EHCP - appealing named school - can child end up with no school named?

[StupidBacteria]

My child has an EHCP which names a mainstream school who are not doing a great job of providing education (he goes only for a few hours a week and otherwise it’s left to me).

I’ve made a named school appeal - but neither me nor LA have managed to find a suitable alternative school in the meantime. All the schools I’ve found have refused him and same for LA.

He is making some progress to increasing his hours at his current school and I’m wondering if I should withdraw the appeal and stick with it. I’m also worried that if I go ahead with the appeal, and they agree that mainstream school can’t meet his needs they might remove it but leave him with no named school which would be the worst possible outcome. Is that a thing that could happen?

Stick with the appeal. What the school are doing is illegal and you should have tutors at home. IPSEA has a template for a letter you can send to the LA, it explains that according to the law, your child should be getting full time education.
There are situations where there's nothing named but that's often when parents drop the ball/give up. There are always options, the LA just won't be forthcoming with them as they're often very expensive. Does your child get full time TA? How old? They are entitled to mainstream education, trouble is the section F of the EHCP needs to be specific, eg child X needs 25hrs 1:1 TA, this should not be shared with other kids.
The appeal is good for that sort of thing, as the LA won't want to put that in the plan, it's expensive. The school is not always the villain in this situation, they will be expected to do the impossible with very little money. The best thing you can do is make your child's section f as detailed as possible, as then whatever school they are in will be able to request the correct funding and won't be fobbed off by the LA.

Thank you. He has a tutor at home for 2 hours a week, and is in school for approx 3hrs per week and otherwise it’s me. He is Y8, and he doesn’t have any TA provision written into the EHCP.
The appeal is purely on named school - so I don’t think I can ask for any other changes?

Im just really worried that the tribunal might agree that current school cannot meet needs and remove them but there is no one to name in their place and then he will lose what little provision he has and be in an even worse position than now.

Have you considered EOTAS?

You should really look at IPSEA. You've been ill advised.
Are you appealing because the school has already said they cannot meet need and you want to keep them there?
In your situation there needs to be a review of his needs and section B& F needs to be updated. The school is a secondary issue to this. The EHCP needs to be based around his needs, not a particular school, which is why you very rarely only go to tribunal for a school, unless it's during the normal school allocation years.
When a placement is failing, you go back to the drawing board and review the needs of the child. The plan is then updated and the school at that point may say well we can't provide all of this. The LA would need to find a suitable placement. You can also request a school if you find one.

If DS is unable to attend school full-time, ultimately under section 19 of the Education Act 1996, the onus is on the LA to provide alternative provision to ensure DS still receives a suitable full-time education. The LA is also responsible for ensuring anything detailed, specified and quantified in F is still provided as per section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014. 5hrs a week is not a suitable full-time education. Send IPSEA’s model letter to the Director of Children’s Services. If that doesn’t work, you need a pre-action letter. SOSSEN can help with this free of charge. Although there is a wait so some decide to look elsewhere.

Don’t withdraw the appeal. Submit a SEND7 to request to amend the appeal because you should appeal B&F as well as I.

When you say schools have refused DS, what type of schools are the new you think are suitable? You only need an offer of a place for specialist schools. For school who are not wholly independent, they can be named even if they object.

Occasionally, only a type of placement is named. For example, occasionally SENDIST only Orders the type to be a specialist placement. It isn’t common and is unlikely, but it isn’t only limited to where parents give up. And sometimes section I is blank for EOTAS/EOTIS where it is unsuitable for provision to be made in a school. That also isn’t about parents giving up.

The mainstream school
Needs to fund tutors in the meantime as they're responsible for the education

Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the LA to ensure CSA DC unable to attend school receive a suitable full-time education under s19 of the Education Act 1996.

Do this OP.