Referral and Admission

Purpose & Scope

Introductory statement

The SENse Hub is a multi-disciplinary alternative provision hub offering complete assessment and therapeutic intervention for children and young people experiencing special educational need crisis in education. Our facility boasts versatile and nurturing learning spaces, including a fully equipped studio, sensory room, and student study room, to foster recovery, exploration and curiosity. We offer bespoke packages that are carefully designed around the needs of our children to support their recovery; their re-integration into their local community; and their re-engagement and eventual transition to long term education, training or further education.

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We support children and young people, and their families, from the age of 5 years old to 18 years old. Please note the following points:  

• We can co-ordinate and manage full time EOTAS packages and budgets on behalf of Local Authorities and parents/carers but we do not deliver full time education

• We cannot provide full time educational provision placements within our Alternative Provision Hub. All placements at The SENse Hub are limited to 15 hours per week. Admission will be through the referral process outlined in this policy. Referrals may be made at any time throughout the year. 

• Multiple places can be commissioned on termly or annual basis by schools and local authorities.  

 

Number of places available

The SENse Hub currently has 12 part time places available. These places consist of 6 primary school places (aged 5 years and over), and 6 secondary/FE places (aged 12 years and over).  

 

We also have capacity to support an additional 6 pupils (3 primary school and 3 secondary/FE places) on an outreach basis (home/in the local community) at any one time.  

 

Registration arrangements  

The student will remain on roll at their usual place of education. We support a number of local authorities and schools across the North East and will maintain a central register of agreed placements on a termly basis. All places are commissioned, registered and reviewed on a termly basis. When a placement ceases, we will notify the parent/carer, school and Local Authority (and commissioner if different).

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Students supported by the SENse Support 

SENse Support offer specialist placements for children and young people who:

• Are unable to attend their usual place of education due to illness, exclusion or otherwise  

• Require urgent assessment/re-assessment of special educational needs  

• Require bespoke therapeutic provision to support their recovery and re-engagement with education  

• Are awaiting suitable placement following EHC assessment/review 

• Do not have a suitable school/college available (education other than at school/EOTAS) 

 

Students referred to SENse Support will usually have, or be in the process of obtaining, an Educational Healthcare Plan (EHCP). 

 

Referral arrangements 

To acquire a place at The Hub, children and young people can be referred privately by a parent/carer who Electively Home Educate; hold an EOTAS package, or by an educational establishment or local authority (commissioners).  All commissioners must complete the Initial Referral Form. Where a local authority requires the completion of their own AP referral form, we ask that the referrer completes this form in the first instance and then provide any additional information omitted from the LA form via the referral form annexed. This is to ensure we receive all relevant SEN information to enable us to triage the application correctly.  

 

Commissioning process  

Point of contact 

The point of contact for commissioners is Claire Daniels, Director of SEN and the following process applies:

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Processing of Referrals  

As part of the Provision Planning stage of admission, all placements will be triaged and reviewed by our multi-disciplinary team of SEN specialists during our MDT Admission’s Panel. This may include SENCO, Social Care Specialists, Educational Psychologists, CAMHs clinicians, SALT and Occupational Therapy and is inclusive of the cost of placement.

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The MDT panel meet on a fortnightly basis to triage any new referrals and will determine the complexity of need and the package of provision required to meet the student’s needs.

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Students will be deemed as complex if they fulfil 3 of the following criteria:

• The student is unable to communicate their needs, wants or preferences in their preferred method of communication  

• The student is a Looked After Child/Child In Our Care 

• The student has a history of, or is at serious risk of, youth offending/criminality  

• The student has received more than 1 permanent exclusion OR has been absent from their usual place of education for more than 2 academic terms 

• The student has required medical/clinical treatment on an inpatient basis in the last 12 months OR has a complex medical need (e.g., Global Developmental Delays, Cerebral Palsy etc.) 

 

Offers 

Within 1 week of the Discovery Meeting, we will notify the commissioner of whether we can meet need. If we can accept the referral, we will provide details of financial requirements, the support to be offered, a start date, and the date by which the offer should be accepted. In cases involving children or young people with physically challenging behaviours, we may need to conduct a home visit to meet the young person as part of our triage process. In such cases, the 1 week timeframe will increase to 2 weeks.

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Procedure following an offer 

An offer letter will be sent to the commissioner with a date by which the offer must be accepted. If a commissioner fails to accept an offer by the specified deadline, a final reminder will be sent, providing one last opportunity to secure the placement. Should the commissioner not respond to this reminder, we will hold the information on file for a further 14 days before securely destroying it in accordance with our GDPR policy. This ensures that all data is handled responsibly and in line with data protection regulations.

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Acceptance of Placements 

Once an offer has been accepted, an invoice for the upcoming term will be raised. All invoices are payable within 30 days from the date of the invoice. Failure to settle the invoice within the 30-day timeframe will result in additional charges. These charges will include interest at a rate of 8% above the Bank of England base rate, accruing daily from the due date until full payment is received. Additionally, an administrative fee of £40 will be applied to cover the costs of recovering the overdue amount. If payment remains outstanding after 45 days, we reserve the right to suspend services until the account is settled in full.

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Waiting List & Prioritisation of Urgent Cases  

In the event that The SENse Hub reaches its full capacity, a waiting list will be maintained. Priority for placements will be given to children who are looked after by the local authority or those experiencing a mental health crisis. These cases will be prioritised to ensure that the most vulnerable children and young people receive the support they need as quickly as possible. We will continually review the waiting list to ensure timely access to our services for those in critical need. 

 

Urgent Referrals 

For children and young people in urgent need of support, referrals will be raised at our triage panel within 7 working days of receipt. Our multi-disciplinary team will assess the referral to determine the appropriate provision needed to meet the student’s immediate needs. Urgent cases will be fast-tracked to ensure timely intervention and support to those most in need. 

  

Additional Services  

Commissioners can indicate their need for additional services, such as CAMHS or Speech and Language assessments, either on the initial referral form or at any later date. The standard price for an initial assessment and report is £550. However, we will provide individual quotes on a case-by-case basis, ensuring transparency in pricing. Additional assessments will only proceed with the explicit request and agreement of the commissioner, ensuring that all costs are fully communicated and agreed upon in advance. 

 

Stakeholder Collaboration 

A commissioner may be a parent, a school, or a local authority, and is ultimately responsible for funding the placement at The SENse Hub. All parents and carers are expected to collaborate closely with us to support their child or young person throughout the placement. We value partnership and believe that close communication between all parties is essential for the success of each student’s journey towards recovery and reintegration.

 

At The SENse Hub, we use the Graduated Approach to develop a bespoke support plan tailored to the individual needs of each child or young person accessing our services. This support plan will be created in consultation with the commissioner and parents and will be reviewed on a six-weekly basis to ensure it continues to meet the student's evolving needs. Progress will be documented and shared via a SENCO report, which will be provided to both the commissioner and parents ahead of each review. We expect commissioners and parents to actively participate in these review meetings, as their input is vital to ensuring the success of the support plan. Collaborative working is essential to align efforts and resources, ensuring that all parties are engaged in supporting the child or young person's progress and successful reintegration into education or the community.

 

Student Induction 

Students will receive a carefully planned induction, underpinned by trauma informed approaches and the SCERTS framework (Social Communication, Emotional Regulation, Transactional Support Framework). Initially, this will involve establishing a positive relationship with their designated Key Worker through 1:1 Key Worker sessions. For high need/complex students, Key Workers will be a SENCO, a CIOC (Child in Our Care) Lead Teacher or Social Worker, who will co-ordinate and oversee the bespoke package of intervention, including the introduction of support staff. For students whose needs can usually be met within mainstream education, their Key Worker will be a qualified teacher or a higher level Specialist SEN teaching assistant.  

 

All students will require a recent assessment of need, specifically:  

• Educational Psychology assessment within the last 12 months  

• Occupational Therapy assessment within the last 12 months  

 

SENse Support can undertake these assessments on behalf of the commissioner and/or parents if required, at an additional cost. These assessments will be used to inform the bespoke plan of intervention, as part of the APDR (Assess/Plan/Do/Review) approach.  

 

Students may also need to be assessed by the following professionals (to be identified during the MDT Panel meeting):  

• CAMHs Clinician  

• Speech and Language  

• Education Psychology  

• Occupational Therapy  

 

Complaints  

Any objections to this policy or its application should be raised through our normal complaints process.   

Equal Opportunities 

SENse Support is committed to equal opportunities and admits students across the full spectrum of academic abilities.  Detailed information about our commitment to equal opportunites can be found in our Equaly Opportunities policy. We work with the most challenging and hardest to reach students with special educational needs because we are committed to our belief that all students will thrive when their needs are understood and appropriately supported. All students have equal access to the curriculum and there is a learning support programme for students with special needs. 

 

Review 

This policy will be reviewed annually and any amended policy for the following September will be published on our website before the end of the preceding September (i.e. the policy for 2025 referrals will be published in September 2024). The policy will remain on the website throughout the school year.  

 

Links to other policies 

This policy should be read in conjunction with the following relevant policies: 

• SEN Policy 

• EOTAS Co-Ordination & Management Policy  

• Equal Opportunities Policy 

• Complaint’s Procedure,  

• Safeguarding Policy 

• Behaviour Regulation Policy  

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