Special Educational Needs and Admissions

If your child has a statement of special educational needs, then you should not go through the normal admissions process, even if you want your child to attend an oversubscribed mainstream school.

Special arrangements apply to children with statements which can mean that it is easier to obtain a place, as any appeal you bring will not be to the independent Appeal Panel, but to the Special Educational Needs Tribunal. The tribunal will take into account your child’s educational needs rather than just carrying out a balancing exercise and issues such as distance from school or church attendance are much less important. By 15th February, you should receive a new statement setting out the details of which school your child should attend the following September. However, you need to act quickly because Tribunal will not order a school to take a child if there genuinely is no space available.

If you still have not received an amended statement then you should contact us as soon as possible so that we can move matters forward for you, by legal action if necessary.