Education outside of schools

EOTAS means your child learns full time, but not in a school.

Sometimes, learning at home or in a different place can be difficult. It might not be right for your child to do full-time hours. We try to help every child get a full time education. If that’s not possible, we will look at the plan to see what’s best.

EOTAS for children aged 5 to 16

To count a full time learning your child must learn:

• for 22.5 and 25 hours each week, over 190 days of the academic year (usually 39 weeks)
• similar things that they would at school, unless the EHCP states a variation

Learning does not have to happen during normal school hours.  

EOTAS for young people aged 16 and over

To count a full time learning your child must learn:

• for around 580 hours per year (19 hours per week), over about 31 weeks in a year
• work towards their goals for the future

Usually, we place children in a school, college or other educational setting. EOTAS means your child learns somewhere other than at school, so this is called a 'change of placement'.

You must speak to your special needs officer (SNO) for help if you want to ask for EOTAS.

We usually talk about the change during your child's EHCP annual review. The people at the meeting include:

• professionals who work with the child
• the child's parent or carer
• the child

Your SNO will talk to their manager about your request for EOTAS. If there are good reasons with evidence to support making the change, we send the request to the Resourcing and Considerations panel. They decide what happens next or give advice.

When we say yes to a change of placement to EOTAS we will:

• look at the child's needs in an 'allocations and mapping' meeting
• create a plan that meets the child's needs called an 'offer of provision'
• send a notice that will explain the change and give extra details about the EOTAS the child will receive
• give the child a contact person from the EOTAS or Elective Home Education (EHE) team to help with the change
• make sure a special needs officer contacts you about the EOTAS provision

We review EOTAS once a year, just like we do for EHCP's. The Resourcing and Considerations Panel will decide if anything needs to change or give advice if:

• there is a reason, with evidence, that the child should return to education at a setting such as nursery, school or college
• the child's parent or carer wants the child to return to formal education
• the child needs more help with their education

Whilst we must decide what is suitable education, we also consider what you and your child want. We will work with you to arrange education that meets the needs of your child's EHCP.

We will:

• ask parents, carers and children what they they
• provide specialist help to plan EOTAS
• always try to use providers we already work with (who have gone through the commissioning process)

Using a provider we have not approved yet

Sometimes, you might want to use a provider that we do not already work with. If we cannot find a suitable approved provider, we will look at your request and decide if we can use the one you suggest.

EOTAS can be complicated and often involves more than one provider.

If a problem happens that we cannot fix by communicating, we will set up a meeting to talk about what to do. The parent or carer, the child and the SNO will attend the meeting. If the young person is over the age of 18, they can speak directly with their SNO.  

If you want to change the EOTAS plan or you do not agree with the offer, you need to think about:

• how much notice the current provider needs
• making time to talk with the new provider
• if the new provider is available
• the time needed to make a decision

The West Sussex SEN Assessment Team (SENAT) will try to make the agreed changes as quickly as they can.