Hi! There are specific provisions under most school admissions for children with Specific Educational Needs and an EHCP plan, (identified autism is one reason forna child to have an EHCP).
If a child’s EHCP names and justifies a particular school as bring required for that child (this needs to be in place BEFORE applications for secondary are made) then they usually come high up in the admissoon criteria, close to the Looked After Children priority category and above general admissioms, and should be offered a place. Some grammar schools still requirenthe child to get a passing grade in the entrance exams but this is subject to the school’s admission criteria, others just need the EHCP. So it depends which Grammar you mean.
From the point of view of being out of cachement: if your child has passed admissoon but does NOT have an EHCP that names the school, their autism does not guarantee them special treatment: they come under the general admissoon category like every other applicant, so sorry, it’s not grounds for appeal (there are a substantial number of high performing autistics who pass each year and many are unidentified or are known but don’t have an EHCP. even if they do, it conveys no advantage in terms of admission. Having a diagnosis/awareness of needs does get them on the SEN register for the school wjen they are admitted though).
So the Equality act is already imbedded in the syestem by the inclusion of the named-EHCP system, if that makes
sense. It doesn’t stop you appealing, but by this stage the school will be full, so it’s pretty unlikely an out of cachement child without an EHCP-naming-the-school will be able to overcome the prejudice to the school
of oversubscription.
If a child’s EHCP names and justifies a particular school as bring required for that child (this needs to be in place BEFORE applications for secondary are made) then they usually come high up in the admissoon criteria, close to the Looked After Children priority category and above general admissioms, and should be offered a place. Some grammar schools still requirenthe child to get a passing grade in the entrance exams but this is subject to the school’s admission criteria, others just need the EHCP. So it depends which Grammar you mean.
From the point of view of being out of cachement: if your child has passed admissoon but does NOT have an EHCP that names the school, their autism does not guarantee them special treatment: they come under the general admissoon category like every other applicant, so sorry, it’s not grounds for appeal (there are a substantial number of high performing autistics who pass each year and many are unidentified or are known but don’t have an EHCP. even if they do, it conveys no advantage in terms of admission. Having a diagnosis/awareness of needs does get them on the SEN register for the school wjen they are admitted though).
So the Equality act is already imbedded in the syestem by the inclusion of the named-EHCP system, if that makes
sense. It doesn’t stop you appealing, but by this stage the school will be full, so it’s pretty unlikely an out of cachement child without an EHCP-naming-the-school will be able to overcome the prejudice to the school
of oversubscription.
Statistics: Posted by Aethel — Thu Mar 21, 2024 3:24 am