Who decides which schools to consult for a SEN school placement?

[MNSEN]

Hi all. Dd will be moving from mainstream to a special school - we hope in September. School is behind the change of setting and she has an EHCP.

Our timescales are obviously very tight for September and although we have identified a couple of possible schools that could meet need we have been advised that the panel might wish to consult with more schools. Very happy if they can identify a great school but I don't want a box ticking exercise for the sake of it that holds us up because an inappropriate school doesn't say it can't meet need until September. In trying to understand this process I am wondering who identifies this list of schools to consult? Is it panel or the SEN caseworker at the LA or someone else?

Any advice or insight very much appreciated. TIA.

Have you had an annual review or early review yet? If so, have you received the draft amended plan?

Unless your preferred school is wholly independent the LA can only refuse to name your preference if they can prove one of the following:

• The setting is unsuitable for the age, ability, aptitude or special educational needs (“SEN”) of the child or young person; or
• The attendance of the child or young person would be incompatible with the provision of efficient education for others; or
• The attendance of the child or young person would be incompatible with the efficient use of resources.

The bar is relatively high, and being 'full' is not enough of a reason on its own.

The LA will tell you a panel make placement decisions. However, in reality, the panel may not exist. One MN'er caught their LA out when they stated the panel made the decisions then it came to light there wasn't a panel.

The nearest special school that the LA believe can meet DD's needs will be consulted. If your preference is an independent or NMSS state options will be consulted. If there's any doubt about MS or SS then don't be surprised if at least one MS is consulted or ARP.

Thank you.

Interim review is scheduled for possibly next week and we are trying to run as much concurrently as possible. I don't think there is much chance anyone will try to go for MS as her current school has a great reputation in the LA for inclusion and they can't meet her needs. Our preferred school is an independent SS. I do think the panel exists although that's an awful story!

The stumbling block would be the resources - given that our preferred school is entirely independent. However - although I would love for dd to have her needs met in a nice maintained school round the corner - one doesn't exist (!) so I am trying to find out as much about the shortlisting/longliating process as I can so that I can possibly try to do some concurrent planning or at least investigate these schools and then provide the LA with evidence as to why they wouldn't be able to meet her needs.

Transition in September is important for a variety of (child-centred) reasons and i don't want to be delayed because X school.which is obviously unsuitable breaks up on July 15th and doesn't look at EHCP in order to say 'Cant do this' until September 5th...

id seriously recommend putting down the closest catchment SEN school to you, because if you dont, youll likely be liable to cover/sort the transport and this is more of a big deal than you might think

Is the independent SS a section 41 school or wholly independent? If wholly independent the LA are likely to consult more state, section 41 and NMSS. You will need an offer of a place and to show the school(s) the LA proposes can not meet DD's needs or your preference isn't unreasonable public expenditure.

If you haven't even had a review yet a September move is unlikely.

After the review the LA have 4 weeks to decide whether they are going to amend the EHCP or not. Then the draft must be sent to you "without delay", but there's no statutory timescales. Once you have the draft the LA must finalise within 8 weeks.

The LA must provide transport to the nearest suitable school. The nearest SEN school may not be able to meet OP's DD's needs, the independent may be the only school that can meet DD's needs. SENTAS can also help you challenge the LA naming a further away school as parental preference in order to get out of providing transport. See here.

No it's not section 41 but its whole remit is in the SEN area that dd's need is greatest and in which another SEN school is unlikely to be able to meet need. Transport isn't major issue as public transport there is doable. I think they would fund transport anyway but it is accessible.

I am really trying to find out who ultimately decides which schools would be consulted. That doesn't seem to be available information anywhere.

'Nearest suitable school'? I didn't know that. Including non section 41? Measured in miles or journey time? Our preferred is definitely the easiest journey...

Focus on collating evidence that no other school can meet DD's needs. It doesn't really matter who at the LA decides what other schools to consult with.

Most LA's state they will only provide transport to the nearest suitable school - nearest isn't defined as it isn't a legal criteria. If the school is named unconditionally in section I transport must be provided. Sometimes LA's agree to name your preference as 'parental preference' if you cover transport. However, this can be challenged, see the SENTAS link I posted.

You should only consider agreeing to be responsible for transport if a) you agree the LA's proposed school is suitable, and b) your preference, including travel costs, is significantly more expensive and therefore the LA will be able to argue incompatibility with efficient use of resources.

My issue is that I need to find out who it is so that I can potentially get in contact with them and find out what criteria they use. I can't challenge other schools if I don't know what they are likely to be. And actually if there are other schools that would work I would like to research them and discuss dd with them. I might find a great school this way.

So if panel would decide then I can't do anything till panel. But if the case worker decides I can start asking him now what schools he would be looking at. And if it is an entirely different person I can contact them for advice/discussion.

And thank you for all your help @10brokengreenbottles

You can have a good attempt at working out who may be consulted. For example, if DD's primary need is ASD look at all the ASD specialist schools within travelling distance (45mins for primary/1hr15 for secondary is considered reasonable). Also all of the general SS within your LA that admit those with ASD as primary need. Add in your nearest MS and ASD ARP. The same principle applies if DD's primary need is SEMH or MLD etc.

To search for schools and check you aren't missing any look here.

Look at what your preferred school offers that is unique to them. That way whatever school the LA propose you can show it doesn't meet DD's needs.

The LA are unlikely to share what schools they are going to consult before they have decided if they are even going to amend the EHCP regardless of who decides, especially if you are going for an expensive indie SS. It is quite common for LAs to be cagey about who they plan to consult or have consulted.

Well that map is sort of emblematic of how easy the government wants to make this isn't it?

I mean the search. Where you put in a city rather than your actual postcode so it can give you results that would take you four hours a day to travel and is for deaf children. And there is apparently no way to filter for special need. FFS.

Thank you for the link @10brokengreenbottles - I am not having this go at you obviously! But why why why is there no list of special schools anywhere? Why can't the LA just go 'here's a list of those that are within travel from your area clearly listed under ASD, SEMH etc etc. Why don't you go and have a look at a few?'????????

You can search using your postcode and filter by SEN.

Search using "location" - either using your postcode or town/city.
Or search using "Local authority" - do this for your LA and then any neighbouring LAs within travelling distance.

Click "view as list", rather than "view on a map" - in my opinion it's easier as a list.
Then on the left hand side tick "special schools" under "establishment type" - you can narrow this down to e.g. Non-maintain special schools.
Then click "more filters" and "type of SEN".
Then tick the type of SEN you want.

Under "more filters" you can also filter for section 41 schools.

You can even search for mainstream school with resources bases using the "has special classes" filter. Although in my experience it misses some ARPs off, and says some schools have one when they don't. This is the school's problem to do with how they record information.

Your LA's schools will be on their local offer, neighbouring LA's will be on their local offer.

Here is a list of all the section 41 schools.

Don't rely on the LA to give you information. They will tell you what they want you to know and their version of the law.

Thank you. It turns out (after a lot of fiddling) that as soon as I put 'primary' in it returns zero results. 🤷‍♀️

I do have one other school to look at now though so thank you again! Although google maps is giving me a 49 minute journey time there so...

Filtering by "phase of education" doesn't tend to work for special schools, especially independent and non-maintained schools. Just filter by SS and type of SEN then look through them all. Once you click on a school it will tell you the specific age range.

Don't worry if the travel time is slightly over 45mins for prmary, many pupils do travel further, 45mins is just what is considered reasonable.

In response to your concerns re timescales, I can't guarantee this is true for all LA, but in our case there was a clear timeframe of 10 working days from schools to respond once the commissioning team had sent them the paperwork. Schools that didn't respond in that time were I believe assumed to be unable to meet need. However, they insisted that they needed to have the new final EHCP from the review to send out and so the timings were mostly hanging on them getting that done after the meeting.

I'm still unclear who exactly decided which schools to consult with - 'the commissioning team' was mentioned at times. I was told that they had consulted with "all schools" which I naively took to mean at least all the ones that had come up in conversations in the review meetings etc, but in fact I discovered 6 months later that it had included random independent schools that were an hour away and the wrong key stage, but not the school that myself and several professionals had raised in meetings as being the most likely looking of the options and only 20 min away. So basically don't take anything for granted! If I was doing it again I would insist that our caseworker provided me with a list of all schools that were consulted with and then add any that I wanted on to the list. (This is actually what happened when the LA tried to commission a tutoring/mentoring service more recently, and then they sent me all the responses that they had too - a much more transparent way of working and I was able to input and suggest a better way of spending their budget that would meet DS's needs more effectively!

Thanks that's really helpful. They have told us 15 days so we are obviously up against it in terms of timing. I don't mind any school having time to consider her EHCP but sending it to schools that really couldn't meet need seems pointless and only likely to delay the process. I will try to gain some clarity at the review and also simply ask if there are other schools we should be looking at.

I also assume that although over 45 mins travel might be something that some children do they couldn't compel us to consider this school if there are closer schools which could meet her needs?

If there are closer schools then you would have a good arguement for your preference over a school more than 45mins away if primary age. However, ultimately the LA can name whatever placement they want and force you to appeal.

Your sticking point re timescales is unlikely to be the time allowed for schools to respond to consultations. The difficulty will be the statutory timescales the LA have for a) deciding whether they are going to amend the EHCP or not (4 weeks from the review), then b) sending the draft "without delay" but no more specific a timescale than that, and finally c) finalising within 8 weeks of sending the draft.

The LA could send you the draft, allow you to make representations, get the responses from school consultations all within e.g. 5 weeks but still allow the draft to sit for 3 weeks before finalising, and there's nothing you could do as long as they finalise within 8 weeks of sending you the draft.

Don't rely on the current school or LA to inform you about other school choices.