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The Education Act 1996 sets out the general position: ‘In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires … child means a person who is not over compulsory school age. (section 579).
For the purposes of Part 4 of the Act, which deals with special educational needs, the meaning of 'child' is extended to include any person who has not reached 19 and who is a registered pupil at a school (section 312(5)).
One of the big problems of course is that there is a dearth of post-16 SEN facilities, with too many children needing a place and not enough places to go round.
BUT depending on the age of the child, there may be light at the end of the tunnel. Because the government plans to extend the age of compulsory school to 18/19, it would mean that by law all schools including SEN ones will have to provide a 16-19 facility within the next 5 years (if memory serves).
My son has just started secondary and I had this very discussion with the HM last week, that's how I know so much about it, lol.
Well, you can keep at your LA to make sure they don't use the "there's no space" excuse. I'll try to find the relevant info re govt plans for 16+ education, I don't know much about it (my las id 12 so I deal with the short term issues first as you can imagine, lol).
How old is yours? I assume he is statemented then?
I would contact the LA now and ask them what are their plans to deal with this in the case of SEN children and raise awareness locally so that more parents start nagging them. By rights, they shouls already have drawn up their plans and budgets to be ready on time, so staying on top of them now will ensure that in 3 years time, they can't pretend they were caught short and oops sorry, but too late for your kid. (cynical, moi?)
So, mobilise other SEN parents, your local organisations and support groups, make sure the council knows that SEN parents in your borough won't be pushed around, and don't take "weeeell, we're not quite sure yet" as an answer.
This lad is 14 in year 9, full statement at EBD special school. I know the school are keen to extend provision but the LA aren't playing ball at present - no money being the usual excuse.
(You've been helping on another of my threads re my younger lad).
Your child will have an annual review in year 10 which, by law, must include a transition plan. Those who should be invited to attend are yourself, members of staff responsible for teaching your child, a representative of social services, a representative of the local Connexions or careers advice service, a representative of the authority and anyone else the head or LEA thinks appropriate.
There will be the normal review of the statement and then a discussion and evidence put forward for your child's transition plan. The LEA cannot use the excuse of "there's not enough money" - however, they can state it would be an inefficient use of resources if there is another place available in a mainstream setting which would meet your child's needs. You can, of course, appeal this at SENDIST and they cannot amend your child's statement until the decision is made by the tribunal. They cannot refuse your child further education if this would be in breach of the Disability Discrimination Act and they remain responsible for a child with a statement until they are 19 anyway (so be careful that they don't try to cease the statement). The Learning and Skills council, when it becomes responsible for the funding of sixth form provision, will, as a condition of funding, require LEA's to maintain statements until the end of the academic year in which the child's 19th birthday falls.
This is covered by Section 21 of The Education (Special Educational Needs) (England) (Consolidation) Regulations 2001 and also by the SEN COP, if you would like to have a check yourself.
Not if you fight for it - I would have a look at his statement now and make sure it is comprehensive and describes all of his needs so that the LEA can't say he's met all of his targets and therefore can cease the statement.
Quick update - just sent this off to LA head of childrens services, head of SEN, my MP and the Dept for Children- will post replies....
I have a 14 year old (year 9) boy who has Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties Special Educational Needs, he has a full Statement of SEN and currently attends xxx Specialist EBD school in xxx. I am becoming increasingly concerned about his future once he reaches 16 – when he will be expected to leave the xxx. I understand the Government is proposing to extend school provision to year 13 but am unclear as to whether this will be in place in time for my son, or indeed if this will apply to Specialist SEN schools.
By the very nature of his SEN my son is immature for his age although the xxx has made a huge difference to him and he is progressing very well now that he is in the right educational setting, I am deeply concerned that the gains we have made will be lost if he is cut off from this support in year 11 when he is 16. The xxx has had a hugely positive impact on his life, abilities, skills and self-esteem but I fear that cutting him off from this support at 16 will have a profoundly negative effect at a time when he is still vulnerable, still has SEN and is still by definition a child under the Children Act..
Can you please advise me if schools such as the xxx will be extending their provision to include 16-19 year olds and if so when this will be in place. If this will not happen in time for my son can you please advise me what provision there is or will be for my child with SEN (in particular EBD) from 16-19 years in 2011 when he is due to leave the xxx.
Please do let me know what they reply and I will check out the legalities, if necessary.
They cannot amend the statement if you appeal it until a tribunal rules they can - I would SERIOUSLY suggest going through it with a fine tooth-comb and seeing whether it is comprehensive etc - if you want me to have a look at it for you, PM me and I'll send you my email address and you can email it over to me and I'll check it out.
If it's not done properly, that would buy you some time anyway as that is grounds for appeal in the first instance.
I'm going on my 2 day residential course next weekend so I will make sure I bring this up and will get clarification on the law for you - but my understanding remains as of post 8 - as long as he has a statement, they cannot refuse him further education as this is against the disability discrimination act and they cannot refuse on grounds of cost - the statement says which school he needs to go to and it is not your problem where they find the money from. As long as the school and you believe this is the right setting, you have a very good chance of appealing any decision which states that your son should find his provision elsewhere. It is also unlikely that social services and connexions would disagree with what your child, you and the school want, so this will be more ammo for you.
You are doing the right thing gathering all of the information prior to his transition plan meeting, but at this moment in time, I really don't think you have much to worry about.
They have replied basically saying that they have no plans for EBD schools post 16. They offer Connexions and that's about it.
I'm about to start campaigning (have the governors, head and some other parents behind me). The head of SEN at the LA has agreed to meet - need help preparing my questios please! Also in developing my campaign. Have discovered the MLD and SLD schools in the same LA cover up to 19 so ? potential discrimination claim?
OK, the most important thing, and I cannot stress this enough, is to get them to maintain the statement. i think we need to see the statement, with identifying features removed so we can assess if it is a "good" statement or a bad one. If they intend to withdraw the statement, you may need to fight this at SEND.
Yes, this could potentially be discrimination if they are refusing appropriate education post-16 whereas a child without SEN would be offered appropriate education.
Having reviewed this and sought further advice, the best thing to do is in his final year get the LEA to cease to maintain his statement sooner rather than later - this means you can take this to tribunal asap and get them to rule on it if you are getting no joy with the LEA.
SEN Provision 16-19
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