You wrote: 'Independent, or private, schools can be mainstream, special or residential but you pay for your child’s education as they aren’t maintained by the local authority.' You do not necesarily have to pay for your child to attend an independent school. If you can make the case that the independent school is the ONLY school that can meet your child's needs, and the local authority agree to name it at Part 4 of your child's statement of SEN (or if an SEN tribunal rules that this is the only school that can meet your child's needs) then the local authority has to pay the fees, and pay for transport to school, if the school is more that 2 miles (I think) from the child's home.
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