Our SEN staff have been consulting with schools across the county to ensure a school place is named on EHC Plans by the national deadline of 15 February. This will mean that families can begin to prepare for the transition to their child’s new school in September.
“In 2023 we introduced measures to improve the phase transfer process, which we know can be an anxious time for parents,” said Christine McInnes, Director of Education and SEN.
“We contacted parents between June and September 2024 by email and included an online form for them to complete their preferred school or education setting. 93% of parents completed the form this year, an increase from 78% from 2024. This positively highlights the growing number of families taking direct part in this important step in education, strengthening the child and parent voice in even more cases each year.
“We will be letting parents know by Friday 14 February of their child’s school place,” added Christine. The emails will go to the email address of the person who submitted their school preference and parents are advised to check their spam folders or make sure they have enough email storage to accept the email.
There may be a small number of families where offers are still being discussed with schools, in which case a named school type will be added to the EHC Plan. In cases like this, we will be working as quickly as possible to resolve and issue the updated Plan.
We recognise that in some cases you may want to appeal the decision relating to the EHC plan. However, we will always try to resolve any issues informally at first and so please contact your child’s caseworker and they would be happy to discuss this with you. This would not affect your right to mediation or appeal. Our website has details of mediation support and appeals.
The national deadline for young people with an EHC Plan moving to a post-16 setting is 31 March.
EHCP Phase Transfer Consultation Offers
- Date
- Topics
- Education
The parents of children and young people with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan who are moving into either Year R (Reception), Year 3 (Junior) and Year 7 for September 2025 will find out by Saturday 15 February what school place their child has been offered for their next phase of education.
