1:1 TA time, or needing extensive bespoke resources, or completely different teaching to the main class, etc., may need an EHCP. But a child who is needing some group work, TA support, and interventions in the afternoons would be supported out of the SEN funds already provided to the school in their budget.

Thank you very much; this is very helpful.

I believe our only option is to apply under the normal rules; but will look at other schools in the next 2 weeks as I unsure we will get a place

Sorry, one more question: As I am applying for a year 3 place do I list other schools which are not junior schools or only schools that go from year 3 to year 6. And Do I have to apply directly to other schools in case se does not get a place?

By the way; this junior school is an academy and has its own admission criteria.

What are the other admissions criteria? Is the Junior school linked with the infants school your child is at now in any way? When we applied for Junior school, there was higher priority for dcs who had attended the linked infants school for 3 years i.e. since reception and then it was the distance from home to school.
If it helps we had 3 preferences at the time and applied as follows: 1. linked junior school 2. other nearby Junior school and as there were no more Junior schools in the area our final choice was our closest primary school.

Firstly when you apply for places at junior level you can apply for any school you wish but realistically the best chance of getting a place is at the junior school which is associated with the infant school your daughter is currently at. So you can apply for a place at a primary school. You need to apply on the LA admission form for places at any school, when you are moving from an infant school.
As catslife says you need to look carefully at the admission arrangements as it is likely that there is a level of priority for those pupils who are currently in the associated infant school.

You can apply to any school that takes year 3 children. Most schools go from class sizes of 30 to 32-34 in junior classes, so most primary schools will have 2-12 places arising in year 3 depending on how many classes are in a year group.

Thank you all for your replies.

There is no priority for children coming from the infant unfortunately; the main criteria after SEN, siblings and looked after children is distance. The majority of children moving to the Junior is from the Infant but there are also children who move to this school from other schools in year 3. I will put 6 schools on the list with the Junior on top.

Are you likely to get in on distance? Have children from your road/location normally been accepted? . The LA will have data on admissions by distance for the school. My infant school did not link to the junior but the junior was bigger so took all local children plus others who lived further away. It is not true that schools automatically have 32 ish in a year for ks2. Lots of schools keep to 30. When applying for a junior place look at if the school increases in size at y3 or if it is a R-y6 school, does the school have fewer in the infant classes or is it able to take extra children in y3. If it is full there could be a problem.

Your oldest dd would have needed to be at the school on the day your youngest dd starts to qualify under the sibling criteria. As she leaves this year your youngest won't have sibling priority. My ds who is diagnosed has an IEP and hopefully an ehcp soon but anyway it's the ehcp what is needed to gain a place. Obviously your dd should still be a priority for the school if you live close by so fingers crossed.

Thank you

We may get in on distance but it depends on how many children move from other shools who are closer than us so I think it is better to have other options as there is no guarantee we will get a place.

Does any one know how having a 6 year old child with an educational healthcare plan would affect entry to a private (public fee paying school)

YUvonne - it will be entirely up to the school whether they choose to accept a child with an EHCP. In my experience, state schools often have far superior SEN provision compared with private schools.