No ehc plan but Sen support - how does it work?

[anya1985]

Hello all,

Just wanting some advice on special education needs at school.

My son was diagnosed with autism back in the summer. His nursery applied for an ehc plan but we were turned down and said that his school which he has just started out at will have to implement a Sen support plan which should be reviewed three times a yr to see if he's meeting targets etc. when we went to the council (Ealing) the advisor advised us that each school is given a budget for special needs children and if they can't meet his needs we reapply for an ehc plan.

Today the senco had said to apply for an ehc plan. When questioned she said he's doing so well he's settled well and is from the top in class on phonics and maths etc and doing very well. He is not disruptive at all, is blending in well and has no behaviour issues.

I can't help but thinking that she is fishing for extra funding?? That she doesn't want to use any of the schools budget just wants extra. I want to know what she is doing for him before asking for extra funding and on what basis if he is doing well?

What the school is doing for him should be in be sen support plan. The school has to fund up to the 1st £10,000. An EHCP will bring the school £2 or 4,000 and effectively ring fence the £10,000. It's not in the schools interest to go for an ehcp they could be managing spending well below £10,000, senco must feel its in his long term interests.

Thanks for clarifying that yeh I'm going to meet her sometime soon so will see what they have to say,

Schools have a sen budget. An EHCP is (roughly) put in place for kids who despite having this school funded support are unable to have their educational needs met. Does that help? My sons both have EHCP/SEN Statement but these were requested after the educational settings had already spent several months and had support from services like OT/speech and the boys were still not coping.

I'm in Hounslow and with sen support the school fund the first £6000 pa. If the cost of provision exceeds that the school can apply for ehcp. If your child is doing very well with little additional support then an ehcp application would not be successful.

Thank you for your replies. I met with the senco and she said that the school have a set budget for every child with Sen. They will get him all the help he needs then apply for an ehc if they need to after putting all their efforts in...

Postmanpatscat I am in Ealing, next door!