EHC plans - naming a school, college or setting
If your child is due to start or change school in September you should tell us which school you'd like your child to go to within 15 days of receiving the draft EHC plan.
We will always make placement decisions in line with sections 9.78 to 9.94 of the SEND Code of Practice.
If you don't make a request for a particular school/setting, we will name the school closest to your child's home that can meet his or her needs and has the capacity to do so. We have to consult with the school before we name them in an EHC Plan. We have to name a secondary school by 14 or 15 February in the year your child starts secondary school and by 31 March in the year your child moves to a new setting for post-16 education.
Choosing and applying for a school, college or other educational setting
Pupils with an EHC Plan
Most pupils who have been identified as having SEND will have their needs met in a mainstream setting with the additional support available. Where pupils have a higher level or more complex needs these might best be met in a specialist resourced provision, specialist school or college.
If your child has an EHC plan, the school named in it must admit them.
Pupils without an EHC plan
If your child doesn't have an EHC plan you will have to apply for a school place in the same way as other parents
If your child is is currently under an EHC needs assessment, you should continue to follow the standard process and apply through admissions.. If you don't apply for a place and following the EHC needs assessment it is decided your child doesn't require an EHC plan you may miss out on a place at one of your preferred schools.
Schools, colleges and settings outside Bromley
If a child or young person has an EHC plan we will work in partnership with parents/carers to identify a school or setting that is able to meet their individual needs.
Most children and young people with SEN are well supported, and make good progress, in mainstream schools. When it is appropriate to place a child in a special school or specialist provision the council will initially seek to place a child within a maintained school within Bromley or in neighbouring borough areas.
Please see a full list of schools and colleges in Bromley. Each setting is required to publish its own SEND information report which is shown as a link with each school’s directory listing.
Occasionally a pupil with SEND may be placed within an independent or non-maintained setting either in Bromley or a neighbouring borough or another area. Where this is the case, the local authority would always seek to make a placement decision in line with the Secretary of State approved list of independent schools for children and young people who have SEND, under section 41 of the Children and Families Act.
You can also find details about schools outside of the London Borough of Bromley boundary via the government's schools finder database and our list of maintained, special and independent schools in and round the borough.