(1)A local authority exercising functions under this Part in relation to a child of compulsory school age with additional learning needs who should be educated in a school must secure that the child is educated in a mainstream maintained school unless any of the circumstances in paragraphs (a) to (c) of subsection (2) apply.
(2)The circumstances are—
(a)that educating the child in a mainstream maintained school is incompatible with the provision of efficient education for other children;
(b)that educating the child otherwise than in a mainstream maintained school is appropriate in the best interests of the child and compatible with the provision of efficient education for other children;
(c)that the child’s parent wishes the child to be educated otherwise than in a mainstream maintained school.
(3)A local authority may not rely on the exception in subsection (2)(a) unless there are no reasonable steps the authority could take to prevent the incompatibility.
(4)Where a child’s parent wishes his or her child to be educated otherwise than in a mainstream maintained school, subsection (2)(c) does not require a local authority to secure that the child is educated otherwise than in a mainstream maintained school.
(5)Subsection (1) does not prevent a child from being educated in—
(a)an independent school, or
(b)a school approved under section 342 of the Education Act 1996 (c. 56),
if the cost is met otherwise than by a local authority.