Naming a school

Parents may express a preference for the school in the maintained sector they wish their child to attend, or make representations for a placement outside the maintained sector. LEAs must comply with a parental preference unless the school is unsuitable to the child's age, ability, aptitude or special educational needs, or the placement would be incompatible with the efficient education of the other children with whom the child would be educated, or with the efficient use of resources.  LEAs must consider parental representations and arrange any meeting(s) the parents seek, before issuing the final statement.
(Schedule 10, paras 3-5(1), Regulations 12 to 14)


4:40. The LEA must explain to parents the arrangements for expressing a preference for a particular school under paragraph 3 of Schedule 10 of the Act and the LEA's qualified duty to comply with that preference.  Paragraph 4 of the same Schedule gives parents the right to make representations, which the LEA must consider, about the content of the statement; and the right to request meetings to discuss any aspect of the content of the proposed statement, including the advice obtained during the statutory assessment.

4:41. Three considerations govern the naming of a school in a statement: the placement must be appropriate to the child's needs, while also compatible with the interests of other children already in the school and with the efficient use of the LEA's resources.

4:42. Under section 160 of the Act, LEAs have a qualified duty to secure that children with special educational needs, including children with statements, are educated in mainstream  schools.  If parents express a preference for a mainstream school, the LEA must comply that preference so long as the three conditions in paragraph 4:41 are met.  If those conditions do not apply in the mainstream school preferred by the child's parents would apply in another, the LEA must name that alternative school, in fulfilment of its under section 160.  If, however, the conditions would not apply in any mainstream school, the LEA will look to a special school placement or alternative arrangements.

4:43. Parents may, of course, express a preference for a maintained special school.  If they do so the LEA no longer have a duty under section 160 to secure a mainstream education for child.  But neither do the parents have a veto on mainstream education: all will depend upon the three criteria in paragraph 4:41 above, considered in the light of a thorough assessment of the child's special educational needs and the provision necessary to meet them.

4:44. The LEA must comply with a parental preference for a maintained special school so long as the three conditions - appropriateness for the child and compatibility with the interests of other children and the efficient use of resources - are met.  But if a special school would be unsuitable for the child, or his or her attendance at the special school would be unsuitable