My son has an EHCP and is attending a specialist provision school in Poole
We are having to move to Guildford for work and hence are looking at securing an admission in a specialist provisioned school in Guildford
When I spoke to the SEN team in Guildford, she told me it may take a good few months before they find a suitable school, reaccess the EHCP and name the new school
Given that he is already socially challenged because of his autism, i am worried that staying at home for months together may cause a negative effect on him
BUT I think that the local authority (LA) is wrong to say that a reassessment is needed BEFORE A SCHOOL CAN be named.
As I understand it, your childās EHC plan should be accepted by the new LA, you should be asked if you have a preferred school and then an appropriate school named.
Hi. Your EHCP is portable.
Within 15 days of being told about the move, the old Local Authority must transfer the EHC plan to the new Local Authority, and as from that date the new Local Authority will be responsible for securing the provision within the EHC plan. This means that the provision specified in Section F and the child / young personās attendance at the school or college specified in Section I should continue. If a family have moved some distance, and the child / young personās attendance at the school / college named in the EHC Plan is āno longer practicableā, then regulation 15(6) allows the Local Authority to arrange for them to attend a different school / college. This might not be the school / college of the young personās choice, but in the short term, the Local Authority would simply have to offer a suitable school or college place to allow the education to continue. They would, however, then have to take steps to change the EHC plan, so that it no longer named the school / college in the āoldā Local Authority. At that point, a parent or young person would have a right to request a particular school / college to be named. In all cases (including where the move is only a short distance and the child / young person is able to continue attending the same school / college), the new Local Authority must serve a notice within 6 weeks of the transfer of the EHC plan, informing the parent/young person that:
-the EHC plan has been transferred;
-whether they propose to make an assessment, and
-when they propose to carry out a review of the EHC plan (they have a duty to carry out an annual review of the EHC plan within 12 months of the last annual review or within 3 months of the EHC plan transferring ā whichever comes later).
It is certainly not an absolute requirement for the new LA to carry out a EHC needs assessment and it is worth noting that Regulation 15(3)(b) makes it clear that where the old Authority supplies advice from a previous assessment, the new Authority must not seek further advice where the person who wrote the advice, the old authority and the parent/young person are all satisfied that the advice is sufficient for the purpose of a new assessment. This prevents the new Local Authority re-assessing and seeking new professional reports unnecessarily.
Have you got a school in mind? There are a number of schools suitable for children with autism in Surrey, some LA schools, some independent special schools and some in units called Cullen Centres, in partnership with the NAS. It depends on the severity of your sonās autism.
Here is more information about specialist provision in Surrey https://www.surreylocaloffer.org.uk/kb5/surrey/localoffer/advice.page?id=8WwBssqvOYA
And here: https://online.surreycc.gov.uk/education/schools.nsf/SSByProvision?openview
Of course, they have broken up now for Summer, so visits wonāt happen until the autumn term, but keep speaking to the SEN officer - donāt let them fob you off.
There is an active NAS branch in Surrey http://www.nassurreybranch.org who have an email group with very helpful parents.
I actually live in Surrey, my autistic sons attended More House School in Frensham. This is a brilliant independent specialist school that many children are funded to attend by Surrey LA. Boys have to be average intelligence or above without severe behavioural problems. Their staff will be there all summer long. For more severe autism, there is Freemantles, an excellent LA school. If you have any problems, I suggest you email Send2020@surreycc.gov.uk or the head of SEND liz.mills [@] surreycc.gov.uk
Good luck! Tania