What if school of choice has no places?

[Shakirasma]

we have been to look at a special school today and absolutely loved it.

My DS is currently in reception at MS and is in the statementing process. We are at the point of waiting for the draft statement to come through.

I understand that we will get to name the school we want him to attend, and we want to name the school we saw today. However if there are no places available what will happen? Will he have to stay where he is indefinitely or will he be added to waiting list for the school we want?

Thank you.

Name it and if the LEA agree they will be able to sort out the place probably.

Hi, we were in this position with ds this time last year. On paper the special school we wanted to name on his statement was over numbers but we were able to argue that the benefit to ds was greater than the potential disadvantage to existing students of adding an extra student. You will find the relevant legislation in the appeals to tribunal section of the sen code of practice.

Different rules apply for special schools than for mainstream - in ms the numbers taken into consideration are the total numbers on roll for the whole school, in special schools they will look at the numbers in the class to which the child would be admitted.

If the school caters for wheelchair users they will consider whether there is enough physical space in the classrooms for an additional student.

If the restricting factor is staff:pupil ratio, then you can argue that an extra member of staff is provided. The key thing is to get the lea to agree that only special school (and ideally this particular school) can meet his needs.

Also if the school you want are sympathetic, there will usually be some flexibility. Good luck!