EHCP/High school admission questions

[mumtosnchild]

My daughter has had a Statement/EHCP since starting school and is now in Year 5. School said she is now doing well and is in "average" range for her age in terms of attainment. There is talk that she could lose her EHCP and we are waiting for the outcome of her annual review which took place in May. Daughter has a permanent disability (hearing impairment).

We have to apply for high school soon. In our area as she has EHCP the admissions process is co-ordinated by the SEND department not through the usual admissions process. We are told we have to provide school choice to SEND team by October this year.

My question is if we apply through the SEND team what happens to her school placement if at some point the LA decided to remove her EHCP, either now or at the next annual review in May 2019. She is due to start High school in September 2019. I''m concerned she could end up without a school place.

Is the progress she's made due to the support she's had from the EHCP, and what would happen if that support was taken away? If anything she will need more support around a transition time.

When was she last assessed by any professionals? I would think her needs have changed a lot since when she started school to Year 5. Is the LA basing their decision to remove the EHCP based on fresh reports, or on her progress alone?

It might be worth booking a call in with ipsea to check what your legal rights are.

The Local Authority haven't said anything yet and don't attend the annual review. It is the school who said they think she could lose ehcp and this was based on her current attainment levels. The speech therapist has asked to reduce her hours based on progress.

This year she has had more hours from speech therapist than what is in her EHCP and the school received additional funding when she moved from statement to EHCP in the last year.

Even if it is reduced funding I would fight to keep the EHCP in place until far enough into year 7 to know if the transition is going to bring any issues

Hmm, well it's not the school's decision, but I would ensure you feedback to your case worker you feel strongly you DD will need the support of her EHCP during transition to secondary.
Similarly it's not school's call if SLT is reduced, but should be based on the SLT's report. But if she's made good progress that's positive.
The LA do have to listen to parent views for AR, and you / school should also try and get your DD's own views to feed in too.
The LA should have been at the AR of course, but in reality it's usually schools who lead those.

Thanks for your comments. I feel strongly that she needs EHCP at least for next couple of years. Will be pushing Local Authority for a decision following annual review, it's already over 4 weeks. They said they were running behind but really want a decision asap.

In my area we had to do two applications one via the send depatment route and the mainstream one alongside everyone else.

We were fortunate to get a special education place but those who didn't got notice of their places/ the decision end Jan so had time to appeal and get a revised place allocated etc before other mainstream places were allocated.

I'd keep fighting to keep the EHCP too, as others have suggested.

It is for the LA to decide whether the EHCP remains in place, not the school, but would strongly argue that it needs to stay in place at least until a successful transition has taken place.

It is one thing "doing well" and being in the average range in the cosy familiar environment of one classroom with one teacher in a primary school, quite another in the large, busy and noisy environment of your average secondary school, where she will have to get used to the acoustics in different rooms and the voices of different teachers.

I would also suggest you start looking at different schools, if you have not already done so. While DD still has an EHCP you will be in a better position to name and get the school you want.

If she has a EHCP the secondary school has to be named on it by February 2019. They cannot have an annual review next May and change the placement.

Ripple can you say more about your dual applications? I was wondering about this. We have an EHCP but I'm interested in an out of borough mainstream option where we could maybe gain a place under the CAF process, but which our LA might try to block via EHCP. I was wondering if we should do both options to have a back up.... What was your situation? Thx

In our area you have a SEND coordinator who helps with your EHCP review end yr 5/ early yr 6 and you put forward your case for your school of choice. In parallel you do a standard online application for mainstream school by that deadline.

DS1 was in a special primary provision for Autism but there were fewer secondary places than primary. We wanted a school out of catchment if we couldn't get provision. We were luck and got special provision so the mainstream application was redundant.

Special needs applications get dealt with prior to the mainstream ones so we knew if we got our special place we didn't need to worry about taking up a mainstream place. If we din't get allocated a special place the mainstream application is dealt with prior to other mainstream ones and we heard end Jan either way and then had 30 days to confirm/ appeal the place. The mainstream applications hear outcome in March.

Underhisi - I am thinking of an additionally resourced provision for hearing impaired. School say another annual review will take place in May next year. I am concerned at that point LA could take away EHCP and that would mean no place in additionally resourced provision as you need to have EHCP to be there.

They cannot change it that late in year 6.
From the sencop
"the review and any amendments must be completed by 15 February in the calendar year of the transfer at the latest for transfers into or between schools"

The annual review has to be earlier than that.

In my area spaces in resourced provision units are applied for under a third system, the application has to be made in the summer term of year 5 by your primary school SENCO, check this out as it so close to the end of term now.

If you have an EHCP you shouldn't have to go through the normal admissions process, even for a mainstream place, and your new school should be named by February.

I'd be contacting the LA now if I were you to see what the process will be.

We had a meeting around October time with someone from the SEN team who asked our preferences for secondary. Once the school agreed they could meet needs we received an amended copy of the EHCP.

We did not have to go through the normal admissions process.

Academic progress isn't the only measure when considering whether a child needs an EHCP. If your child still needs additional specialist provisions which aren't normally available within mainstream school resources, she still needs an EHCP.

Bear in mind that, if the EHCP is withdrawn, you have a right of appeal and the EHCP must stay in place at least until the appeal is heard and a decision issued. I would say that if the LA has issued an amended EHCP in February naming the secondary school placement it's incredibly unlikely that they would want to take it away in May when your child is about to transition, and the new school is likely to want the EHCP in place also. But, if they do, you could wait until the last moment to appeal and safeguard the placement for at least the first term; and after that it's wildly unlikely that anyone would consider forcing your child to change schools.