Management Information Sheet

Contact officer: Richard Snowden Richard.snowden@norfolk.gov.uk 01603 223489

Audience: Heads, Sencos, senior leadership and governors of schools

Theme: Admissions/ Free School Meals

Self-review: overall effectiveness and efficiency

Attachment- flowchart of process PDF

Summary text for Norfolk Schools

From summer term 2015 the Children’s Services Admissions Team and Education Achievement Service will be working in partnership with the Short Stay School for Norfolk to operate a refreshed and strengthened process for reintegrating children to mainstream schools where this has been assessed as appropriate. A flowchart showing the agreed process is attached

Text

From summer term 2015 the Children’s Services Admissions Team and Education Achievement Service will be working in partnership with the Short Stay School for Norfolk to operate a refreshed and strengthened process for reintegrating children to mainstream schools where this has been assessed as appropriate.

There has been increasing pressure on Short Stay School capacity in recent years, caused in part by difficulty in moving pupils on to new permanent placements. Some schools are reluctant to accept pupils for reintegration following a permanent exclusion or a period of missing education. The Short Stay School carries out in -depth assessment of pupils’ potential and readiness for reintegrating to a mainstream school prior to approaching any schools to request admission, but despite the availability of a risk assessment, support through transition and the offer of dual registration initially, some schools refuse to admit. Where the reintegration is delayed while negotiations take place, pupils can lose their state of readiness and become harder to engage, leading to greater difficulties in settling in to a new school and in some cases, necessitating a specialist placement.

The Local Authority is determined to ensure that every child has timely access to the appropriate provision to meet their needs. Therefore the process for reintegrating to mainstream schools has been strengthened to be both quicker and more robust

Paragraph 3.15 of The School Admissions Code 2014 includes children in Pupil Referral Units who need to be reintegrated into mainstream education in the list of children who must be included in the Fair Access Protocol and paragraph 3.11 includes a legal obligation on all admission authorities to take part in their local authority’s Fair Access Protocol. Any request to admit which is refused can be enforced by use of the direction process as detailed in the legislation.

Where children requiring reintegration to mainstream school hold a Statement of SEN or Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) the statutory requirements set out in sections 9.78-9.94 of the SEN Code of Practice 2014 (under sections 33 and 39 of the Children and Families Act 2014) will be adhered to. These relate to parental rights to request that a particular school is named in the Statement/Plan and the circumstances in which a local authority can refuse to agree.

The refreshed process is essentially no different to the one currently used, but rather than relying solely on the Short Stay School identifying a single school and liaising directly with them, the ‘net’ will be cast wider to ensure all possible schools are considered and where the local authority risk assessment does not support contact with a particular school it will be removed from the pool of potential schools. Equally, partnership working between the Admissions Team and Achievement Service will mean there is no doubt about the local authority’s view on the appropriateness of the school(s) approached and therefore the robustness of its response.

For the avoidance of doubt, perceived inability to meet a child’s special educational needs is not a valid reason to refuse placement. Additionally, where a school has been in special measures the LA has previously agreed not to approach them for placement, but recent case law arising from school adjudicator decisions shows this is no longer acceptable (although circumstances around the individual risk assessment may mean the LA considers the school to be inappropriate) Therefore, being in an Ofsted category is no longer an automatic bar to taking pupils for reintegration.

For pupils without a Statement/ Plan the Admissions Team will identify alternative schools within a reasonable distance; all those within walking distance or the nearest schools in more rural areas. This will ensure the process conforms to the legal duty to consider the nearest schools and will demonstrate to identified schools that a simple and fair methodology has been applied.

The Short Stay School will contact the school identified as the most appropriate to advise that reintegration is being sought and where the school refuses then the Admissions Team will set up a Pupil Placement Panel of local schools. This Panel will consider at which school a place is to be offered and if agreement is not reached the Head of School Admissions Service will determine the appropriate placement.

For children who hold a Statement/ Plan the EHCP Co-ordinator will work in partnership with parents and the Short Stay School to ensure the requirements of the SEN Code of Practice are met. Where parents disagree with reintegration to a school identified through the above process, the Local Authority must comply with parental requests to name a particular school unless:

• it would be unsuitable for the age, ability, aptitude or SEN of the child or young person, or
• the attendance of the child or young person there would be incompatible with the efficient education of others, or the efficient use of resources

The Admissions Team and Achievement Service will have a role in helping to determine whether these conditions apply to the chosen school, prior to formally consulting the governing body about placement

A flowchart detailing the entire process is attached.