Which school goes in Section I is one of the biggest decisions in the whole EHCP process, and the law gives you real power over it. Here is the headline: you have the right to request the school you want, and the Local Authority must name it in the plan unless one of a short list of legal exceptions applies.
This guide covers England. It walks through where your right comes from, what the exceptions actually mean, the deadlines that protect a school move, and how to make a request that is hard to refuse.
Where your right comes from
When the draft plan arrives, section 38(2) of the Children and Families Act 2014 requires the Local Authority to notify you of your right to make representations on the draft, and of your right to request that a particular school or other institution be named in it. You then have at least 15 days, beginning with the day the draft was served, under regulation 13(1)(a) of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014. Your school request belongs inside that window.
The right applies to the types of school and institution listed in the Act, which include mainstream and special schools. If you are not sure whether the setting you have in mind is covered, our name-a-school letter guide walks you through it before you write.
The duty to name your school
Section 39(3) of the Children and Families Act 2014 is unusually blunt for legislation. Where a parent or young person requests a school, the EHC plan must name “the school or other institution specified in the request, unless subsection (4) applies”.
Read the structure of that sentence again. Naming your school is the default position, the legal starting point. Not naming it is the exception, and the exceptions are specific, written down, and short.
The exceptions in section 39(4), decoded
| The exception | What it is really about | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| The school is unsuitable for your child’s age, ability, aptitude or special educational needs | Whether this particular school can meet this particular child’s needs | Match the evidence: professional reports, the school’s own view, and how each need in the plan maps to what the school offers |
| Your child’s attendance would be incompatible with the efficient education of others | The claimed effect on the education of other pupils at that school | Ask, in writing, what the specific impact is said to be and what steps or adjustments were considered |
| Your child’s attendance would be incompatible with the efficient use of resources | In practice, resources and cost to the public purse | Ask for the comparison in writing: what is each option said to cost, and on what evidence |
Two things follow from that list. First, none of the exceptions is “we prefer a different school” or “our usual policy is”: a refusal has to land on one of these specific grounds. Second, every ground is a question of evidence, so your reply should be evidence too.
If the Local Authority does not name your requested school, ask it to confirm in writing which exception it relies on and why. A named exception can be examined and answered; a vague no cannot, and the law does not deal in vague nos.
The deadlines that protect a school move
School moves under an EHC plan are not left to chance timing. When your child is approaching a phase transfer, regulation 18 of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 requires the plan to be reviewed and amended, where necessary, by a fixed date in the calendar year of the move, so that the plan names the next placement before the transfer happens.
| The transfer | The plan must be reviewed and amended by |
|---|---|
| Transfer from secondary school to a post-16 institution | 31 March in the calendar year of transfer |
| Any other phase transfer, for example infant to junior or primary to secondary | 15 February in the calendar year of transfer |
Those dates are why the autumn term before a move is the time to raise placement, not the summer after the deadline has passed. Outside transfer years the plan is not frozen either: section 44 of the Children and Families Act 2014 requires every EHC plan to be reviewed at least once every 12 months, and a review is a proper moment to look at placement again.
Making the request well
A strong request is specific and evidenced, not emotional. The aim is to make the easy legal answer the one you want.
- Name the exact school or institution, in writing, inside your 15-day window or at the phase-transfer review.
- Tie the choice to the plan itself: which of your child’s needs this school can meet, and how its provision matches what the plan specifies.
- Anticipate the section 39(4) grounds: suitability, the education of others, and resources, and address them calmly with evidence rather than waiting for them to be raised.
- Keep a dated copy of everything you send.
Our free name-a-school letter has the structure and the legal references ready to adapt. It pairs naturally with our draft plan checklist lesson if the draft is on your kitchen table right now, and both sit inside SCOPE, our free course.
If the answer is no
A no on Section I is a decision with reasons, and decisions with reasons can be tested. Start by pinning down the exception relied on and the evidence behind it, in writing. Disagreements about what a final plan says, including the school it names, can go to mediation and on to the independent SEND Tribunal, which decides between the family’s case and the Local Authority’s.
If you are weighing up what to do next, our free two-minute SEND Rights Quiz points you to the route that fits where you are, from a first conversation to a formal challenge.
Section I is one box on a long form. It is also the name of the place your child will walk into every school morning. The law hands you a genuine say in what that box says: use the window, use the letter, and make your case in writing.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Everything we publish is checked against primary sources; the law is stated as at July 2026.