Find schools and SEND education options

Your school options

Most children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) can get the help they need in a mainstream school.

You can use our SEND Local Offer Directory to:

find mainstream primary schools and secondary schools
see how each school supports children and young people with SEND

Find a school:

Applying for a school place

How you apply for a school place depends on whether your child has an education, health and care plan (EHCP).

If your child does not have an EHCP

If your child does not have an EHCP, you will need to apply through the usual school admissions process.

Find out more about the school admissions process.

All mainstream schools and colleges must have help in place to support a child or young person with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

We have also created guidance to help families prepare for the move to secondary school.

Read our guide on moving to secondary school.

If your child has an EHCP

If your child has an EHCP, you can tell us which school, college or other education setting you would prefer them to attend.

You can do this:

when an EHCP is being prepared for the first time
during an annual review of the EHCP
when your child is moving to a different stage of education

Moving between stages of education is called a phase transfer.

Examples include:

early years education to primary school
infant school to junior school
primary school to secondary school
secondary school to a post-16 setting

The SEND Team manages the phase transfer process.

Find out more about: