Appealing EHCP & secondary applications

[mollyminniemo]

Hi all
DS (10) EHCP request was rejected (after assessing him/ delay totally breaking timeframes etc).
We are appealing against Surrey. Their website already warns appeals are also in backlog and taking much longer. So thinking unlikely we’d get this resolved (if at all but live in hope) with an EHCP issued naming the Secondary we want by the deadline to apply in October.
I know I would still have to apply for schools the usual process. Questions I have:

1. Should I still name the school we hope he would go to with an EHCP as my first choice even though we aren’t catchment and won’t get in?
2. if he finally gets an EHCP but this is issued past school application deadline and even worse- after we hear allocation of his school (which will be the current feeder school we don’t want him going to) are we still able to name the other school, and get into this prior to the start of secondary term? Will the school we want still accept him with an EHCP even though they’d already allocated all Year 7 places? It’s a state mainstream school. They state they accept all children with an EHCP plan under the admissions information.

thanks so much.

You should list your preferences in your true order of preference. Even if it is unlikely you will be offered your first preference. Somewhere on the form you should list a school you will definitely get an offer from - better a rubbish school close by than a rubbish school a hour away.

If an EHCP is issued after you have made a normal application/national offer day, the school named in the EHCP will override any offer made via the normal admission process.

With an EHCP, there are limited number of reasons the LA can refuse to name your preferred placement and the EHCP can name a school that has already allocated all their places.

Thankyou so much Headfirstintothewild x