Autistic child without EHCP secondary admissions advice

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My son is autistic, diagnosed age 9. He is what they used to call 'high functioning', average academically, some social communication issues, lots of trouble with transitions.
He's in a primary and been lucky to make lots of friends and have understanding teachers.
We are out of catchment for the secondary most of her friends will go to. Our catchment school is fine but she won't know anyone and the students are a lot more mature than she is, more streetwise, they have a lot of problems with anti social behaviour. DS finds it very stressful when people are 'breaking rules', I fear he will struggle to be around this and won't be able to make friends.
The out of catchment school is very close and she is in a feeder primary so we would be top of the out of catchment list. Does anyone have any advice or experience of how we can get her into the out of catchment school, what to do with applying, is there supporting information we can supply? Can we talk to the principal directly?
Haa anyone experienced this?

Without an EHCP, I think you follow the same procedure as the majority., which is to select the number of preferences your authority allows, with the school you prefer at the top of the list.

It’s the time of year when open evenings are happening, so I’d go to as many as you think is reasonable and ask to speak to the SENDCo or someone in that department. You could see what transition arrangements, pastoral support and adjustments they offer on a daily basis.

It may also depend on the birth rate for the year. It’s falling in many areas, so places may open up for pupils further afield. Places are allocated by the authority, based on meeting the entrance criteria, not by the school.

He or she?
what are the admissions criteria for the school you’d prefer? Does your child fit into any of the higher up categories that are likely to secure a place, eg medical reasons?

you won’t be able to talk to the head and get a place that way, no. You’ll need to apply in the normal way and hope you make the cut off and make sure you flag what category your child is in on the application form if there is a medical category.
If you were able to secure an EHCP this would enable you to name the school but I don’t know if this is an option.
If you don’t get a place then you can go to appeal and there is more flexibility for the panel to take into account medical and social reasons and you can provide evidence, eg a medical professional’s letter that that school is the only one that can manage your child’s needs.

Without an EHCP, the normal admissions process applies. You need to look at the oversubscription criteria and how far down the criteria they normally get.

Some schools have an exceptional medical and social needs category in their oversubscription criteria. However, the majority of autistic pupils would not fall under this category. You would need evidence only that school can meet needs. It needs to be in the professional’s opinion rather than ‘mum says…’ The bar is high.

If you aren’t successful, you will be able to appeal. The bar for this isn’t as high as it is to be considered under the exceptional medical and social needs category. An appeal isn’t just about showing only that school can meet needs. It is about the balance of prejudice. Showing the disadvantage of DD not attending outweighs the disadvantages for the school admitting another pupil.