Sort

• 25 Feb 2026

Yes

|

Complex

Yes. A mainstream school is a maintained school or Academy that is not a special school: CFA2014 s83(2). A “special school” is a school which is “specially organised to make special educational provision for pupils with [SEN]”: EA1996 s337(1) (note also the definition of school in EA1996 s4). Therefore, a “mainstream school” is a maintained school or Academy that is not specially organised to make provision for pupils with SEN. 

Section 33 applies to a “particular type of institution, not to the provision of a particular type of education”. It is a qualified entitlement to a type of school not to a type of provision i.e. mainstream school, not necessarily mainstream schooling. Accordingly, where a mainstream school has an SEN base (or “unit”) within the mainstream school, then that placement in that base is still technically placement in a mainstream school even though it chooses to organise itself to make SEP for those with SEN in separate classes to other pupils: AA v LB Hounslow [2025] UKUT 225 (AAC) #34. 

But there must come a point where a unit/base of that kind has to be treated as a separate school (a point which also arises if a parent requests a placement at the unit and merely at the school within which it sits). The question of whether a base constitutes a separate school is question of fact: TB v Essex CC [2013] UKUT 534 (AAC)#28-41,MA v Kensington and Chelsea [2015] UKUT 186 (AAC) #28. In AA #34, the Judge warned that “if the distinction between mainstream and special schools (and the section 33 duty) is not to be rendered nugatory, care needs to be taken to ensure that an institution in reality operates as a separate special school (even if co-located/co-managed with a mainstream school), is not classified as a ‘mainstream school’”.

More: 09.045 Can a “unit” within in a school be treated as a separate school in its own right for the purposes of a placement request?

Even if a base is part of a mainstream school, the LA and FTT must still determine placement in accordance with parental preference and may give weight to any concerns of parents in respect of the child’s school experience: AA #49(b). More: 09.30 But surely the LA/FTT can ask whether the particular requested mainstream placement is suitable/appropriate?



Noddy No-nonsense Guide

25 Feb 2026

This is helpful

|

Comment

Post