Moving into/out of Slough

If you are moving to Slough from a different county or local authority area, the previous school is required to transfer your child’s school records within 15 school days of your child no longer being registered at that school.

When transfer arrangements are made in advance, please provide the information in time for the new school to plan ahead for your child’s needs, such as arranging:

• the teaching methods
• equipment 
• special help

that is detailed in your child’s existing Individual Learning Plan. 

All special needs records and documents for your child should be transferred to the new school, including:

• any detailed background information gathered by the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo)
• copies of Individual Learning Plans
• the advice of any specialist teachers or Educational Psychologists working with your child. 

It is likely that the new school would want to review your child’s Individual learning plan as soon as possible, to fully understand your child’s special educational needs and the help they need in order to provide and meet those needs. 

Certain countries do not use the EHCP system, so you may be in a position where your child has been attending a special school without an EHCP.

In England, admission to a special school is routinely agreed through an EHCP so if this is the case, on arrival in Slough it is very important to contact:

• Slough School admissions team by emailing admissionshelpline@slough.gov.uk to secure a mainstream school placement.
• Slough SEND team by emailing sendteam@slough.gov.uk so they can consider whether to undertake an education health care needs assessment.

This may subsequently lead to the issuing of an EHCP and placement in a special school if appropriate. 

Slough does not normally make ‘emergency placements’ in special schools, prior to the completion of an education health care needs assessment and an EHCP.

If you are planning to move to Slough, the first thing to do is to telephone your current Local Authority’s Special Educational Needs Assessment team to let them know you are moving. This is the team which oversees your child’s EHCP and you will be able to find their contact details on any letters you have received regarding the EHCP or on your current local authority’s Local Offer website.

You should provide them with the:

• address you are moving from and to
• date you are moving
• name and type of school your child currently attends
• name of the Local Authority you are moving to (Slough). 

For a child with an EHCP, applications to schools are made through the SEND team. Call them on 01753 787676 or email sendteam@slough.gov.uk to let them know:

• when and where you are moving to
• what type of school your child currently attends.

Check choosing a school place for your child with SEN or an EHC plan.

The Slough SEND team will request from your previous council:

• a copy of your child’s EHC plan, if this has not already been sent.
• all previous reports, including recent annual review reports to ensure they have a clear understanding of your child’s needs.

Sometimes they may not be able to give any clear advice until these copies have been received. 

The Slough SEND team will look at the EHCP and supporting documents and consider the type of provision in Slough that would be appropriate to meet your child’s needs.

A placement offer cannot be made until the team has proof of residency such as: 

•  your tenancy agreement
•  a letter from your solicitor, or a utility bill bearing your name at the new address. 

Upon transfer of your child’s EHCP Slough Borough Council becomes responsible for maintaining the plan and for providing the help detailed within. 

The council has a policy of inclusion, which aims to ensure that the majority of children with special educational needs or disabilities are educated in mainstream schools, if this is consistent with the: 

• efficient use of resources
• needs of the child and other children within the class
• wishes of the parents. 

The duty of naming a school also transfers to Slough Borough Council. It may be that the school named in your child’s EHCP is now too far away for your child to attend and so the council would need to name a new school. 

Sometimes, depending on where you are moving from, your child may continue to attend their current school, if:

• you decide the journey time is reasonable or
• Slough Borough Council agrees an appropriate travel solution and your previous authority agrees to maintain the place. 

This may be agreed for a period of time while trying to find of a local option. 

Slough Borough Council:

• will try to make sure that your child is admitted to an appropriate school or provision as soon as possible after you move.
• must review the EHC plan within either 12 months from the EHC plan being made or last reviewed, or 3 months from the date of the transfer, whichever is the later. They must follow the correct process for an annual review.

If you will be moving to Slough, (whilst your child’s EHC needs assessment is underway), it is important that you let your child’s school and the Special Educational Needs Disability team in your current authority know about your move. This will ensure that all records, including reports which may have been already collated, can be quickly transferred to Slough. 

Once your move has taken place Slough Borough Council becomes responsible for continuing with the EHC needs assessment process. 

Slough Borough Council must transfer the EHC plan to the “new” authority. It is therefore important that you inform Slough Borough Council that you intend to move area.

Contact Slough SEND team on 01753 787676 or email sendteam@slough.gov.uk and give them your new address and the date you intend to move.

The transfer of the EHC plan must take place on the day of your move unless you were not able to give 15 days’ notice. Where this is the case, the 15 days starts from the date you informed them.

The Slough SEND team must transfer the EHC plan and their opinion they have reached under the Disabled Persons Act 1986, that the child or young person is disabled.

If your son/daughter does not have a plan but a statutory assessment is in progress, they must also transfer all the information/advice received.