When to apply for secondary school Yr 5

[MysticFlyTrap]

I'm having a bit of a confusion and wondering whether anyone could kindly put me in the right direction in what the right way is about getting my child into special school.

She is currently in Year 5 and has ASD, speech and language disorder and an ECHP with was reviewed but still not finalised in November.

When do i need to be applying for secondary special schools and how do i go about doing it. I'm getting mixed answers from senco and when ringing county they are not giving me any direct answers at all.

So do i need to have name prefered school in last novembers ECHP or when this years is drawn up and how does the whole process work.

I feel like i'm stuck in a jungle and no one seems to be telling me anything. I found out by phoning the charity in my area yesterday that my daughters keyworker has given up her job so they don't even know what to tell me.

Tia x

In my LA, final placement choices have to be made towards the end of June. They can be named in the Y5 review but it isn’t crucial, they just need to be done by the deadline in June.

If the EHCP hasn’t been finalised, you need to talk to the SEN team at your LA and find out why. That’s a long time to be hanging around. Was it a conversion from a Statement?

If your child has got an EHCP you normally need to express your preference for secondary school at the annual review held in summer term of year 5. The local authority then consult with schools and name the secondary school before February 14 th deadline in year 6.
If your child is currently in mainstream and you are looking at special for secondary the annual review in yr5 should also be evidencing the need for special and that mainstream could not meet needs. The local authorities usually take special school requests to a panel for a decision as to whether special school would be appropriate. Hope that helps.

Thankyou both of you, that makes it a lot clearer. No body tells me anything, there is just no one to tell me these things.
It was a review of an echp we already had so just to have been amended, there is no excuse for them to be taking this long really. Had a meeting with the senco and things are a lot easier to understand now & she is chasing up county to see what is going on. My dd is in regular school at present but no way would she cope in a mainstream secondary. We already have enough issues at home after most of her school days as she copes in school but lets it all out when at home.