St Christopher’s School and Children’s Home
(Bristol)
Admissions and Discharge Policy and Procedure
Ratified by Trustees
January 2015
Review date
February 2016
Introduction
St Christopher’s is registered to admit children and young people aged 5 - 19 as pupils
and boarders. We welcome applications for children and young people from any social,
religious and ethnic background.
A decision to admit a new pupil is made on the basis of his/her compatibility with existing
pupils in St Christopher’s, and St Christopher’s ability to meet the needs of the pupil. St
Christopher’s School has DfE and Ofsted registration to provide education and boarding
for pupils with severe and complex learning difficulties, or profound and multiple learning
difficulties, including Autism Spectrum Disorders, physical disabilities and sensory
impairments (See SEN & Inclusion Policy).
In June 2014, St Christopher's opened Hyde Lodge – a new Young Adult Care Home for
young people aged 19-25, registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Please
refer to the Hyde Lodge Admissions Policy.
Admissions
In order for St Christopher’s to offer a placement to a child/young person, there will need to
be a formal application and agreement of funding from the funding authorities (LEA/SSD /
Health). St Christopher’s will require up-to-date information and other relevant documents
such as: most recent Statement of SEN / Education, Health and Care Plan, school reports,
psychology assessment and medical information, to assist in the initial assessment.
Although a firm offer of a placement requires Local Authorities funding agreements, we
welcome parents/advocates’ enquiries on behalf of their children/young people.
Referrals can be made via several routes at present:
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
Local Authority tendering

Parental enquiry

SEN Officer/social worker/LA commissioners referrals
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The process:
 Parents/social workers are invited to visit
 Key staff will arrange to visit the child/young person at his/her present school and/or
at home. Where appropriate, and if it is not felt to be too disruptive to the child/
young person, he/she and parents will be invited to St Christopher’s to meet the
class teacher, House Manager and other staff including therapists for an
assessment visit. Following this, we decide whether St Christopher’s can
appropriately meet the needs of the child/young person. If agreed, a place will be
offered. A new admission pack with all relevant information is sent to
parents/guardians. A welcome pack (with photos of the environment and staff) is
sent to the new pupil. A letter of offer with details on provision and costing is sent
to funding authorities.
 During the first three months of the placement, the child/young person’s abilities
and needs are fully assessed.
 Care staff working directly with the young person will assess his/her level of
independence in daily living skills. In school, teaching staff will assess learning
abilities. The Speech & Language Therapist (SaLT), Occupational Therapist (OT)
and the school’s psychologist do an initial joint assessment.
 When necessary, the physiotherapist will also assess. For pupils with behavioural
difficulties, the Behaviour Support Team and Developmental Psychologist will do an
assessment and prepare a Behaviour Risk Assessment and Management Plan.
These initial assessments allow us to determine the young person’s needs,
including level of staff input, therapy programmes and to set learning targets for the
future. Parents and placing authorities receive comprehensive reports of the
assessments and programme plans, and are invited to attend an Assessment
Review to confirm the suitability of the placement and agree outcomes.
 Prior to admission, St Christopher’s holds a planning meeting with parents and
placing local authority representatives to plan transition. Transition planning is
individual to the needs and requirements of each young person. (See Transitions
Policy [No 5. Policy File 2] for further details)
Discharge
New pupils are admitted at different ages; normally seventeen would be the top age for a
new admission. In most cases we would expect pupils to leave at the age of nineteen
when their Statement of Special Needs ceases. All placements are subject to annual
review.
In some cases pupils may leave at an earlier age for the following reasons:

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A suitable long term adult placement is found for them and needs to be taken up
after they turn eighteen.
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
The pupil’s parents/funding authorities decide to transfer him/her to an alternative
school

At an Annual Statement Review St Christopher’s, or the pupil’s parents and funding
authority agree that St Christopher’s is no longer meeting the needs of the pupil.
If for any reason a pupil has to leave prior to completion of full-time educational
entitlement, a nine week notice period from either side is required.
St Christopher’s does its utmost to ensure a smooth and easy transition for pupils leaving
or being admitted to the School, in order to minimise the level of anxiety and distress for
both the pupils and their family.
When pupils are preparing to leave, the following process takes place:

St Christopher’s arranges planning meetings with all parties involved (including
parents, representatives from funding authorities and from the new placement).

Staff accompany pupil on visit to new placement.

Staff from new placement visit St Christopher’s and shadow our staff.

When appropriate our staff will spend a few days with the pupil in the new
placement, to help him/her to settle in.

All relevant reports - such as Leaver’s Report, Communication/therapies Passports
and Behaviour Risk assessment Management Plan - are passed to the new
placement.
Exclusions
Our policy is to avoid exclusions, given the complexity of needs of our pupils and their high
anxiety levels in all transition situations.
Pupils presenting severe challenging behaviour are monitored regularly and, when there is
a risk that the placement may cease to meet the needs of the pupil, we will call an
extraordinary review to alert funding authorities and parents.
In the rare case of a pupil presenting extreme behaviour problems that are causing a high
level of risk to themselves, or others, and when all strategies used to prevent this are
failing, St Christopher’s will give at least a month’s notice to LEA/SSD and inform parents,
of the need to find an alternative placement.
Further references:
SEN and Inclusions Policy [No 2. Policy File 2]
Transitions Policy [No 5. Policy File 2]
Equalities Policy [No 3. Policy File 2]
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