Education

Home education

Our Elective Home Education (EHE) Team provide information and support for learners who are home-schooled.

They have advice about alternative provision for 14 and 15-year-old home educated learners who wish to attend college on a part-time basis, and about post-16 options you may want to consider.

The Education Inclusion Service

The Education Inclusion Service provides a service to support with inclusion, reintegration and exclusion.

They also work with schools to support children who cannot attend school on a full-time basis because of their health needs.

You’ll be asked to start thinking about what you’d like to do when you finish year 11. This may sound a bit scary but help and advice will be available so that you know what your options might be, and you don’t have to make any final decisions yet.

If you have an EHC plan it will be reviewed every year. The review that happens in year 9 should focus on whether your support needs have changed and whether your support may need to be delivered differently in post-16 education. This could include a discussion about what your options are, and what you think you might want to do when you finish secondary school.

The review meeting organiser should invite representatives of post-16 institutions to these review meetings, particularly if there is a particular institution that you would like to attend.

If your school has a sixth form you may decide you want to stay there, or you may want to go to a further education college to study. We’ve put together some guidance about education for young adults that you might find useful.

If you have an EHC plan it will be reviewed. The team around you, led by your school, will help you to decide what you want to do at the end of year 11. In the autumn, you will be asked to tell Devon County Council what your education preference is after you have reached 16 years old.

We will then talk to the team around you to identify an education placement that provides you with an opportunity to meet your aspirations.

Because Devon is a large rural county, this may not be your nearest education setting so the team will talk to you about whether you will need any extra help to attend.

If you are moving to a new education provider we must tell you about your placement by 31 March when you are in year 11.

If you have stayed in education after 16, either at sixth form, or at a further education college, you may have the choice to stay on after the age of 18. Otherwise, you may need to make some decisions about what you want to do next. You could decide that you’d like to go to university, or that you’d like to make the move into employment.

If you have an EHC plan, you will be helped to think even further ahead and there will be discussions about your potential needs when you reach 19.

You need to give consent for your family to be involved in your education from age 16 onward. Your annual review can continue to involve your family if this is your choice.

You may have the option to stay on at college after you turn 18, or you may have moved on, perhaps to university. 

Your personal plan will set out any future study that you have already planned with us and what needs to be in place to enable you to achieve your goals. 

Discussions will be had about who needs to be part of the team around you – we will think about which professionals need to be part of your on-going support and who needs to contribute to meetings with you and partners. 

If you have an EHC plan, your annual review will be conducted with you and your family. The focus of this review is to ensure that you have a destination and that everyone is clear about the steps and the support you need to get there. 

If you are moving to a completely new provision, for example, a vocational pathway such as a supported internship, you and your family will be helped to identify the next steps. 

If it is agreed to cease the EHC plan, the SEND Statutory Team will work with your college to ensure you have an exit plan that includes knowing who you can turn to for support and advice as you look for work or further training as an adult, or how to gain the right support from the right services to ensure that you continue to thrive in adult life.

If your education is continuing we will explore with you your support needs and whether the need to be met through an EHC plan or by other ways.

Going to university

Once your place has been confirmed at a university, you can ask the team to pass a copy of your EHC plan to the university. This will help to ensure they have the information they need in order to meet your needs.

More information about higher education is available here.