New EHCP for secondary school

[WarIsPeace]

My DS is Yr 6 and due to start high school in Sept this year

He previously had an ehcp at primary with 25 hours support

A new one arrived today stating it was a final version, I had not been sent any draft. It names the local HS, with 25hrs support, which I had advised the sn team officer is absolutely not suitable.

He has an ASC diagnosis and I requested the local specialist setting (though I do have a plan B mainstream if things get desperate but I honestly feel he needs the specialist setting. Either way, the named school is out of the question) The SS has assessed him in school and said they can meet his needs

First steps guidance very much appreciated

I'm no expert but I've been doing this this year and finding the council have been totally failing to follow their own procedures.
First you need to tell them that school isn't suitable and why. They will want to keep kids in mainstream if at all possible as it's cheaper and specialist places are likely to be limited. So you have to argue why that isn't suitable.

Good luck - hopefully an expert will be along soon.

A few questions OP
When did you request the specialist setting?
Has an Annual Review been carried out?
Have the LA sent details of how to appeal with the Final EHC Plan?

I requested the specialist setting when I was invited to express my request to the LA. This is only the second ehcp, I was not offered a review meeting.
The content is vague and contradictory as expected and incomplete, with lots of the info now out of date as it's essentially the previous one with a new date and different school on it.

Yes, it does have info about appealing or going to mediation on the covering letter

The local SEND team rang me a few weeks ago to clarify why I was requesting the SS. I gave further info and stated that the catchment mainstream was definitely unsuitable because of x, y, z.

It sounds like they've cut corners and in doing so breached their statutory duty.This is what should have happened.

www.ipsea.org.uk/moving-to-a-new-phase-of-education-with-an-ehc-plan

However, in issuing the final EHC Plan they have given you your right of appeal, so I would go with that, as it will be at least 12 weeks and possibly longer between the date of lodging the appeal and the date of the hearing.

You only have to consider mediation; you don't actually have to do it. Our solicitor advised us not to bother as it can take 3-4 weeks to arrange and if it doesn't work you've lost all that time when you could have had an appeal in place.

Ring up the number on the letter and say you've considered, you don't want to go to mediation and ask them to issue the certificate.

You need the mediation certificate to lodge the appeal. Solicitors usually advise you to appeal Section B and section F as well as section I.

Info here:
www.ipsea.org.uk/appealing-to-the-send-tribunal

If you need advice try booking an appointment on the Tribunal Helpline:
www.ipsea.org.uk/tribunal-helpline

Thanks Ellie56

He'd had his previous ehcp for nearly a year so it would have made sense to actually review how he was getting on and what is /isn't working.

And if you decide to appeal I'd make sure the Tribunal know that the LA did not carry out the statutory phase transfer review.

They phoned me to ask where I wanted, I had been waiting for the review to discuss it. Given that the review was not going to be happening I told them my wishes and why, and sent them some supporting documents.

Waste of time. The contents need updating and tbh we need to review how the first year of having an ehcp has gone. The LA is a shambles, lots of temp staff etc.

I'm thinking I'll go through it, review and update each section using the Ed pysch report as evidence (the LAs Ed pysch) and see where we go. Am quite willing to escalate as needed

You might find SOS SEN's booklet on appeals helpful. It's likely that you will need at least an independent EP report, as the LA one is likely to support their choice of school. You need to challenge section F because the school has to able to supply the support set out in that section and it is likely that it's been written to be quite vague and to contain support that virtually any school can deliver.

I eventually got a call back from the SEN team at the LA.
I've pointed out that the ehcp is a year old and hasn't been reviewed so this is a poor basis for a high school to base their 'we can meet need' on, and it's the school I absolutely do not want. They said that the primary school didn't nominate/ recommend the SS. THEY DIDN'T RECOMMEND ANYWHERE BECAUSE WE DIDN'T HAVE A REVIEW.

The HS have not seen him, the SS has.

Current plan - review of ehcp and go from there. I suspect I'll be back but thanks all

Do you really want to wait for a review? If they still don't name the school you want, there will realistically be no chance of getting an appeal heard before December. There is nothing to stop them doing a review whilst the appeal is going on.

I agree with Judy. Appeal straight away like Elsie says. It can take ages!
Meanwhile ask for a review at the school. By law they have to do an annual review and a statutory phase transfer.
The preparation for you is similar for both the review and the appeal. If the review goes your way, you haven’t lost anything and you are well on the way to being ready for the appeal.
If the review goes well and you get a final statement with very clear specific provisions in place you can always withdraw from the appeal.
And contact IPSEA. They are brilliant.