A Phase Transition is the name for the change or transfer from one type of education to another. In particular, it refers to:
-early years education to school
-infant school to junior school
-primary school to middle school
-primary school to secondary school
-middle school to secondary school, or
-secondary school to a post-16 institution.
When a child has an EHCP, any change of educational placement requires an Annual Review. When this change would be one of those described above, that is considered a “Phase Transition”, and so the Annual Review is then held to look at the support that will be required in that new placement and to support that transition.
These reviews must be completed by certain dates, as laid out in the SEND Regulations 2014, Section 18.
If a child is moving from secondary school, to Post-16 education, then the review needs to be completed by the 31st of March.
A child moving from one Post-16 placement to another must have that review completed at least 5 months before the transfer date.
All other moves must have their reviews completed by the 15th of February.
As such, the Annual Review process should be started in the Autumn term of the year before you or your child is due to change school or educational placement.
If it hasn’t started, contact your current school and your EHCCo(Education Health Care Co-ordinator, previously known as Case Officers). Should you still not be happy, you can complain, or take other steps.
The process itself is the same as a typical Annual review, and you can find more information on those via our Annual Review web resources, including our Annual Review webinars.
Phase Transition Appeals have the same 2-month window as other types of SEND appeal. Should yo find yourself needing to make an appeal, follow the preceding link to read and watch more information, and get in touch if you need further support.
