What to do when school are not meeting one area of needs?

[TrumpyandGired]

My DS is nearly 15 and is in a school for children with social, emotional and mental health issues. He has ASC, PDA, and severe anxiety.

He has been in this school since year 9 after previously having 2 years out of school. It took him a little while to settle but overall the school has been amazing for him and we have seen a lot of improvement in his wellbeing. He is a very bright boy and we were assured that this school could cater to all of his needs.

Now he’s more settled, he wants to focus on his exams but it’s apparent he has missed a lot of formal education. DS says that the level of teaching in the school is aimed much more at children who are working behind. For 2 hours per week, DS is taught 121 to his own ability.

DS is now becoming bored because he’s not learning, he’s just repeating basic things he already knows. His behaviour is therefore starting to dip in the classroom. Nothing serious, but his teachers are suprised at the change. He has no chance of accessing his exams at the frequency he is being taught at his own level and he’s starting to panic. The majority (if not all) other DC in the school are working below expectations. DS has always worked at or above this level.

There is no way DS can go back to mainstream and also HE is not an option; he wants to be in school and is generally happy there. He just wants to learn.

What can I do about this?

Your son missed 2 years of school and his EHCP doesn't have 121 written into to therefore the school are already doing more than they're budgeted for. This should have been appealed by you when he first wanted to start working towards his GCSEs.
My suggestion would be get a private tutor for him at home.
EHCPs are legal documents and if you mention at the review that he's been getting any 121 the school can get into trouble for that as they are only meant to do what is in the document.

That's not true and clearly ridiculous.

Any school can put in reasonable adjustments or specific provisions over and above those written into the EHCP.

OP, please disregard this poster.

Actually as someone who not only has children with EHCPs but also worked with a council on providing them and now works with parents who need help advocating for their children with EHCPs I can tell you it is absolutely true that special provision schools can get in trouble for providing more than is in the EHCP.
The way the funding for those schools works is every child is given a specific amount of funding depending on their needs and the school is only allowed to use that money for that child. If the child hasn't been given the funding for 121 then the local government can argue that the school has taken funding from another child.
Mainstream school funding is different and quite often they'll use the extra money they get for children who get free school meals and that are on the SEN register without an EHCP to subside the reasonable adjustments. It's the reason why a lot of schools are now pushing parents to apply for MAPs (my actions plan) rather than EHCPs because then the school gets extra funding rather than the child.
What a lot of people don't know is you can ask your school to release some of your child's EHCP funds for educational provisions outside of school; because it's your child's money not the schools!

OP has already said it isn’t as simple as getting private tutoring at home.

There is nothing legally stopping schools of any type providing provision in excess of what is included in EHCPs. Schools are highly unlikely to receive funding for the SEP not in F and LAs sometimes do not like it because parents and schools may then use a review to try to tighten the EHCP but that isn’t the same as not legally allowed. Other pupils’ EHCP provision is irrelevant. The school providing more to one child does not automatically mean they are not providing what is detailed, specified and quantified in another pupil’s EHCP. There is more nuance than that. SS must still make reasonable adjustments. They aren’t exempt from the Equality Act, and some special schools still receive pp funding. MAPs are not national things, not all LAs/schools use them.