16+ Education

[looneytoons]

My son is in an independent special school. The school caters for pupils up to the age of 19. If he was to stay there after he is 16 will LEA still fund a place for him and would he still get transport to school.

I have a friend who has a 16yo DD at independent residential special school funded by LA (as there was no suitable provision in county for her). She is hoping her DD can stay at this school until 19, but I know that as part of the process she has had to look at local 6th forms and colleges and has to prove that none of the local ones can meet her DD's needs. AFAIK if she can do that then the statement will continue and her DD will continue to be funded by LA to stay at independent school. Not sure about transport costs though.

My DD is in 6th form at local Special school and so far we have not been asked to pay for her transport - although I am aware of other threads on here that have reported differently. I guess that bit depends on your LA's policy.

It will depend on what the Annual Review sayes. If he attended the school under a SSEN then Transport must be provided unless there is a get out in the Part 4 wording. Resist any offereing by the LA to put him into a local FE College.

For transport info, go onto your local authority website, by law they have to publish their post 16 transport policy. It should include specific info on children with disability. Some authorities make a charge post 16 others dont. The Govt has introduced a new 16-19 bursary which is a non discretionary grant of £1200 for certain "vulnerble children" You can use this to pay a transport charge . Details of the bursary are on the Department of Education website.

sorry I meant "vulnerable". Non discretionary bursary is only available for certain limited groups but school or college may be able to make a discretionary payment if family is having financial difficulty