Swalcliffe Park School

The starting point of a referral is a set of papers received by the school from either a Local Education Authority or a Social Services Department. The papers are then processed by the administration team and passed to the Head of Care who assesses the needs of the young person to see if they meet our admissions criteria.

The Head of Care’s analysis of the papers will usually include communication with the family, previous placements and frequently appropriate adults in the young person’s life e.g. an Education Welfare Officer or social worker. If the assessment concludes that the young person’s needs may be met at Swalcliffe Park School, then a home visit is the next stage in the process. The home visit will almost always be made by the Head of Care but on occasions the Principal or other key staff may either accompany her or assist in the process. If the home visit is successful then a visit to the school is the next stage of the process. Criteria for a successful home visit include:

• the young person’s needs appear to match the referral papers – unfortunately, this is not always the case
• the young person appears interested in what Swalcliffe Park has to offer
• a degree of support for the placement from the family or carers

The school visit will be organised by the School Administrator and then managed by the School Visit Co-ordinator who will:

• greet the young person on the day of their visit – usually at 2.00pm
• organise a tour of the education facilities and meeting of key personnel
• organise a tour of the proposed residential accommodation (age and needs criteria based) and meeting with key care staff
• arrange a meeting with the Principal who will conclude the visit and answer any remaining questions

Following the school visit, staff who have met with the young person and his family, will subsequently offer their assessment as to the appropriateness of a placement for the young person. Assessment will be made concerning the probability of the young person successfully engaging in the 24-hour curriculum.

Specifically this means:

• engaging in the education programme
• engaging in the care and residential programme
• interacting appropriately with the peer group
• adapting to living away from home (for most students this will be 12 days at a time)

Young people who have previously failed in a range of mainstream and possibly special educational needs placements need to enjoy successful experiences to underpin positive development. The framework will therefore often necessitate expectation on the part of the staff group and boundaries for appropriate behaviour being in place.

Once all the views have been considered and a decision has been made, the Local Education Authority will be contacted by the School Administrator. The decision will normally be within one week. An instant response is not always possible due to a range of circumstances including:

• ambivalence on the part of the referred student
• additional information being available at a late stage
• consideration of other students’ needs
• school holidays

When an offer has been made to a Local Education Authority, it will also contain a nominated admission date, which is likely to be within a month of the school interview. If the offer is accepted by the LEA and the family of the young person, the actual admission will normally be on a Monday or Tuesday at around 3.00pm. The timing is quite important, as this allows the young person and his family to spend time with a member of the care team before the students return to their units from their school day. There will then be an opportunity for the new student to get to know his peers before he has to go to school the following morning.

During the first six weeks a number of assessments will be made to ensure that the young person has been appropriately placed at Swalcliffe Park. The assessments will include:

• educational tests to establish a performance baseline
• monitoring behaviour
• monitoring application and attitude to the school programme
• monitoring interaction with peers

For most students these assessments will be collated and form the basis of:

• an individual education plan
• an individual care plan and
• in some cases an individual behaviour plan

However, in exceptional circumstances the conclusion of the post entry assessments is that Swalcliffe Park is not able to meet the needs of the new student. This judgement would only be reached after careful consideration and would generally be due to a number of factors including:

• the impact of the developmental disorder being more severe than anticipated or previously recorded
• a serious lack of engagement and application to the education and/or care programme
• bullying or violent behaviour
• dangerous behaviour
• levels of disruption that would seriously harm the education or welfare of the pupil or of others in the school
• levels of defiance that make it impossible for staff to be responsible for the individual

In conclusion, we strive to help young people develop positively and achieve success, but that is only possible with an element of personal investment and ownership of the school’s ethos and programmes