Draft Protocol for Hard to Place Pupils

Protocol for Hard to Place Pupils

This protocol applies to all primary and secondary community and voluntary aided schools within the County Borough. It is intended for use with pupils not on a school roll, particularly with vulnerable pupils who are not accessing education and with children and young people for whom it is difficult to secure a school place because of their social, emotional and behavioural problems.

This protocol has been prepared in consultation with Neath Port Talbot’s Admissions Forum; the Head teacher consultative groups, NAASH and LLAN and the Neath Port Talbot Governors’ Association.

Legal Framework

The Authority has a legal duty to ensure that every child and young person in the County Borough has access to suitable education.

The Welsh Assembly School Admissions Code, July 2009 states:

All admission authorities should have protocols in place for admitting children they consider hard to place. All need to play their part in ensuring that these children, especially the most vulnerable, are admitted to a suitable school as quickly as possible. This includes admitting children to schools that are already full.

There is a balance to be struck between finding a place quickly in an undersubscribed school or one facing challenging circumstances and finding a school place that is appropriate for the child. The protocol should therefore ensure that no school, including those with places available, is asked to take an excessive or unreasonable number of children who have been excluded from other schools.

Protocols may include all children who arrive outside the normal admissions round who may have difficulty securing a place. Admission authorities should make reference to the guidance provided at paragraph 3.19 to 3.20 in relation to Gypsy and Traveller children. Children with SEN but without statements should be treated in the same way as all applicants, but protocols should include arrangements for ensuring that, where there is prior knowledge of a need for particular SEN support, such children are placed quickly.

Once these protocols have been agreed, admission forums should monitor how well they are working, how quickly the children are found places, and the contribution every school in the area is making.

The Neath Port Talbot, Hard to Place Pupils’ protocol helps ensure that there is a mainstream school place for all pupils who need one.

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A hard to place pupil is any child or young person for whom placement at a mainstream school is appropriate but because of social, emotional and behavioural problems or some other vulnerability is encountering difficulty in gaining admission to a suitable mainstream school, thus preventing access to an entitlement to education. The protocol does not apply to pupils with statements of special educational needs because separate admission arrangements apply for these pupils.

Children and young people from the following groups may be more at risk of being hard to place:

 Children who have been out of education for longer than one term  Potentially vulnerable children  Looked after children  Children who arrive in the Authority outside the normal admission round and are unable to secure a place  Children withdrawn from schools by their families and are unable to find another placement  Children from troubled and unsupportive families who have not sought a school place  Children who have been excluded from school or have a history of challenging behaviour  Children who have offended on school or other education premises  Children who have been released from secure accommodation and those with a history of offending who have not been in secure accommodation  Children with identified substance misuse problems  Children with mental health problems  Children of refugees and asylum seekers  Children from a minority ethnic group learning English as a second language or with no Welsh or English  Homeless children, including pupils living away from home  Gypsy/Traveller children

(NB: The list is not in any order of priority and is intended to be illustrative rather than exhaustive.)

The Welsh Assembly Admissions Code states that the Hard to Place protocol makes reference to the guidance provided within it- para 3.19 and 3.20 in relation to Gypsy and Traveller children. It states: The Gypsy Traveller community is very strongly family orientated and parents will always want all of the children in their family to attend the same school when stopping in an area. It is an important element of their culture that older children are expected to look after younger siblings and this especially applies in the school context. If places are not found for all children in the family in the same school, this could result in them being kept home for long periods whilst waiting for places. .

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Neath Port Talbot will always aim to meet these needs of Gypsy and Traveller children.

Key Principles

The vast majority of children requiring a school place will continue to be admitted to their local mainstream school in accordance with the admission policy, rather than through this protocol.

Hard to place pupils are likely to be most in need of being admitted to a school quickly.

All primary (including infant and junior) and secondary schools within the County Borough will play their part in admitting hard to place pupils.

The fact that the published admission number may have been reached in a particular year group should not be given as the reason for not admitting a pupil under this protocol. The admission number can be breached in relation to hard to place pupils.

Every primary and secondary school within the County Borough will be prepared to admit hard to place pupils and the LA Admissions Officer will maintain a data base to ensure equity of distribution between schools within broad geographical areas.

Placement decisions will take account of the number of hard to place pupils within the specific age group, those already in the school, pupils who have been permanently excluded and those changing schools as a result of the use of the managed move protocol.

Schools will not insist that an admission appeal is heard before a child is admitted under the protocol.

Parental and pupil views will be considered but will not override the protocol if a preference is expressed for a school that is unable to admit the pupil or is otherwise an inappropriate placement. (This process is separate to and does not affect a parent’s statutory right to express a preference for a school for their child.)

The learning needs of the pupils will be the prime factor in deciding a placement but every effort will be made to minimise the impact of transport costs.

D:\Docs\2018-04-06\0f9a152106c93e77e85fac601d5cdaf0.doc Page 3 /5 The Authority retains the right to direct the governors of community schools to admit a pupil and the Authority may require the governors of voluntary aided schools to admit a pupil.

Transparency of Placement

The Manager, School and Family and Support Team will prepare the appropriate spread sheet to present to LLAN and NAASH which will give clear information on the equitable placement of each pupil. The spread sheet will not give details that can identify the child, to any other than the receiving school.

Process

o The authority, through the School and Family Support Team (SFS) will be responsible for considering the circumstances of the pupils who have been defined as hard to place and will recommend which school should be approached to take the pupil. o The School and Family Support Team will balance the needs and circumstances of the pupil against the needs and circumstances of the school. o The selected school will be within a reasonable distance of the pupil’s home. o Account will be taken of the pupil’s religious affiliation and Welsh language need, if relevant, and any other social or educational factors. o Schools will not normally be asked to admit two pupils in quick succession under the Hard to Place Pupils’ protocol. o When a school admits a pupil under the scheme, that school will generally not be considered again for some time. o Special consideration will need to be given to the admission of pupils where local schools have admitted two pupils in quick succession but additional places are needed in order to secure school placements for pupils within a reasonable distance of their home.

Funding

Where a pupil is permanently excluded the excluding school will pass the age- weighted pupil unit (AWPU) for that financial year to the Authority. A pro-rata allocation of this money will be forwarded to the school admitting a pupil under the Hard to Place protocol.

Transport costs will be met by the Authority in line with the published policy on school transport. For this purpose, the receiving school will be regarded as the designated school.

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Multi-professional locality teams will be asked to provide support, where appropriate, as soon as possible after a pupil is admitted. In certain cases, the team may be called upon to assess the pupil’s need before admission.

Record Keeping

The Authority will keep records of all pupils placed under this protocol. Information on placements will be presented to and published, if requested, by the Admissions Forum.

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