Thank you for your question. We understand that the uncertainty surrounding wait times for neurodevelopmental assessments—especially when they stretch well beyond 18 months—is both frustrating and anxiety‐provoking. Many families have shared similar concerns as waiting times approach or even exceed two years. This delay can make it challenging to decide whether to pursue the traditional pathway or explore the “right to choose” option.
Here are some steps you can take to give you more clarity:
NHS Dorset have been working alongside practitioners, educators, social care, and families with lived experience to improve the support available while you wait. Initiatives include:
NHS Dorset is committed to refining the neurodevelopmental pathway in Dorset. We recognise the complexity of the current landscape and are working hard to provide clearer information around waiting lists and available support options. In the near future, we plan to publish a detailed summary of “right to choose” providers and instructions for families.
If your child has an EHCP, start by discussing options with the person in school who knows your child best—this might be the SENCO, the AP lead, or your child’s class teacher. Their insights are crucial in matching the support detailed in Section F of the EHCP with an appropriate alternative provision.
For children without an EHCP, every school has an inclusion lead who can help. These professionals are experienced in supporting children who might be facing educational or attendance challenges and can guide you in initiating a request for alternative provision.
Once you’ve established the need for additional support, the school will work through the Central Learning Centre panel. Providers receive the EHCP’s detailed requirements and are given about 15 days to respond with an expression of interest. Their proposals are then discussed with you and, importantly, with your child so that all views are considered. If a single offer does not meet your child’s needs, further consultation and a potential re-evaluation of available providers take place.
This collaborative process drawing on the expertise of school staff, inclusion leads, and input from parents and the child, ensures that the chosen provision best supports your child’s unique learning and development needs.
We’ve been working closely with all three secondary schools in West Dorset. This collaborative process has led to an exciting development: from September, we will launch two new inclusion hubs; a hub for children Communication Interaction at Beaminster Secondary School for 10 children and a smaller counterpart at Woodroffe School. This dual-hub approach ensures that provision is available closer. This means children can stay with their friends and other children from their local area when they move from primary to secondary school. These places will be available from September 2025 and we are currently working with both schools to identify children already attending the schools or about to move to the school in September who would be suitable for a place.
For post-16 provision, we are equally committed to safeguarding our young people’s futures. We are actively engaging with further education providers, including Kingston Maurward College and Yeovil College, to enhance the transition pathways for learners coming from Year 10 and 11. Our aim is to ensure that, as they move into post-16 education, they continue to have strong, community-based support.
We understand any frustrations from parents who feel that finding the right provider can be challenging. Although parents are an important decision maker in this process, they also need a team of professionals working with them to find the best education option for their child.
We have a clear statutory obligation to offer an alternative provision (AP) for education outside of school. This means that while we engage various providers, only those who are fully registered—and therefore qualified as exam centres—can support children fully, including facilitating examinations. Many valuable tutoring organizations, although excellent at delivering subject-specific tuition, are unregistered. This regulatory constraint means they can provide up to 15 hours of provision, rather than the full-time provision that some children might require. The law states that it should be the equivalent to fulltime education if suitable for the young person and that if they are receiving 1:1 tuition or provision it is reasonable for this to be less due to the focused attention the young person receives if 1:1.
In practice, this means we work closely with schools, registered AP settings, young people, and their families to determine the most suitable support package. We tailor the hours based on each child’s capacity and needs, ensuring that every student is supported within the framework of existing legislation while striving to offer a pathway that best suits their educational journey.
If you wish to discuss a specific situation, please contact letstalksend@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk.
One hour of teaching is absolutely not enough for a Year 10 student aiming to complete 10 GCSEs. We understand the concern when a 15-year-old is working solely with the outreach team from a learning centre that this level of provision does not fully support the academic demands. We know that each student has different capabilities; some may manage the equivalent to being at school fulltime with additional support, while others may require adjustments to their study program. If a young person is receiving one to one provision it is usual to provide less hours due to the intensity of one to one.
In such circumstances we try to take a person-centred approach and do what is best for the young person in discussion with the school they are on roll with, the young person and their family. If the young person in on roll with a school the school are responsible for providing the education with the LA.
Feel free to contact us at letstalksend@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk with more details of your specific situation.
We understand that schools have a number of responsibilities and often require additional resources to meet the specific needs of some students. The school have a duty of care to provide appropriate provision to meet the needs of all the children, this may include creating alternative provision on site or accessing offsite provision.
It can be suitable for some young children, depending on their needs, alongside the school. It is most effective if delivered on the school site as this supports both the child and school and maintains the sense of belonging to the school. This is usually a short-term intervention, 'circuit break'. We'd recommend discussing with the school.
We know of some schools that have been developing their own type of alternative provision. For example, one school has just built a Nurture through Nature base for primary aged children and their parents. It’s part time AP linked to outdoor curriculum and emotional regulation. It works very well for primary aged children
In short, alternative provision (AP) under EOTAS (Education Otherwise Than At School) is more comprehensive, personalised, and directly managed by the local authority, whereas alternative provision for a child still on roll is coordinated with and overseen by the school. Alternative Provision in most instances is considered an intervention rather than a destination.
When a child is on roll at a school, any alternative provision is arranged in partnership with the school. The school retains responsibility for the child’s education and works with the local authority, the family, and the child to ensure that the AP complements the school’s offer. This is usually part of a broader plan to support the child while keeping them connected to the school setting.
However, when a child moves to an EOTAS arrangement, the situation changes significantly:
Parents can find more information on the All Age Neurodevelopmental Pathway website.
Areas of focus include developing a new profile tool, partnership for neurodiversity in schools, and our plans to increase additional assessment appointments.
Dorchester Learning Centre and the Forum Learning Centre are broadening their provision to support primary-aged children as well as secondary students. For example, the Forum Learning Centre—currently based near Blandford School are soon expanding through a repurposed site in the Wimborne area—will offer dual registration to accommodate primary children (Key Stage 2). The Learning centres all provide support into school in the way of staff from the learning centres visiting schools to provide advice and guidance to all our schools with the aim of supporting schools to identify needs and meet them earlier.
Additionally, our newly opened inclusion hub in Weymouth supports children with social, emotional, and mental health needs, ensuring primary students remain enrolled in their main schools to preserve essential relationships.
From September, we will launch two new inclusion hubs; a hub for children with Communication and Interaction at Beaminster Secondary School for 10 children and a smaller counterpart at Woodroffe School. These places will be available from September 2025 and we are currently working with both schools to identify children already attending or about to move to the school in September who would be suitable for a place.
We will provide more details of about the Beaminster hub on the local offer Dorset Council
This sounds like a unique situation. Providing a tutor as part of the alternative provision offer may be adding an additional layer of complexity as more organisations are involved.
Feel free to contact us at letstalksend@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk with more details of your specific situation.
We are sorry to hear your child can only attend school for a couple of hours due to these challenges.
Outreach provision works best in primary settings. Staff make multiple visits to primary schools, actively engaging with children and their families to assess the situation, address pressures, and advise schools on strategies to alleviate classroom challenges. This approach ensures that we support the child within their familiar environment and help maintain their place in mainstream education through clear, collaborative communication with all stakeholders.
If the outreach placement does not meet your child’s needs, the next step is to review their provision as set out in their EHCP. In such cases, we should call a review with your child’s provision lead and their school. This review will examine how the current support is working and determine the most appropriate next steps tailored to your child’s needs.
Dorset has a position statement on PDA, your SEND Provision Lead will work with you to decide how the needs of your child can be met.
Thank your feedback on this. We try and think carefully about the words we use and how they can be perceived.
Brokerage is a process that enables us to work with external private organisations, to provide a service within an agreed boundary.
We understand that transporting children to alternative provision can have financial implications, and we aim to support families as best we can. We apologise if you were not made aware of the fuel allowance claim process. When there are gaps in our information and communication parent feedback is always very valuable.
Information about travel assistance, including fuel allowances, is available on our website and through direct communication from relevant teams. There are not specific references to AP on this page, so that is something we can look to clarify our information on.
We are very mindful of the risk of an alternative provider unintentionally becoming an unregistered or illegal school. This can happen if they provide more than 15 hours of education per week or if they serve a certain number of children, which would meet the Department for Education’s criteria for needing to register as a school.
To avoid this Dorset Council teams, work with providers to monitor both the number of hours and the number of children attending. We also coordinate with schools, especially when they are commissioning the same providers, to ensure that collectively we’re not tipping a setting into becoming an unregistered school.
If this hasn’t been clearly communicated in your case, please contact letstalksend@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk and we will hope to follow up with more detailed information.
