Wiltshire SEND education guide

The freedom to educate children at home forms an intrinsic and essential element of educational provision in our society, a right that has been protected by a succession of Education Acts.

If you want to home educate your child, you should inform the headteacher of your child's school and the school should then inform us, see Home education for further information.

For a child with a Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) where a Special School is named the situation is different and the local authority must be consulted and give permission for education at home.

The local authority also take responsibility for ensuring that the Education, Health and Care Plan is reviewed annually. For information on home education including a guide for parents visit:

Home education

If your child has never attended school, please inform us of your decision to educate at home. You can contact an education welfare officer by email: EWS@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window) or you can talk to the SEND team about support with additional needs by visiting Contacting the Wiltshire SEND team.

Schools may wish to contact the Education Welfare Service for training and support on attendance related practice, more information can be found by visiting Right Choice: Education Welfare Service Information (opens new window).

Wiltshire Council acknowledge that some children and young people with EHCPs will benefit from access to Alternative Provision (AP) at points within their educational journey.  

The SEND Service is committed to supporting children and young people with EHCPs to remain in mainstream by offering early and targeted support, time limited and transitional places for pupils who need more intensive evidence-based support. However, the Service acknowledge that for some children and young people, a more specialist setting is required and are committed to ensuring access to the most appropriate setting as soon as this can be provided. 

Where decisions are made by the Service to fund AP directly or via banded funding, it is with the intention that learners receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time and will be able to enjoy their childhood, achieve good outcomes and be well prepared for adulthood and employment. 

Wiltshire Council's SEND Service are already providing or working towards providing (in some cases) the following: 

• Targeted AP by way of early support for learners in mainstream who would benefit from time limited inputs complementing their school provision, to ensure ongoing success 
• Time-limited Intensive AP placements where learners may spend more time away from their school-based lessons, sometimes as a reset opportunity if their placement is at risk or where further assessment is seen to be beneficial preparatory to a statutory decision being made about potential move to a more specialist setting, or where a Resource Base or Special School placement is being actively sought. Movers-In with decisions for Resource Base or Special School often benefit from these arrangements on an interim basis whilst such a placement is sought
• Longer-term AP placements for learners who have a decision for a change of placement and the Local Authority, child/young person (where appropriate) and their Parent/Carers agree that needs are best met in the AP placement currently and movement would best occur at age-phase transfer point with supportive transition  

The SEND Service works closely with Wiltshire Council's Targeted Education Team to ensure an integrated approach whereby SEND AP is primarily commissioned from providers who are subject to the stringent on-boarding and quality assurance available within the Wiltshire Approved Alternative Provision Framework (WAAP). 

For schools, parents, and other commissioners of Alternative Provision

Alternative Provision (AP) is education provision in which a learner participates:

• as part of their regular timetable
• (typically) away from the site of the school and
• not led by school staff or by parents

Any enhanced or extended provision led by school staff on or off the school site does not come under the government definition of AP.

Alternative providers can be commissioned by:

• Schools or
• Wiltshire Council  or
• Parents of a learner and/or a learner, who has been granted a personal budget to meet the outcomes detailed in the learner's EHCP

It is the responsibility of the commissioner to:

• source provision suitable to the learner's needs
• seek assurance about the quality of the provision (including safeguarding)
• pay for the provision and
• plan and review the placement at regular intervals with the alternative provider

In Wiltshire we have a directory of privately run providers who are quality assured by the council in terms of their safeguarding, health and safety and their teaching and learning arrangements. Schools and council teams generally use our Wiltshire Approved Alternative Provision (WAAP) directory of providers and select provision that best matches the needs of the learner to create a very personalised timetable. Occasionally, a school or a council team will choose a provider not listed on our directory. In such cases the school or council team undertakes quality assurance of the provision.

The most up to date information and support can always be found on the platform for Wiltshire SEN professionals: Right Choice: Alternative Provision resources (opens new window)

Email alternativeprovision@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window) to answer any further questions not covered by the Right Choice materials.

For more information visit:

Guide to Alternative Provision

For some children and young people, a formal school or college setting may not be suitable, and so a package of provision outside of this can be arranged. When conducting an EHC needs assessment, a re-assessment of needs or an Annual Review of a plan, the local authority may only consider EOTAS if it is satisfied,

that it would be inappropriate for the provision to be made in a school or post-16 institution or at such a place.

This means that Education other than at School (EOTAS) packages will only be created if the Local Authority determine that education cannot be provided any other way. EOTAS is made possible through Section 61 of the Children and Families Act 2014 (opens new window).

Under a formal EOTAS arrangement, the child or young person will not be required to be on the roll of, or attend, a "traditional" education setting. Instead, they will receive their education/special educational provision either at home or in some circumstances, within an external setting that is not a registered educational setting.

For a child with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), if EOTAS is agreed, the special educational provision will be clearly described in Section F and section I (name of school) will be left blank. There is more information about this here: IPSEA case law summary Derbyshire CC v EM and DM (SEN) [2019] (opens new window).

EOTAS is not the same as Elective Home Education (EHE). Whilst both may result in the child being educated at home, the local authority have different obligations depending on which is chosen. These packages are personalised to the needs of the individual. If you feel as if your child or young person would be best suited to EOTAS you should speak with your SEND Lead Worker.