Vulnerable Pupils’ Admission Policy
Procedural Notes
The policy was devised to achieve a fair and equitable way of allocating vulnerable
youngsters to a mainstream school placement as quickly as possible. The policy
applies to the placement of vulnerable children outside of the normal admissions
round for September.
The Vulnerable children who are covered by this policy are:
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Looked After Children
Permanently Excluded Children
Children from Women’s Refuges
Children Returning from Elective Home Education
Travellers Children
Refugees and pupils-seeking asylum;and non –English speaking new arrivals
from abroad
Who can request a placement under the policy?
Any of the Lead officers or their nominated staff can request a placement is made, by
completing and submitting the ‘Placement Request Form’ to the Information
Officer (IO), CYPS, Fay Pearce. Ultimately this procedure will be done on-line via
EMS.
The Lead Officer has the authority to act as key worker or can nominate an
appropriate key worker from within their team.
The Lead Officers can be any of the following staff:
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Looked After Children –Pat Gifford,
Permanently Excluded Children –Rennie Thompson
Children from Women’s Refuges –Jackie Ellis
Children Returning from Elective Home Education –Pauline Robinson
Travellers Children –Giles Diggle
Refugees and pupils-seeking asylum;and non –English speaking new arrivals
from abroad. – Giles Diggle
Contact details for Lead Officers and other relevant staff are available from the GCC
Extranet & Staffnet sites.
It is the responsibility of the Lead Officer or Key Worker to provide any supporting
documentation/evidence to the Information Officer when submitting a placement
request.
For Excluded children: Please do not submit a placement request form until after the
Governors Disciplinary meeting or Independent Appeal meeting, if applicable, has
been held at the original school.
To avoid duplicate placement requests:
If a child can be referred under more than one heading:
We would be grateful if Lead Officers could discuss prior to making a placement
request a primary referral reason. This will allow one key worker to make the
placement request and ensure clarity regarding lead responsibility in each case.
Other professionals can be informed.
Who can make a referral via the Policy?
Parents or Guardians of vulnerable children can also make referrals directly. Please
see the paragraph (Referrals by Parents/Guardians) regarding this eventuality.
Other than referrals made by parents and guardians, the IO will submit all referrals to
ensure that equitable and appropriate placements are made.
Who Allocates Places to children using the policy?
Confirmation of the placement will be made within 5 days by the IO to the relevant
Admissions Officer, Lead Officer, Key worker and, EWS and transport
representatives. (Other Officers can receive copies, if identified, on the placement
request form.)
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The school will receive a courtesy call informing them of the placement.
Admissions will then issue the formal placement notification letter 1ST Class
Post to the school, and a 2nd Class letter to the parents/guardian the day after.
This will allow schools to be informed ahead of parents.
The key worker will first contact the school, two days after receiving
notification of placement, (to allow the school to be notified) and then contact
the parent/guardian. They must state they are the appointed key worker for the
child. They will agree relevant support and a timeframe for pupil induction
into the nominated school. Once agreed, the key worker may have to request
transport for the child by submitting the transport request form. (Please allow
a minimum of 5 days for transport to be arranged.) The agreed school start
date for the child will have to be entered by the key worker on EMS.
EWS will ensure that regular attendance for the child is monitored. Missing
Child procedures will be followed should the child fail to present him/herself.
If the key worker becomes aware of circumstances that make a nominated placement
inappropriate, the IO must be informed of the reasons within 7 days to allow for a
suitable alternative school to be named. The initial receiving school and parents will
be informed that the young person will not be attending due to local issues of concern
within 5 school days. A new school place will be identified and all relevant parties
informed.
Referrals By Parents/Guardians
Parents/Guardians of vulnerable children may approach the school or admissions team
directly requesting a placement for their child outside of the September admissions
round. The school or admissions team are unlikely to be informed if the child is a
vulnerable pupil at the time of placement.
In this situation, the school should inform the IO by submitting the retrospective
acknowledgement form (available on extranet) within 30 days of the pupil starting if
it identifies the child as being vulnerable. The IO will then arrange for the school to
retrospectively receive the necessary accreditation under the pupil school allocation
mechanism. After the 30 days have lapsed the young person can no longer be
identified as being vulnerable and accreditation and support cannot be provided.
Principles of the policy
Placements are allocated to schools on a rota basis.
1. Once a pupil is referred, the Admissions Team will consider the pupil’s
circumstances and take into account parental preference. The next nearest
school on the list within a reasonable travelling distance (45mins) to the
pupil’s home will be allocated within 5 school days, irrespective of the school
Indicated Admission Number (IAN).
2. To ensure a fair and equitable distribution of Vulnerable Pupils, the named
school will not be approached again until all other schools within a reasonable
travelling distance (45mins) have been allocated a vulnerable pupil.
3. (For point 3 Only) If a school removes a vulnerable pupil from roll the LEA
will allocate another vulnerable pupil to fill the vacancy, to a maximum of 3.
The school will maintain its place on the rota and continue to receive
vulnerable pupils accordingly, irrespective of the exchange.
4. Vulnerable pupils who have not been previously permanently excluded and
that do not have significant behavioural issues will be considered ready for a
mainstream school placement.
Previously permanently excluded children and children with significant
behavioural issues will be allocated a nominated school place within 5 days.
Induction will not commence for these children until the pupil is prepared for
Mainstream schooling and has reached the ‘reintegration standard’.
5. The Vulnerable Pupil Admission and Reintegration Policy year will
commence from September 1st and end 31st August of the following year. At
midnight on 31st August reintegration’s for the year will be reset at zero but
the receiving school rota will continue from the previous year.
6. Schools that are in, or have been in special measures, will not be allocated a
previously permanently excluded pupil or a child that has significant
behavioural issues within two years of coming out of Special Measures.
7. Pupils that have had a decision to exclude overturned at Independent Appeal
but are considered not able to return to their original school are included within
the policy.
VULNERABLE PUPILS’ ADMISSIONS PANEL
Most placements will be straightforward and will be undertaken by staff in the
Admissions Team. If there are difficulties in finding a school place a referral will be
made to the Vulnerable Pupils’ Admission Panel to consider the issues and make a
placement decision.
The Vulnerable Pupils Admissions Panel will consist of a School Head or Deputy,
Education Welfare and Reintegration Service Representatives and will consider ;
(Other agencies such as Health, Social Services may be included in the Panel, as
appropriate.)
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the number of vulnerable children placed in a particular school in the previous
twelve months;
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Complex cases, such as children twice permanently excluded
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review and monitor the policy
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Consider the exclusion charging mechanism
Notes
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For a secondary school, the named school will be within
a reasonable travelling distance of the child’s home. A
referral can be made to the panel if consideration is
being given to a school further away.
For a twelve month period from the child starting
school. Secondary school admissions under this policy,
that are subsequently excluded, will not be subject to
the £5,000 recoupment charge.
The Panel will meet once in spring, summer and autumn
of each year.