If your child has additional support needs and is moving from a school in Scotland which is funded by the local authority, then the local authority of their current school continues to have a legal responsibility to support your child until they are attending the new school. The part of the law that covers this is the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004. 

As part of the move, schools and local authorities should plan for transition as early as possible and work together to support continuity in your child’s learning and support arrangements. This may include sharing relevant information, considering existing supports and plans, and involving any professionals supporting your child.

Your views, and your child’s views, should be considered when decisions are being made about support during the move.

You can find further information on the law on our page What the law says about additional support for learning.

Below is a step-by-step guide to the general process families may go through when moving schools with a child who has additional support needs.

Your experience might have a few more or a few less steps depending on your local authorities’ procedures and your child’s needs.

Step 1:

You have found out that you are moving – inform your child’s school as soon as you are able to.

Step 2:

Identify which school is likely to best meet your child’s needs. Contact the additional support for learning (ASL) or school admissions team for the local authority you are moving to. They should tell you whether you need to make a placing request or if the school is already within your new catchment area.

You can find out more about this process on our page Placing requests.

Step 3:

You can request a transition planning meeting with your child’s current school, the new school (sometimes referred to as the ‘receiving school’), and any other relevant professionals (for example from your child’s health or social care team.)

If you are waiting to hear a decision from a placing request, it can still be useful to request an initial planning meeting with your child’s current school and professionals to give them time to gather reports and consider your child’s specific transition requirements with plenty of time.

Step 4:

Transition planning meetings should be held. At these meetings professionals will agree responsibilities and identify key contacts such as a ‘lead professional’ (where appropriate), or a key member of staff to support transition. Reports should be gathered and finalised, and agreements about appropriate supports should be made.

Step 5:

As your moving date gets closer, the school staff from both schools should follow an agreed transition plan and implement appropriate support throughout.

All reports and appropriate documents should be transferred and communicated to the new school, and any appropriate risk assessments completed, before planned visits or your child’s start date.

Step 6:

A start date should be agreed. On that day, your child will officially be enrolled or registered by the receiving school once they arrive for school.

Depending on your child’s transition needs and plan, this might be a phased start until your child is attending their new school full-time.

The school should observe your child, review whether agreed supports remain appropriate, document any concerns, and communicate any changes to support. They might follow up with a ‘settling in’ meeting with you, and your child where appropriate. You and your child’s views should also be considered throughout these planning meetings.

In Scotland there is a presumption in favour of mainstream education which means that when a child moves to an area, it will be considered whether the mainstream school within their catchment area is the most appropriate setting for them. 

If you feel an alternative placement should be considered for your child in their new area, for example a special school, then you can request a meeting with your child’s current school and ask if they could gather any relevant information to pass on to the new local authority, and the new local authority could then assess whether the mainstream school is most appropriate for them. 

This assessment may take multiple other factors into account including whether their previous school was a mainstream setting, reports and documents from professionals, and your and your child’s views. 

If you are unsure about which school might be best suited for your child’s needs, our page on Choosing the right school has some useful guidance. 

If you do not think that the school placement your child has been given is the best fit for your child, you can put in a placing request for the school you think is more suitable. You can find out more about this process on our page Placing requests. 

In some cases, if the receiving school identified has a long transition planning period, an agreement could be made without the need for a placing request. In the first instance, you should contact the additional support for learning (ASL) contact within the new local authority to be advised on the best process for your circumstances.  

While discussions about potential placements may take place, the only way to ensure your child is formally considered for a non-catchment or ‘requested placement’ is to submit an official placing request and receive approval.

An important aspect of any school move is that the new school knows your child’s needs, and that they have the appropriate support in place.

As part of this, it can be useful for any relevant documents and plans that your child has, to be identified and copies of these to be sent over to the receiving local authority as early as possible.

This means that the new school can start to identify appropriate staff and their own processes for planning visits and should give a good basis for them getting to know your child.

Useful documents might include:

If you know that your child has any of these plans or reports, but you do not have a copy of them, you can request that a copy be sent to you, the identified leading professional, or directly to the new school.

Please note, if your child has a risk assessment at their current school, this will not be transferred over, but should be used to help inform the new school of your child’s support needs. The receiving school will require their own assessment to identify any risks in the new environment.

Please also be aware that any other existing support plans may not automatically transfer over with your child, and a new plan may be required to be completed by the receiving local authority to ensure that local supports are identified. It can be helpful to raise this during planning meetings to clarify what documentation is required and who is responsible for completing any new documents.

You can request a single point of contact or, where appropriate, for a ‘lead professional’ to be identified for the duration of the move. This can be someone from either local authority but would ideally be someone who knows your child and family well. You might already have one but if you are not sure who it is, it is worth asking to ensure you and your child have someone they can talk to about adjusting to a new school.

You should have a clear contact for the new local authority and if your local authority contact is not from within the school, a contact for someone within the school.

Some local organisations can offer advocacy to help you and your child to share your views during meetings or to advise on local processes. We have a list of these on our page Useful organisations.

Any equipment provided for your child’s use at school should be identified by your child’s current school. This information should be shared with the appropriate teams at the new local authority to make sure that the equivalent is available for your child starting at their new school.

Examples of equipment might include:

Some existing items such as Talking Mats, communication cards or objects of reference might be transferred to your child’s new school without having to go through the process of requesting new ones. This will be decided during the planning process.

Planning for a school move should start as soon as possible. Having open discussions about your hopes or any worries regarding the school move with both your child’s current school and new school will help with any planning.

As part of transition planning, some children might be identified as benefiting from what is called an ‘enhanced transition’.

What is an ‘enhanced transition’?

‘Enhanced transition’ is the term used to describe a series of extra steps that can be added into transition planning that aim to reduce anxiety and try to support a confident start to school, recognising that for some children settling into a new environment can take time. 

Some types of enhanced transition support might include:

Your child should be involved in the process planning as much as is appropriate for their age, stage, and preferences.

A ‘transition profile’ written by parents or carers can also help. This might include:

You might also find Education Scotland’s page on Changing school useful for some other tips on making the move.

Sometimes situations occur where you have to move suddenly or the planning process didn’t go as expected and you find yourself in a situation where your child is not getting the support they need with their education.

Once you have moved, contact your new local authority as soon as you can so that they can begin planning your child’s school placement and any support they may need. Our page on Local authorities has contact details for all the additional support for learning (ASL) contacts in each area.

The Scottish Government page Choosing a school for your child has a tool to find your closest catchment school if you are unsure where it is.

It is likely that the new school will require two proofs of your new address to review an application.  Forms of evidence could be a mortgage or tenancy agreement, council tax bill, bank statement, or a utility bill. If you do not have these yet, make sure to tell the ASL contact as soon as you can.

Discussions should start around your family’s situation, your child’s needs and how the most appropriate support can be put in place. There is a chance that your child might be allocated a single point of contact or ‘named person’ (where this is used locally) from the local authority for the period of planning and transition to help ensure that the correct support is put in place and act as a point of contact for everyone involved.

If you have recently moved and your child has been allocated the closest catchment school, but you think that they are better suited at a different school, you should approach your local ASL contact as soon as possible. Our page Choosing the right school has some useful information on the types of things to consider. This process might include making a placing request. Our page Placing requests can help to clarify this process.

It is understood that moving is one of the most stressful things that a family experiences and that might leave you feeling unsure of how to approach your local authority or move forwards with discussions, and so you might find it useful to seek help from local organisations. You can find a list of some of them on our page Useful organisations.

Education Scotland’s Parentzone have a page Changing school which has some useful information for parents on what to expect when their child is moving schools.

Contact have a page on Top tips to help when your child changes schools for families of children with disabilities which has been written by a group of parents and a special education needs teacher.

Our page Who’s who: who is the professional supporting my child? lists a number of people who you might come across during a school move and describes what their role may be.

Our page Understanding the jargon can help you to understand some of the names of support plans or terminology used by some local authorities during a transition.

PAMIS support people with profound and multiple learning disabilities and have a service to provide Digital Passports which can help children and young people to communicate their wants and needs to staff in a new setting.

Education Scotland’s Find an inspection report tool is where you can search for schools in the area you plan to move to and read further information about the schools in their inspection reports.