Placing Requests

 

edinburgh

Placing Requests for Pupils with Additional Support Needs

Most pupils with additional support needs attend mainstream school but some pupils with additional support needs attend special classes or special schools.  The Education Authority is required by law to provide education in a mainstream school unless there are exceptional reasons not to.

Every mainstream primary and secondary school has a catchment area which is fixed by the Education Authority.  This is the geographical area around the school and it will vary in size from school to school.  So every pupil lives within the catchment area of a primary and secondary school and will automatically be allocated a place at that local school before the pupil is due to begin primary or secondary education.

However special classes and schools do not have catchment areas.  And there may also be situations when parents or young people prefer a mainstream school which is not their local school.  And there may also be very exceptional circumstances in which the Education Authority is of the view that the catchment mainstream school cannot meet the needs of the pupil but the parents are of a different view and want a place at that school. In this situation, the parents or young people have the right to make a placing request for the school or schools of their choice.

A list of special schools and special classes is available from the Parent and Pupil Support Manager – Additional Support for Learning whose contact details are given at the end of this leaflet and in an information booklet available online at www.edinburgh.gov.uk/inontheact.  This list includes special schools not under the management of the Education Authority, to which it is the practice of this Education Authority to send pupils.

A pupil may be a child or a young person.  A child is under 16 years of age and a young person is between 16 and 18 years of age.

A placing request for a child must be made in a certain way :

  • It must be made in writing which includes e-mail or some other form that can be kept and referred to later – for example an audio or videotape.
  • It must name a specific special school or special class – if you name more than one, only the first named school or class will be the subject of the placing request.
  • It must give a statement of reasons for the request.

The request would normally be made by the parents of the child but it could also be made by someone authorised by the parents to act on their behalf.

A placing request for a young person must be made by the young person themselves or by somebody the young person has authorised to act on their behalf – unless the young person does not have the ability to make such a choice in which case the parent(s) can make the placing request in the same way as for a child.  A placing request by a young person must be made in a certain way :

  • It must be made in writing which includes e-mail or some other form that can be kept and referred to later – for example an audio or videotape.
  • It must name a specific special school or special class – if you name more than one, only the first named school or class will be the subject of the placing request.
  • It must give a statement of reasons for the request.

It is also very helpful if :

  • The placing request gives the date of birth of the pupil or young person and the name of any school or nursery currently attended.
  • The placing request is addressed to the Parent and Pupil Support Manager whose details are given at the end of this leaflet.

Placing requests can be made for :

  • Any nursery school in Scotland managed by an Education Authority.
  • Any private nursery in Scotland which is in partnership with an Education Authority.
  • Any primary or secondary school in Scotland managed by an Education Authority.
  • Any class in Scotland which provides specifically for pupils with additional support needs which is attached to any nursery, primary or secondary school managed by an Education Authority.
  • Any independent or grant-aided special school in Scotland. However, the parent(s) or young person must have established that the school is willing to admit the pupil or young person – subject to agreement on the funding of the place – before a placing request can be made to the Education Authority to fund any such place.
  • Any school in England, Wales Northern Ireland or outwith the UK that provides wholly or mainly for children with additional support needs. However, the parent(s) or young person must have established that the school is willing to admit the pupil or young person – subject to agreement on the funding of the place – before a placing request can be made to the Education Authority to fund any such place.

The Education Authority makes decisions about placements in special nurseries, schools and classes after careful consideration of assessment information by a panel or panels of specialist advisers.  The membership of these panels will vary from pupil to pupil but it will always include a range of education professionals with expertise in the type of needs the pupil has and it will also include health professionals and / or social workers who also have expertise in the type of needs the pupil has.

The Education Authority will consider all kinds of specialist resources that may be needed to meet the pupil’s needs and this may include resources not mentioned in a placing request.

The Education Authority has a wide range of special nurseries, schools and classes.  Information about this provision is available from the Parent and Pupil Support Manager – Additional Support for Learning whose contact details are given at the end of this leaflet.  Several of these make the same kind of provision as each other but they are located in different parts of the city.  In a significant number of cases, the Education Authority does not feel able to grant the place which is the first choice of the parent(s) or young person.  The Education Authority uses the following criteria in approximate order of importance :

  • Residence within the borders of the City of Edinburgh Council. Most placing requests for children who live in other local authorities are refused because of the demand for places for children who live in Edinburgh.
  • The type and level of needs of the pupil and the type of needs which the nursery, school or class is best able to meet.
  • The presence of siblings.
  • Geographical distance.
  • In the case of special classes located in a Roman Catholic school, baptism in the Roman Catholic Church.

There are deadlines for the Education Authority to make a decision on placing requests :

  • If the placing request is for a place to start at the beginning of the school year in August – and if the placing request is received by no later than the 15th of March in the same year – then the deadline is 30th
  • If the placing request is for a place to start at the beginning of the school year in August – and if the placing request is received later than the 15th of March in the same year – then the deadline is two months after the date the placing request was received.
  • If the placing request is for a place to start before the beginning of the school year in August then the deadline is two months after the date the placing request was received.

Except in the case of a school outwith the United Kingdom, the Education Authority must grant a placing request unless there is a reason in law for refusing it.  Only one reason need apply and the reasons that may apply are :

  1. Where placing the pupil in the specified school would make it necessary for the Education Authority to take an additional teacher into employment.
  2. Where placing the pupil in the specified school would give rise to significant expenditure on extending or otherwise altering the accommodation or facilities provided there.
  3. Where placing the pupil in the specified school would be seriously detrimental to the continuity of the pupil’s education.
  4. Where placing the pupil in the specified school would be likely to be seriously detrimental to order and discipline in the school.
  5. Where placing the pupil in the specified school would be likely to be seriously detrimental to the educational well-being of pupils attending the school.
  6. Where the education normally provided at the specified school is not suited to the age, ability or aptitude of the pupil.
  7. Where the Education Authority have already required the pupil to discontinue attendance at the specified school.
  8. In a case of a special school not managed by the Education Authority, where the pupil does not have additional support needs requiring the education or special facilities normally provided there.
  9. In a case where the specified school is a single sex school, where the pupil is not of the sex admitted there.
  10. Where, assuming that pupil numbers remain constant, placing the pupil in the specified school would make it necessary at the commencement of a future stage of the pupil’s primary education for the authority to elect either to create an additional class (or an additional composite class) in the specified school or to take an additional teacher into employment at that school.
  11. Where, although neither 1. or 2. above apply, the capacity of the school would be exceeded in terms of pupil numbers.
  12. In a case where :
  13. the specified school is not a public school; and
  14. the authority are able to make provision for the additional support needs of the pupil in a school (whether or not a school under their management) other than the specified school; and
  • it is not reasonable, having regard both to the respective suitability and to the respective cost (including necessary incidental expenses) of the provision for the additional support needs of the pupil in the specified school and in the school referred to in paragraph ii. to place the pupil in the specified school; and
  1. the authority have offered to place the pupil in the school referred to in paragraph ii.
  2. In a case where the specified school is a special school and placing the pupil in the school would breach the requirement in section 15(1) of the Standards in Scotland’s Schools etc Act 2000 to provide education in a mainstream school unless there are the following exceptional circumstances :
  3. placing the pupil in a mainstream school would not be suited to the ability or aptitude of the pupil; or
  4. placing the pupil in a mainstream school would be incompatible with the provision of efficient education for the pupils with whom the pupil would be educated; or
  • placing the pupil in the mainstream school would result in unreasonable public expenditure being incurred which would not ordinarily be incurred.

If the Education Authority decides to refuse your request, then it must do certain things :

  • It must give you a decision in writing.
  • It must give you a reason or reasons in law for the decision.
  • It must advise you of your right of appeal.

The right of appeal is to the Health and Education Chamber Tribunal or to the Appeal Committee of the City of Edinburgh Council depending on the circumstances of the case.  The Education Authority will advise you which body you may appeal to and will provide you with further information about how to appeal.

An appeal against the refusal of a placing request can only be made once per year and it can only be for the first named special school or class which is the subject of the placing request if more than one school or class is named in the placing request.

A placing request can also be made for a school or class which is outside Scotland, England, Wales or Northern Ireland and in which all or most of the pupils have additional support needs.  However these placing requests are different from the other placing requests above because there is no right of appeal for these placing requests.  And the Education Authority may agree to the placing request on the condition that the parent(s) or some other body provide some of the funding for the place.  However the City of Edinburgh Council has never felt it necessary or appropriate to agree to such a request.

For more information about anything in this leaflet or anything else to do with additional support needs, you may wish to contact the Education Authority’s Parent and Pupil Support Manager – Additional Support for Learning whose contact details are :

Parent and Pupil Support Manager – Additional Support for Learning

Children’s Services

City of Edinburgh Council

Waverley Court

Level 1/2

4 East Market Street

Edinburgh

EH8 8BG

E-mail: adam.o’brien@edinburgh.gov.uk

Tel: 0131 469 3444

Also there is an information booklet available online at www.edinburgh.gov.uk/inontheact.

Also information and support is available from Children 1st, a national charity which is providing an independent information and support service for Edinburgh children and parents.  This service can be contacted in various ways :

Or you may wish to contact the national charity Enquire which provides a national information and advice service on behalf of the Scottish Government.  The telephone helpline number is 0845 1232303 or e-mail info@enquire.org.uk.