Can I refuse school putting DC in their "SEN classroom"

[Overthehedgehog]

SEN DC in year R, mainstream school named on his EHCP.
School have said they can't support him in the main classroom from next year, so he will spend majority of school time in their "SEN classroom".
The SEN classroom is a spare classroom that SEN children from ages 4-11 are in with 2-3 'members of staff'. No learning plan, just supervised play basically. The children in the SEN room never mix with the rest of the school. They lunch and play separately.

I don't want this, this is not what school should be about imo.
DC needs a special school and we are in process of trying to fight that. Mediation said no to changing his named placement but that was back in September when he'd only been there for a week, school did not attend the meeting.

Can I refuse them putting DC into this spare room?
I'm aware it might make things harder for the staff. But legally that school is named on his EHCP and I want him to have access to the education his peers will get, not be sat in an empty room with a large age range of children, a box of fidget toys and a few beanbags for the next 6 years.

Why are they saying no to a SEN school? If the mainstream school tell you they can’t support him and you can’t get a placement in a SEN school, it’s possible he might be eligible for a EOTAS package, if that’s something you’re interested in at all

When is your annual review due? If the school cannot deliver everything in section F then they cannot meet needs.

My son is in Y1 and has an EHCP. His class has an additional class for children with EHCP and C&I needs. There are 10 children and two adults. My son attends this class in the morning where they do maths, phonics/reading and writing/English. My son then attends his regular mainstream class in the afternoon where he does all of the other NC subjects. My son also goes on all school trips and participates in all schools activities such as the nativity play, etc.

When you say you are in the process of trying to fight for SS, have you appealed? As well as section I, are you also appealing B&F?

It may be disability discrimination, but for anyone to know if it is, they would need more information about the individual circumstances.

Depending on the provision in F, it may be a breach of the LA’s duty under section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014. You would need to look at the precise wording in F.

While you have a right to a mainstream placement being named in section I (as you have) unless a mainstream placement would be incompatible with the efficient education of others and no reasonable steps could be taken to avoid this, that isn’t the same as “a right to a mainstream experience” (see AA v London Borough of Hounslow (SEN): [2025] UKUT 226 (AAC)). “The right to a mainstream education is different from a right to be educated in a typical
mainstream classroom in England.” Slightly different as that case was about a formal ARP (It’s not clear whether in your case it is a formal unit/base/provision or not?) and there was some integration. However, the same principle applies.

A mainstream school saying they are unable to meet needs and the LA refusing to name SS doesn’t necessarily mean the legal test for EOTAS/EOTIS is met.

Have you met with the SENCO?