In this blogpost we’re going to take a closer look at the extent to which pupils with EHC plans in Year 7, typically the first year of secondary school, attend state-funded mainstream schools.
Other options, including state-funded and independent special schools, may be available to pupils. We are not assuming that mainstream is better, rather we are interested in the variation between schools in the percentage of pupils with EHC plans they enrol.
Parents of pupils with EHC plans can express a preference for a school. Their local authority will consult with the school about whether the pupil’s needs can be met but ultimately the final decision on which school will be named on the plan will rest with the local authority[1]. The analysis we present reflects those decisions.
We use data from the January School Census. We largely use data from 2022 but we also include previous years (2018 onwards). Our focus is on those aged 11 at the start of the academic year. The majority of these pupils will be in Year 7.
Firstly, we simply summarise the proportion of 11-year-olds at each state-funded mainstream school who have a EHC plan (or a statement of SEN in earlier years of the data).
