EHCP issued after feb - how to name primary school?

[Questionerr]

We have had an EHCP issued by the council yesterday. The final version was emailed to us. This is the first time we have had an EHCP for our child.

The confusion I have is around Section I naming the school. Currently our child is in transitionary year (final year of nursery / pre-school) , and will be starting Primary school in September.

The Final EHCP names our child's current nursery in Section I instead of a Primary school. I did put down the preferred primary school when they sent us the draft EHCP for review, but they have ignored that and named the current Nursery instead. And of course as the final EHCP has only just been issued yday they technically didn't miss the February deadline to name a primary school as we never had the EHCP in place in feb!

I'm a bit stuck really on what to do now as the next review of the EHCP is not due until after school starts in September, so what can I do to get the council to name our preferred primary school in the EHCP so that nursery and school can start transition planning.

(All of this might be a misnomer if we get our first choice preference on Thursday - but I'm just trying to plan ahead in case we don't get the school we want on thurs.)

The EHCP overrides any placement offered via the normal admission process, so don’t focus on Thursday. You need the EHCP to state the placement.

You need to chase the LA if the finalised EHCP doesn’t name the school placement and only names the nursery placement. When EHCPs are finalised after Feb, sometimes there is a bit of a delay between the finalising for the current placement and naming the reception placement, but you need to chase the LA now. As well as your caseworker, email the Director of Children’s Services. If chasing doesn’t work, you should look for someone with capacity to write a pre-action letter.

Thank you , I've sent email to local authority telling them the named preference I want for Primary school. it's a maintstream school that has outstanding SEN department.

My worry is now, school offers have been made and the school might say the class is full due to infant class size. I've heard infant class size rules can make it a bit tricker to argue for the place. Any one have any experience of this?

Pupils whose EHCP names a school and is finalised after the normal admissions round are excepted pupils, so the infant class size limit doesn’t apply to them.

For schools that are not wholly independent, on its own, legally, a school being ‘full’, which isn’t defined in law, is not enough of a reason to refuse to name your preferred placement. The LA has to prove the school is so full admitting DS is incompatible with the provision of efficient education for others or use of resources. The bar for this is higher than LAs and many schools admit. It has to be something tangible and specific and is more than an “adverse effect”, “impact on” or “prejudicial to”.

Thank you this is so helpful. I’ve been doing the whole EHCP / EHCNA process by myself so its a bit overwhelming. I really appreciate your help here.