Can I ask for my child to attend school part-time? Expand If your child’s school has told you that your child cannot attend full-time, see out information on informal exclusions. Children without EHC plans Home educated children without EHC plans can receive part of their education at a school if the school agrees. Such arrangements are sometimes known as ‘flexi-schooling’. This is a phrase used in guidance on home education. Schools are under no obligation to agree to such arrangements, but some are happy to do so. When a compulsory school age child is flexi-schooled, the parents must still make sure that the child receives a suitable full-time education. When considering whether the child is receiving a suitable full-time education, the LA must take into account the education they receive at school. Children with EHC plans If the LA thinks it would be inappropriate for a child or young person with an EHC plan to receive some part of their special educational provision in school/college, then they can receive that particular special education provision elsewhere. This means the child or young person would receive part of their education at school/college and part of it as ‘education otherwise’ (also known as ‘EOTAS’). These arrangements should be described in section F of their EHC plan and the school/college named in section I. There is no need for the school to consent to this part-time attendance arrangement because it is special educational provision that the child or young person requires, which is different to a child or young person being educated at home because their parent has chosen to do so.
I home educate my child. Can I make a request for an EHC needs assessment? Expand Yes. Requests for an EHC needs assessment can be made by a child’s parent, by the young person themselves or, if they attend a school or post 16 setting, by a representative from the setting. Children and young people do not need to attend school or a post 16 setting in order to qualify or be eligible for a request to be made. This means that all parents of children are entitled to make a request for an EHC needs assessment, whether their child attends school or not. A parent who home educates their child should send their written request for an EHC needs assessment to their home local authority (“LA”) and can use our template letter, changed to reflect the child’s situation, to help them with this. A young person could use this letter to ask for an EHC needs assessment too. The LA must carry out an EHC needs assessment for a child or young person if they have or may have special education needs, and it may be necessary for special educational provision to be made for them via an EHC plan. This is the only legal test, it applies to all children and young people and does not vary depending on registration with a school.
I think my 10 year old child may require an EOTAS package. What factors will the local authority consider when deciding if special educational provision in a school is inappropriate? Expand A local authority (“LA”) can agree to a parent’s request for EOTAS if the LA thinks that it would be inappropriate for the special educational provision your child requires to be made in any school. Whether or not it will be appropriate for your child’s special educational provision to be made in a school will depend all of your child’s circumstances. These will naturally vary from child to child, but might include things like: your child’s background and medical history, the particular educational needs of your child, the facilities that can be provided by a school, the facilities that could be provided other than in a school, the comparative cost of the possible alternatives the child’s reactions to educational provisions, either at school or elsewhere, your wishes as their parent (these should be considered but the LA can still disagree), and any other particular circumstances that apply to your child.
There are no schools near where we live which can appropriately deliver my child’s special educational provision but there is a school at the other end of the country which could. Does that mean I can’t ask for education otherwise/EOTAS? Expand No. When a local authority (“LA”) makes a decision about EOTAS, it should apply a degree of common sense about it. When deciding if it would be inappropriate for the special educational provision to be made in a school, the LA has to think about if school would ‘not be suitable’ or ‘proper’, taking all the circumstances into account. A school very far away is unlikely to be somewhere a child could reasonably attend or ‘proper’.
It won’t be appropriate for my child’s special educational provision to be made in the school my local authority has said it wants to send her to. Can I ask for education otherwise/EOTAS? Expand If making the provision would be inappropriate at the local authority’s (“LA”) choice of school, could it be appropriate at other schools? If so, and your child could reasonably attend another school, the LA does not have to agree to EOTAS. Whether it’s inappropriate for your child’s special educational provision to be made in any school depends on your child’s specific special educational needs, or maybe the nature of the provision itself. If it would not be appropriate for your child’s provision to be delivered in any school (not just the LA’s choice), the LA can provide EOTAS for your child.
My LA has said my son’s special educational provision can be made in school if lots of adjustments are made and his therapy program is changed. By making it possible for school to make his provision, does this mean provision in school is appropriate? Expand With adjustments and changes to your son’s therapy program it may be possible for his needs to be met in school, but that does not necessarily mean it is appropriate. There should be evidence to back up any changes to his therapy programme too, it’s a good idea to speak to his therapist to check that all of his needs will still be met if the suggested changes were made. Even if they would be, the question is not whether it is possible but whether it would be inappropriate for the special educational provision to be made in school. This will depend on your child’s needs and provision. For example, if you son needs occupational therapy in a particular environment and equipment but there are no schools which would have a suitable room for the therapy sessions to be held in, then it might be inappropriate for this particular special educational provision to be made in school, and might have to be delivered elsewhere. Sometimes it will be inappropriate for some but not all of a child’s special educational provision to be made in school. Please see 'Can I ask for my child to attend school part-time?' for more information.
My child is in primary school and has a draft EHC plan. It’s appropriate for their special educational provision to be given in a school, but we haven’t been able to find the right one yet and nor has our local authority. What can we do? Expand Make sure you know what the law says about naming schools in EHC plans, in case the local authority (LA) has misunderstood it and so you know what your options are. For example, the LA might be able to name a school you would like your child to go to, even though the school has said it couldn’t take them. Your LA has to send you the final EHC plan within 20 weeks of you or your child's school asking for the EHC needs assessment. If there isn’t a school the LA can name in your child’s EHC plan by then, the LA can say what type of school it thinks will be appropriate for your child to go to: For example, section I of their final EHC plan could say “mainstream primary school” or “special primary school” rather than the name of a specific school. Whilst the LA can finalise the EHC plan in this way, it should continue to try to find a specific school. The LA must make sure your child gets a suitable, full time education and all of the special educational provision in section F of their final EHC plan too. Once an appropriate school is found, the LA must add its name to section I of the EHC plan. There’s a legal process the LA must follow when it changes an EHC plan. It must send you the changes it wants to make and give you at least 15 days to reply to: tell the LA any changes you want to see in the EHC plan, ask for a specific school/setting you want your child to go to (or say you agree with the one the LA has found), and ask for a meeting with the LA if you want one. If the LA says it uses a different process, you can tell it this is the legal one that it has to follow because of regulation 28 of The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014.
My child has an EHC plan which sets out an EOTAS package. Does our local authority have to help with transport to their different activities and therapies? Expand Your local authority (LA) will have a duty to provide home to school transport for eligible children of compulsory school age if they: attend a qualifying school are receiving alternative education under the LA’s section 19 Education Act 1996 duties, or have been suspended from school (but remain a registered pupil of that school) and attend a setting that is not a qualifying school and is not within the statutory walking distance of their home. None of these scenarios will apply if your child is being educated otherwise than in a school or college (EOTAS). In your situation, your LA’s transport team does not have a legal duty to provide transport (or help with your transport costs) to the various activities and places your child may be receiving their provision, for example transport to swimming or gymnastics, a therapy centre or social groups. However, you could still receive help with transport or transport costs. You: Can ask your LA to use its discretion to provide transport or assist with transport costs. Check your LA’s transport policy in its Local Offer to see if it says anything about about when it might consider providing transport. You should explain to your LA all the relevant facts and explain why it would be reasonable for the LA to use its discretion. Might be able to get help with transport or costs through your LA’s social care team. Section 2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 sets out the wide range of support an LA must put in place if certain conditions are met and it includes transport. The gateway to this is through a social care needs assessment. Please see our information on social care assessments to find out more. If your child’s needs are not eligible for transport support or the LA reasonably refuses to exercise its discretion, you will need to arrange transport (and pay the transport costs) for your child to receive their provision. This may include, for example, a therapist’s mileage costs to travel to your home, so do check with them what these costs are.
Can school stop my 13-year-old from attending equine therapy once a week, even though the LA agreed to it, because it's an unregistered alternative provision? My child doesn't have an EHC plan and is in the process of having an EHC needs assessment. Expand The statutory guidance Working together to improve school attendance (applicable from 19 August 2024) confirms (at paragraph 65) that in some circumstances a pupil’s education may be provided partially at school and partially somewhere else. It confirms that schools have responsibilities for the safeguarding and welfare of pupils attending an approved educational activity outside of school. However, “unregistered alternative provision arranged by the school” is an example of an approved educational activity in the guidance (paragraph 311). A school is permitted to arrange this if it is satisfied that “the activity is supervised by a person considered by the school to have the appropriate skills, training, experience and knowledge to ensure that the activity takes place safely and fulfils the educational purpose for which the pupil’s attendance has been approved.” (paragraph 310). There’s a specific code (code B) that the school has to use to record a child’s attendance in these circumstances (regulation 10(3) and 10(11) of The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024). However, if the local authority (LA) has agreed to arrange this provision, rather than the school, the LA may be doing so because of its duty under section 19 of the Education Act 1996. This duty means LAs must secure suitable, full-time education for children of compulsory school age who would not otherwise receive it. LAs can fulfil this duty by providing education outside of school on the days a child will not be at school. As this is the LA’s duty, it’s the LA (not school’s) decision whether your child can have equine therapy. The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024 has introduced a new attendance code for recording attendance at education provision arranged by the LA. Regulation 10(3) requires the school to use code K if a pupil is attending a place arranged by a local authority under its duty to secure: suitable, full-time alternative education for children of compulsory school age who would not otherwise receive it due to illness, exclusion or another reason (section 19 of the Education Act 1996) the special educational provision in section F of an EHC plan (section 42(2) of the Children and Families Act (CFA) 2014), or any special educational provision that it has decided is necessary for a child or young person for whom it is responsible to be made otherwise than in a school or post-16 institution (section 61 of the CFA 2014). Therefore, if the LA arranges your child’s equine therapy because it has a duty to, the school can’t stop it and must record that your child is attending provision arranged by the LA in the register using code K. If equine therapy is required to meet your child’s special educational needs, it will count as special educational provision. During the EHC needs assessment, you can make the case that it is not something mainstream schools provide from within their own resources and an EHC plan is necessary for your child to be able to access it long term. If the LA agrees to issue your child with an EHC plan and equine therapy is required to meet her needs, make sure it is described specifically in section F. Please see our information on what an EHC plan contains and what to do when you receive a draft EHC plan for more information.