My son has an EHC plan and is in a school year group below other children his age. Will the local authority expect him to move to secondary school with children his age or can he stay in his current year group and start secondary school a year later?

Case law has confirmed that being educated in a different year group to children of the same age can be special educational provision. This means:

• The special educational needs which mean that your child needs to be educated in a different year group should be described in section B of his EHC plan.
• Placement outside his normal year group should be set out in section F of his EHC plan.

While it is, your local authority (LA) has to make sure it continues. This is because it has a duty to make sure your son receives the special educational provision in his EHC plan.

If sections B and F of your son’s EHC plan include this, your LA should not try to remove it if there isn’t any evidence which shows he doesn’t need to be in the year below anymore. 

If sections B and F of your son’s EHC plan do not include this, ask your LA to update his plan so that they do.

You could ask your LA to do this during the annual review of your son’s EHC plan. When a child with an EHC plan will be moving from primary to secondary school in the next 12 months, the LA must review and change their plan to include the name and type of the secondary school they will go to (or just the type if a particular school cannot be identified). The process your LA must follow is set out in law and includes your rights to ask for changes to his plan and for the secondary school you would like him to go to.

Schools are registered to teach pupils in certain age ranges. You can find out a school’s age range online. You should check this for your son’s current school and the secondary school you would like him to go to. If your son will no longer be within the primary school’s age range, the school can apply to the Department for Education to either extend its registered age group or get individual permission to teach your son. If it looks like this might be necessary, we suggest you talk to the school about this as soon as possible.