Special school for Year 7

[CosyPoster]

Hi everyone, looking for some advice

My son is currently in year 5 in mainstream school. Has an EHCP but no formal diagnosis yet, fingers crossed this year! Believed to be on the autism spectrum.

He struggles a lot with regulating, stims a lot, needs regular sensory breaks, finds it hard to make friends and is very behind (currently still doing year 1/2 English work, a bit better with maths)

Ive spoke to the council about year 7 placement and they have pretty much told me he won’t qualify for special school as he is in mainstream currently and the school can meet needs. I am worried about transition to a much bigger school . His current school is small and 1 class per year. He has 121 support at the moment but has frequent meltdowns and progression has been slow. Council have also said because he doesn’t have a diagnosis they can’t consider for resourced provision?

I’m a little upset as I know mainstream secondary won’t be good for him.

Does anyone have any suggestions on where I can go from here?

thanks :)

Ignore the LA about not being eligible for SS because DS is currently in MS. Do you have a special/specialist school in mind? Start building your evidence in preparation for the phase transfer review. When the time, comes start your true preference and be prepared to appeal once the LA finalise the EHCP naming the secondary placement.

Some resource provisions require a formal diagnosis. Others don’t.

Thank you. There is one I would love him to go to however it is independent and council probably won’t pay for it. There are others that have resourced provisions but now I’m not sure if he will be eligible unless he can get a diagnosis soon.

I will gather plenty of evidence, thank you for the advice

Is the school you prefer wholly independent or a section 41 independent?

Also speak to the resource provision and ask around locally about it. LAs don’t always give the full picture.