Notification of places for Year 7

[RainbowLife]

My child has had an EHCP for years and is now in year 6.

I was told very definitely we would have a school named by today.

I have heard nothing. I understand the deadline is a legal obligation not a guideline.

There is another child in Y6 at the same school with an EHCP who hasn't heard anything either.

I'm just wondering how common this is. If you have a child with SEN in Y6 have you heard yet? Please fill in the poll! Thank you.

This thread seems to have sunk completely.

I don’t have a DC who is in the secondary phase transfer year. However, it isn’t rare for for LAs to breach the phase transfer deadlines. You should chase. I would also start looking for someone with the capacity to take you on for a pre-action letter just in case you need a pre-action letter.

The SEN boards are quieter. You have to be patient.

Thank you, fortunately someone in AIBU explained that SEN threads are hidden from the active list which I didn't realise.

We heard late on Friday. LA have named a school who made it very clear they could not and would not meet need. We have been Tod that the council did this simply to comply with the deadline date, in full knowledge we will appeal.

OP-in answer to your question, while authorities try and avoid doing this, it is not rare for famiies to be in your position. Formal complaint to your LA asap and keep pushing is may best advice. It's tortuous enough for parents without them failing to adhere to statutory deadlines.

I'm so sorry you're having to go through this.

Thank you for the advice and encouragement.

If you would potentially want to go down the JR route, I wouldn’t go down the formal complaints process now. JR is a remedy of last resort, so acknowledging an alternative remedy can sometimes prevent you from going down the JR route now. And the normal timescales of the complaint process take too long for it to be a suitable remedy in time sensitive situations like this.

@ExistingonCoffee (our names made me smile ;-) ) This may be true, but the realities of life for the majority of SEND families is that the horrendous volume of legal costs for a Judicial Review are beyond a deterrent. Most of us don't have a spare £20-30k to roll a dice with.

@DoubleShotEspresso I think we are probably in good company. I imagine many, many SEN parents run on coffee in one form or another.

You don’t need anywhere near £20-30k! JR proceedings themselves would be brought in the child’s name. Therefore, DC can be eligible for legal if in their own right. This wouldn’t cover the pre-action letter, which would be in the parent’s name, so only covered by legal aid if the parent was eligible for legal aid themselves, but even if they aren’t eligible, it doesn’t cost anywhere near £20-30k.