The Scottish Government

1. All children and young people go through transition stages in their school education. These transitions include entry to pre-school provision and transfers to primary school and across primary, secondary and post-school provision. Some may experience changes in their school education at other times with a transfer to another school or a break in their school education. Early or timely planning is required to ensure continuity and progression between stages or breaks in education.

2. Changes in school education may involve irregular transition experiences, for example, exclusions and school closures. Where these involve a child or young person with additional support needs, the education authority and other agencies should take these needs into account when considering new arrangements for their school education.

Planning for changes in school education

3. Education authorities should have appropriate arrangements in place to ensure that changes in school education for all children and young people can be as smooth as possible. Effective planning helps to promote shared understandings and close communication among all relevant persons and, above all, helps to ensure that any required action is co-ordinated appropriately. An education authority's routine arrangements should enable schools to provide sufficient support for the majority of children and young people faced with changes in school education. In some circumstances, education authorities will require to involve other agencies to ensure that the transition process is effective for certain children and young people with additional support needs.

s12(5)

4. The Act is supported by the Changes in School Education Regulations. The Regulations specify the action that the education authority must take at various transition points in a child's or young person's school career, for example, when a child starts pre-school provision, or where an education authority transfer a child or young person to another school under their management. In general, the Act and Regulations require an education authority to seek and take account of relevant advice and information from other agencies no later than 12 months before a child who has additional support needs is expected to have a change in school education. In the case of a pre-school child the timescale is 6 months. These timescales mean that an education authority will need to commence preparing for the change in school education earlier than the 12 months before the change takes place (or earlier than the 6 months before the change, in the case of a pre-school child). The requirement to seek information and advice applies to such agencies, and other persons, if any, in the case of a child or young person moving to post-school provision, as the authority consider appropriate. Where the education authority seek advice and information from appropriate agencies or other persons then the Regulations require the authority also to seek and take account of the views of the child, the child's parent or the young person.

s13(1)

5. A 6 month timescale applies for education authorities passing on information to appropriate agencies ahead of changes in school education. In the case of a pre-school child the timescale is 3 months. The education authority must seek the consent of the child, or the child's parents and the young person before seeking information and advice, or when passing on information.

6. Education authorities should take account of the following principles of good practice whenever a child or young person with additional support needs is approaching a transition point in their school education:

• transition planning should be embedded within the education authority's policies and procedures for additional support needs
• other agencies, such as health and social work services, Careers Scotland, Further Education Colleges and Institutions of Higher Education should also be involved in transition planning where required
• the child's or young person's views should be sought and taken into account when discussing changes in school education
• parents should be part of the planning process, and their views should be sought, and taken account of, and they should receive support, as required, during the transition process
• early consultation should take place with the school or post-school provision, which the child or young person will be attending
• schools should plan to ensure that the necessary support is in place for children who have additional support needs to help them through the transition phase to their new school
• professionals from all agencies working with the child and family should plan in good time for transition to future services
• transition should be co-ordinated by a relevant person known to the child or young person and their family
• where a child or young person has a co-ordinated support plan, any anticipated change in the statutory co-ordinator should be discussed with the child or young person, and parents, as far in advance of the change as possible.

Sarah had a straightforward primary school experience and untroubled family life until the start of primary 7 when her mother died unexpectedly. Sarah's schoolwork suffered and she became withdrawn. Her father became concerned about how she would cope with transferring to secondary school. Relevant staff in the secondary school, who prior to transfer routinely visited all primary 7 classes of associated primary schools, were made aware of the situation. The secondary school staff arranged that Sarah would be in a form class along with some of her close friends when she transferred and agreed to pay particular attention to Sarah over the initial stages of the transition.

Preparing for Adulthood

7. Education authorities and schools should be able to address the requirements of most children and young people with additional support needs, as they approach the end of their school education, through the school's routine vocational guidance arrangements and the careers service. Preparation for adulthood should involve explicit recognition of the strengths, abilities, wishes and needs of the child or young person as well as identification of relevant support strategies which may be required. It is essential that there is good communication between the child or young person and parents and all supporting agencies. Information should be shared promptly and effectively, with the child's, parents' or young person's consent. Where a child has sufficient capacity to consent their consent should also be sought in addition to that of the parents.

8. In their final years at school, children and young people with additional support needs should engage in personal learning planning to help them to prepare for leaving school. For example:

• some young people may need to develop independence skills so that they manage money or learn to travel independently to placements, check a bus timetable and ask for information
• some may need help to organise themselves and their work commitments.

9. Whatever children and young people require to learn in order to make the transition successful should, in good practice, be planned for carefully.

Zahir is following an HNC programme in information systems. He has Asperger's Syndrome. He came from a mainstream school where he received one-to-one support and achieved standard grades at general level. A year prior to leaving school he applied to attend a further education college. A transition programme was agreed by Zahir, his parents, teachers, social worker and college learning support staff. Short and long term targets were agreed for a structured transition period and regular meetings were held with all relevant parties. As a result the school was able to help Zahir to make a successful transition to college and the college was able to prepare a learning programme and support arrangements appropriate for his learning needs.

10. Effective transition can involve a range of strategies. The school should ensure that the child or young person has sufficient information and understanding, within their programme of learning, on which to base decisions about the relevant choices of training or work placements, and college or higher education courses. Opportunities to sample options should be made available through visits or work experience relevant to the child's or young person's aspirations and interests. A phased entry to college, training placement or workplace, for one or two days a week, while continuing at school for the remainder of the week may often be less threatening for the child or young person than full-time attendance.

11. For the child or young person at risk of disengaging with education, alternative curricular programmes aimed at increasing the young person's motivation, skills, attainments confidence and ability to make successful transitions may be appropriate. For example, alternative programmes may cover essential skills such as literacy and numeracy; ICT skills; personal and social development; work experience and vocational placements; and individual guidance and support. Other programmes may include team building and working as a group to organise and fund their chosen activities, career planning skills and learning through active participation, for example, through the Careers Scotland Activate and WorkNet programmes.

12. For some, the transition process may be helped by the involvement of a key worker. This might be a teacher, careers adviser, social worker, community education worker or someone from another agency. The key worker can then assist the child or young person to make a smooth transition to employment, training, further or higher education, or other services. Where a child or young person has a co-ordinated support plan, their co-ordinator should take the lead in ensuring that all relevant agencies are brought together to plan for transition to post-school.

13. The Support and Assistance of Young People Leaving Care (Scotland) Regulations 2003 set out particular duties placed on local authorities to provide advice, guidance and assistance to children and young people who are looked after or who have ceased to be looked after over school age. As well as stressing the need for education and social work staff to work closely together to ensure that young people achieve their maximum potential whilst within the education system, local authorities are also encouraged to work closely with Careers Scotland to support young people in making their choices for education and training.

s12(6)

14. The Act requires education authorities to take specific action to help young people with additional support needs to make the transition from school to post-school life successfully. It places a duty on the education authority to request information from appropriate agencies, if any, which are likely to be involved with the child or young person on leaving school. The appropriate agencies, all in Scotland, which may be involved are:

• any other local authority
• any NHS Board
• Careers Scotland
• any Further Education College
• any Institution of Higher Education

15. The duty applies to children and young people for whose school education the authority are responsible. The Act gives the education authority discretion about which appropriate agency, if any, requires to be approached to provide information. The authority should seek information with regard to those children and young people with additional support needs, from an appropriate agency or agencies whose help will assist the child or young person in the move to post-school provision. It is anticipated that education authorities will seek information from another appropriate agency, or agencies, in the case of most children and young people with co-ordinated support plans.

s12(6)(c)(ii)

16. The education authority have to seek and take account of the views of the child, where they are capable of expressing these, and the child's parents and the young person (or the young person's parents where the young person lacks the capacity to express his/her views). Importantly, information should only be sought with the consent of the child's parents or the young person (or the young person's parents where the young person is not able to give consent). A situation could arise where the child wishes information to be sought from another appropriate agency/agencies, and the child's parents do not agree (or vice versa). The education authority should, in deciding what course of action to take under the circumstances, consider the best interests of the child or young person as well as the child's or young person's capacity to express a view, and act accordingly.

17. The purpose of obtaining such information from an appropriate agency/agencies, is to enable the education authority to consider the adequacy and appropriateness of additional support provided by the education authority and other services in the period up to the child or young person leaving school. This is to support the process of ensuring a good match between their needs and options for subsequent support. These options include provision which may be made by an appropriate agency, or agencies, as well as any provision which the education authority make for the child or young person on leaving school; this provision includes, for example, that made by social services or housing.

s12(6)(c)(i)

18. This process of seeking and taking account of information from an appropriate agency, or agencies, and the other requirements referred to above, must be completed no later than 12 months before the date a child or young person with additional support needs is expected to cease receiving school education. However, this means that the process will require to be started in advance of the 12 month period if it is to be carried out effectively for the benefit of the child or young person. There will be circumstances where the education authority have less than 12 months to carry out these duties, in which case they should be carried out as soon as reasonably practical after they become aware of the fact that the child or young person is to cease receiving school education.

s13(1) and (2)

19. The Act also requires the education authority to pass on information to appropriate agencies, if any, no later than 6 months before the expected school leaving date. Where an authority become aware that a child or young person is expected to leave school within less than 6 months of that date, then it must pass that information on to appropriate agencies as soon as is reasonably practicable. The Act requires education authorities to pass on information, including:

• the child's or young person's expected school leaving date
• such other information as the authorities consider appropriate concerning the child or young person and the additional support needs of the child or young person.

The other information passed on could include information relevant to the appropriate agencies above, or any provision the local authority may make when the child or young person leaves school such as, for example, through social work or housing.

Monitoring and review

20. Education authorities should ensure that the arrangements required for transition to post-school are clear so that the child or young person, and all those involved, know exactly what is happening, when it is happening, and who is responsible. The effectiveness of the action required should be monitored by a lead person and reviewed if there is a change of circumstances, or if the child or young person requests an alteration. Where the child or young person has a co-ordinated support plan the education authority have a duty to review the plan at least every 12 months. Such a review should help inform action to be taken prior to a child or young person, with a co-ordinated support plan, leaving school. All relevant information in the co-ordinated support plan should be incorporated into the transition planning process.