Key Stage Transfers (frequently asked questions)

The SEND Admissions Team are responsible for undertaking consultations to schools throughout the key stage transfer process. During this process, the SEND Admissions Team will approach a specific setting and also may consult with other provisions alongside this.

Your SEND Case Officer and the L-SPA contact centre will have the consultation information available to them and will be able to give you the information on any school consultations taking place.

We will consult with your parental preference, which can be any school of your choice. However in some circumstances, we may not consult with a provider that is not Section 41 registered in line with the SEND Code of Practice.

'Section 41 registered' refers to independent special schools and post-16 institutions that are on the approved list published by the Secretary of State for Education, which are compliant with certain duties under the Children and Families Act 2014.

You are welcome to share any additional educational settings you have in mind. However, we cannot guarantee that all preferences beyond the initial choice will be considered or consulted with. If parental preference is not in line with the Local Authority's recommended type of school provision we may choose not to name that specific setting using the reasons set out in section 39 (4) of The Children and Families Act.

When selecting your parental preference, be mindful that the eligibility guidance to qualify for travel assistance will apply.

Please contact your SEND Case Officer if you have any queries regarding consultations or if you have concerns that a consultation has not been undertaken in line with parental preference.

There are over 2,000 school age pupils who are going through the Key Stage Transfer process in 2025. This is a 13.56% increase on last year. We do not automatically share consultation responses with families. However, your SEND Case Officer or the L-SPA contact centre will have the consultation information available to them and will be able to give you the information on any school consultations taking place, upon request.

Our aim is to place children in Surrey whenever possible and appropriate. We can, and do, place in out of county schools; however, understandably the home local authority (the local authority in which the school requested is situated) will often seek to secure these places for their own residents.

Where families live on the border and there is an appropriate out of county school nearby offering a space, we have no objection to placing in recognition that reducing journey times for transport and ensuring a good school life balance is also an important consideration for families. The home local authority confirming the places they need can be a delay in Surrey County Council naming those schools. We work with the other local authorities to understand the facts around their schools to ensure it is a suitable placement before communicating this to the families.

All consideration will be given to approaching a parental preference school choice and the decision of the Education Governance Board (EGB) regarding provision type. If you refer to the schools admissions guidance and scroll to the section: How places are allocated, this will detail the criteria Surrey follows when allocating school placements.

Surrey County Council is one of the largest local authorities in the country with over 16,000 pupils with an EHC plan and approximately 3,000 pupils who go through the Key Stage Transfer process each year. To manage and coordinate that number of consultations and responses there is a requirement for a dedicated team; this team is called SEND Admissions.

We work very closely with our SEND colleagues and the placement that is secured by the SEND Admissions Team is based on the recommendation of a Governance Board who confirm the appropriate type of SEND provision each child requires. There is a dedicated SEND Admissions Officer for each quadrant to streamline communication and to allow the SEND Admissions Officer to build up knowledge around each case through internal discussions with colleagues and schools. All placements are discussed with the appropriate SEND Teams.

Every child who is identified as going through the Key Stage Transfer (KST) process this year should have either a specific school or a type of school named by 15 February. This can be before 15 February where the school place has been agreed. Named school plans will start to be issued the week commencing 13 February 2025. There are over 2,000 school age EHCP KST plans and letters to issue.

Some schools have a specialist unit or resourced provision base attached to them. If the unit or resource provision is a separate institution, this will be named in section I of the EHCP. However, in Surrey, specialist centre placements areall part of a mainstream school. Legally we cannot name an education provision that does not have a unique Department of Education (DfE) registered number so the unit or resource provision cannot be specifically named in section I of the EHC plan - only the mainstream school.

Section F of the EHC plan should include a description of the special education provision that the child/young person requires, which is provided at the unit or base, for example :

• small class teaching for maths and literacy,
• onsite speech and language or occupational therapy,
• specially trained staff or
• spending a proportion of the school day in a small group as well as access to mainstream peers in a classroom setting.

The centre placement will be specified in the covering email attaching the letter sent to parents/carers together with the final EHC plan.

Students attending a special school satellite site will be enrolled at the main special school and then dual registered at their mainstream satellite site. Section I will name the specialist setting name (for example Philip Southcote School) and then state the Dual registered school (for example Kings International College).

Section F of the wording will state:

X will receive bespoke specialist interventions through a highly individualized curriculum from specialist school staff. This will take place in a smaller group of peers working at a similar level, in a specifically designed and equipped area of a mainstream school site. X will also have supported opportunities to mix with students from the mainstream setting for some lessons. Lunch and social time, as and when appropriate. This will be flexible and regularly reviewed with X.

The satellite placement will be specified in the covering email attaching the letter sent to parents/carers together with the final EHCP.

Philip Southcote School satellite sites include Kings International College, Chertsey High and Epsom and Ewell High.

Every child who is identified as going through the key stage transfer process this year should have either a specific school or a type of school named by 15 February. If you have not received your EHCP, please contact your SEND Case Officer.

Before the 15 February, we aim for the majority of children and their families to receive a finalised plan with a named school in their EHCP, but in some circumstances we may have to name "type" of provision.

The reasons for this are varied and dependent on the individual's circumstances.

For KST 2025 the Send Support Hub team, which is in addition to our L-SPA Contact Centre, will contact families, prior to 15 February, where Surrey will be naming type of provision in their plan. They will aim to keep you updated with the reasons why, advise which schools have been consulted with and the next steps. The admissions team will continue to work hard to confirm a suitable placement for your child by the start of the next academic year. In the meantime, the issuing of this final EHCP gives you your right of appeal. If you have any concerns about the type of education setting named please get in touch with your SEND Case Officer to discuss your concerns and to find a suitable way forward. You will receive a further update by 31 March. As soon as a placement is secured you will be informed.

During this period of uncertainty, you may wish to seek the free, confidential and impartial advice offered by SEND Advice Surrey. If you have any concerns regarding the content of the plan excluding section I you may wish to apply for free independent mediation by emailing: sen@globalmediation.co.uk or contacting a mediation adviser on 0800 064 4488. If you wish to appeal the school named or type of school , you can contact HM Courts and Tribunals service on 01325 289350 or send@justice.gov.uk within 2 months of the date of the covering Key Stage EHCP letter. You do not need to apply for a mediation certificate in these circumstances. Full details are provided within your covering letter.

For children where the EHCP is issued, just before or after the key stage transfer deadline they do not fall within the statutory key stage transfer process and the 15 February deadline does not apply. However, identifying a school place is still a priority and we will continue work on identifying places for all children with an EHCP as a priority. We aim for the majority of children to have a confirmed place before they are due to transition.

We would encourage you to submit an application for travel assistance as soon as your school/ setting has been confirmed and an EHCP naming the school/ setting has been issued. If your child is under 16 years, and has been placed at the same school, you will need to reapply for travel assistance, unless instructed otherwise. If you would like to contact the Surrey School Travel and Assessment Team please submit an online enquiry form. For further information see our travel assistance page.

Use the home to school eligibility checker, or read our eligibility guidance. For some students Section I of the EHCP will have a transport caveat. This means the Local Authority found a nearer appropriate/suitable school, to meet your child's needs over your parental preference. The wording will state your child can attend your parental preference school 'on the condition the parents pay the cost of transport'.

Unlike mainstream admission school places for children with an EHCP are confirmed as soon as we are able. This is done on a case by case basis. This means that some families are notified earlier than others. If you have not received notification of a confirmed place, it does not mean your child does not have a place as we will be confirming places and issuing final EHCP's right up to the 15 February deadline. We will also contact all families where a child does not have a named school place by 15 February.

Whilst SEND Case Officers are working at pace to send final EHCP's before the 15 February they may not be available to take calls, however the L-SPA Contact Centre staff are available to answer any queries you may have, call 0300 200 1015.

The SEND guidance states that for the 15 February deadline an appropriate type of placement should be confirmed and ordinarily that will also state the name of the school.

Although the Code of Practice allows the Local Authority to name a type of provision, we recognise this is not ideal and can leave children, young people and families feeling anxious about their next placement. We are therefore working extremely hard with colleagues to bring on more provision to meet demand, improve inclusion services within our existing schools and build on communications around key statutory deadlines. As we are increasing our SEND Placements across the County we expect this will reduce the number of EHCPs with type named instead of a specific school.

The process for transition is prioritised by Local Authority at the Annual Review in the year proceeding transfer. We have revised the SEND Admissions process for 2024 to improve and streamline the process, which we hope will improve the KST experience for parents and families.

Your SEND Case Officer will work closely with you to discuss possible alternative options to ensure that your child has access to an appropriate education for September. The possible next steps are set out below whilst the Local Authority continues to seek a school placement. Options could include:

• for children who have yet to reach compulsory school age they may be able to continue attending their existing pre-school/nursery until there is school place.
• for children in Year 2 mainstream they may be able to continue at their current school with a package of support until a specialist school is identified
• provision of Access to Education or Surrey Online School
• an alternative provision package

We are aware that in some circumstances, your preference (NMI) school may have offered a school place. In order for the local authority to fully consider this, we must have exhausted all maintained provisions. Please be assured that discussions with schools can continue post deadline . Your SEND Case Officer will keep you updated with the progress of this.

Every young person identified as going through the key stage transfer process this year should have either a specific post-16 institution or type of provision named by the 31 March. This can be before the 31 March if the place has been agreed.

Every young person who is identified as going through the key stage transfer process this year should have either a specific post-16 institution or type of provision named by the 31 March. This is the statutory deadline as set out in the SEND Code of Practice, but if you haven't received an EHC Plan by the deadline, please contact your SEND Case Officer.

Before the 31 March, we aim for the majority of young people to receive a finalised plan with a named placement in their EHCP, but in some circumstances we may have to name "type" of provision. The reasons for this are varied and dependent on the individual's circumstances, but your SEND Case Officer will keep you updated with the reasons why and the timeline for naming a Post-16 Provider where appropriate.

In some instances, Further Education (FE) may be named in Section I of the EHCP as the type of provision the young person will be attending. This is usually to allow the young person some flexibility. Often there are multiple offers from FE colleges and a young person may take additional time to make a final decision. Some young people wait for their GCSE results before making a final decision on their placement or course.

The SEND guidance states that for the 31 March deadline an appropriate type of placement should be confirmed and ordinarily that will also state the name of the educational provider. Although the Code of Practice allows the Local Authority to name a type of provision, we recognise this is not ideal and can leave some young people and families feeling anxious about their next placement. We are therefore working extremely hard with colleagues to meet demand and improve inclusion services within our existing Post-16 Providers and build on communications around key statutory deadlines.

If a young person requires a specialist placement for Post 16 the SEND Admissions will carry out the consultations to appropriate settings/providers throughout the key stage transfer process. During this process, the SEND Admissions Team will approach a specific setting/provider by request from the young person/parent or carer (parental preference) as well as other appropriate provisions.

Your SEND Case Officer will have the consultation information available to them and will be able to give you the information on any Post-16 Provider consultations taking place.

If a parent / carer or young person makes a request for a certain provision, approved under section 41 of the Children and Families Act 2014 in England and Wales the SEND Admissions Team will consult with that preference. However, in some circumstances, we may not consult with a provider that is not Section 41 registered in line with the SEND Code of Practice 2014. Section 41 is a list of all independent schools and special post-16 institutions for children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) and we do not have to consult with settings that are not recorded on this list.

Please contact your SEND Case Officer if you have any queries regarding consultations or if you have concerns that a consultation has not been undertaken in line with parental preference.

Due to the high numbers of young people going through this process we do not automatically share consultation responses with families. However, your SEND Case Officer will have the consultation information available to them and will be able to give you any information you may need about the responses.

If you are unable to contact your SEND Case Officer you can call the contact centre on 0300 200 1015 who will be able to arrange a call back for you within 2 working days.. They can also answer questions on behalf of the Case Officer where relevant.

If your Case Officer does not make contact and you wish to escalate this you can contact their Senior case manager, the contact information for the Senior Case Manager can be obtained through the contact centre on 0300 200 1015.

Every young person who is identified as going through the key stage transfer process this year should have either a specific post-16 institution or type of provision named by the 31 March. This is the statutory deadline as per the SEND Code of Practice, but if you haven't received an EHC Plan, please contact your SEND Case Officer.

Before the 31 March, we aim for the majority of young people to receive a finalised plan with a named placement in their EHCP, but in some circumstances we may have to name "type" of provision. The reasons for this are varied and dependent on the individual's circumstances, but your SEND Case Officer will keep you updated with the reasons why and the timeline for naming a Post-16 Provider.

In some instances, FE may be named as a type of provision, and this could be due to Young people having multiple college offers, or whom are waiting for GCSE results in order to determine college courses and colleges.

So that we can manage and coordinate the large volume of consultations and responses we have established a dedicated team to focus on this important area of work – SEND Admissions. SEND Admissions work very closely with the Area Teams, Case Officers and other colleagues. The placement secured by the SEND Admissions Team is based on the recommendation of a multi-professional Governance Board who confirm the appropriate type of educational provision each child or young person requires. There is a dedicated SEND Admissions Officer for Post 16 who has specific expertise in this area.

Sometimes it is not possible to identify the course a young person wants to do. Please contact your Case Officer if:

• The college named does not offer the course as when the EHCP was issued,
• A young person does not meet the entry requirements following exam results, or
• A young person changes their mind about what they want to do

There is no duty for Local authorities to provide free or subsidised post-16 travel support. Some young people may qualify for travel assistance in certain circumstances but this is not an automatic entitlement.

The Council will only provide travel assistance for learners of sixth form age where it considers that travel assistance has been demonstrated as necessary to enable the young person to reasonably access their education or training provision.

For more information, including the relevant eligibility criteria, please see the Travel Assistance pages on Surrey's Website.

• An application for travel assistance can be submitted on Surrey's website here. You will need to complete an application form so that we can assess your child/young persons eligibility.
• Further information can be found by looking at the Authority's Post-16 Travel Policy Statement. It is important to note the policy differs from the Pre 16 travel assistance policy and assistance may be provided through different means.

If we agree that a young person is eligible for assistance, this will provide travel assistance in the form of a post-16 travel allowance (ITA). If there are exceptional circumstances where an ITA may not be appropriate, families can make representations to the Council via the travel assistance appeals process.