Moving to or from the area if you have a child with a special educational need or disability

Moving to a new house can be a stressful time, but when you have a child with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) you will have extra things to consider.

If you are planning to move into or out of the area and your child has an education health and care plan (EHCP), you may want to know how you will get a new education placement or school named in your child’s EHCP. You may also need to find what services are available to you and your child before moving.

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My child has additional needs and I am moving into South Gloucestershire

If your child has additional needs that require additional support or is supported at SEN support at school, you should begin by looking at the education choices available to find out the schools available in South Gloucestershire.

You can search for schools in our online directory.

Before deciding on your child’s school choice, check the SEN information report that will be displayed on every school’s website showing how they support children with special educational needs. You can also contact the school and arrange to visit.

You can apply for a school through the school admissions service, available from South Gloucestershire Council. Although some schools manage their own admissions.

Further details regarding admissions can be read in our Primary Schools admissions and Secondary School admissions articles.  

When your child has received confirmation that they have a place at the school, you should contact the Special Education Needs Coordinator (SENCo) to organise a transition plan to help your child prepare for their first few weeks at their new school. You may find reading our article about planning for transitions useful to think about how best to help your child. 

My child has an Education Health and Care plan and I’m moving into the area

If your child has an education health and care plan (EHCP), you should begin by looking at what the different schools available in South Gloucestershire.  Before you decide on your parental preference of your child’s school choice, read the SEN information report that will be displayed on the school’s website(s) which describe how they support children with special educational needs. You can also contact the school and arrange to visit.

When you move into South Gloucestershire with a plan, the EHCP team will take responsibility for your child’s EHCP.

You will be contacted by their allocated SEND Case Officer.

The EHCP team will receive your child’s EHCP and supporting documents from your current authority. They will then decide whether to adopt it, or start a new statutory assessment.

You will be contacted in 6 weeks from when the team are aware of you moving into the area to advise you of what they have decided and to start consulting on placements.

If the EHCP team adopt an EHCP they will try to match the provision and type of placement detailed in it, however this is not always possible as schools in local authorities vary. Your SEND EHCP case officer will be able to discuss this with you.

The law states that time is to be given to consult the governing body of the school you have chosen for your child to attend. Please make sure you stay in contact with the EHCP team, this is likely to avoid any delays . Once the consultation process is complete and the school or other educational provider is named in your child's EHCP your son or daughter should start attending without delay

When your child has had confirmation that they have a place at the school you can contact the special education needs coordinator (SENCo) to organise how they can help support your child as they prepare for their first few weeks at their new school.  You may find reading our article about planning for transitions useful to think about how best to help your child. 

My child has health needs and I’m moving into South Gloucestershire

The first thing you should do when moving into South Gloucestershire is register with a local GP surgery and dentist. This will be the first step in accessing health services.

If your child is receiving targeted or specialist services, it is good practice to do some research before you move. Our Health articles provides information to local Health services.

If your child has an individual health care plan you provide  a copy of this to the new school so that appropriate support can be arranged. South Gloucestershire Council has a medical needs guidance which can be found in the South Glos Way Inclusion tool kit . 

My child has additional needs and I’m moving to another area 

If your child has additional needs that require additional support or is supported at SEN support at school, you should begin by examining the education options available and find out what schools are available in the area you wish to move to. All councils will have a SEND Local offer that will detail what local provision is available.

Before you decide on your child’s school choice check the SEN information report from the school’s website(s) which will explain how they support children with special educational needs. You can also contact the school and arrange to visit.

You will also need to look at the council’s admissions process of the area you will be moving to.  

When your child has had confirmation that they have a place at a school, contact the special education needs coordinator (SENCo) to organise how the school can help plan your child’s transition to help them prepare for their first few weeks at their new school. You may find reading our article about planning for transitions useful to think about how best to help your child.

My child has an EHCP and I’m moving to another area 

If you decide to move out of South Gloucestershire and your child has an education health and care plan (EHCP), the responsibility for your child’s EHCP is taken up by the new authority.

It is helpful for our EHCP team to know in advance if you are thinking of moving away from South Gloucestershire. This will help them to make sure that your child’s paperwork is ready to send to the new authority.

Before moving to a new authority, you should read their SEND Local Offer. This will give you information on their education, health and social care provision.

Further information can be found from IPSEA’s website regarding moving into a new Local Authority.

My child has health needs and I’m moving to another area 

The first thing to do when moving into a new area is to register with a local GP surgery and dentist. This will be the first step in accessing health services.

If your child is receiving support from health services do research before you move. Look for similar services on the councils SEND local offer. Talk to your current health practitioners and ask them how would you transfer to new health services.

If your child has an individual health care plan you can make sure a copy is given to the school so that appropriate support can be arranged. 

Moving house within South Gloucestershire

If you decide to move to a new house, but remain in South Gloucestershire, it may not affect your child’s Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or health services.  

You should let your EHCP case officer know about the move as early as you can, as they will need your new address and contact details.

With the change of address your child is likely to be moving schools.  This means that the content of provision sections of the plan will not change but a different closest school might be named in part I of the EHCP.

Should you decide for your child to continue to attend previous school but it is no longer the closest school to your new home address you will be responsible for arranging travel.

If you have transport to your child’s current school, this will need to be discussed and the eligibility for support with travel will have to be reassessed. If travel assistance is still to be given then enough notice needs to be provided to the admissions and transport team

Moving within the authority will not necessarily have an impact on any health support your child is receiving. However, some targeted and specialist services cover different geographic parts of South Gloucestershire, so discuss your planned move with health professionals involved in your child’s care.

Contact details

For general enquiries regarding SEND, including SEN Support Services, please contact Will Pritchard, Strategic Lead for inclusion and SEND: will.pritchard@southglos.gov.uk