Legalities of withdrawing DS17 from 6th form

[notaflyingmonkey]

DS17 (ASD) is currently suspended from his 6th form for behavioural issues, which I believe stem from them not following his EHCP. He is having a mental health crisis, not sleeping or eating because of all of this and the impact that it will have on his A levels. I'm going to speak to the LA later, but I'm wondering if there is a reason we can't just withdraw him from the college and give him a year off to go to counselling etc and start again somewhere else in Sept 2019.

I know that legally he has to be in some form of education until he is 18, but as college have suspended him indefinately, he isn't being educated anyway.

I think the indefinite suspension is illegal, but check with the Exclusion Project - schoolexclusionproject.com/ . Also the LA has a continuing duty to ensure your son gets the support set out in section F of the EHCP.

By law your son is supposed to be in full time education, but when the law was originally passed there was no sanction for not complying, and I think that may still be the case. However, the LA may just treat the EHCP as lapsed: the Code of Practice says that in your son's situation they should aim to encourage him back into education and reinstate and review the EHCP so that it's fit for purpose, but there may be a degree of hassle.

Is it possible to move him to do, say, a short course on something that interests him before starting again next September? Or would anything like an apprenticeship work?