Admissions
The Leeds Local Authority have a policy to reduce and eradicate Permanent Exclusions across the City. Southway was established as a South Leeds pilot scheme to support this initiative in 2008.
We have since converted our status to that of an independent school. We are a school for pupils with behavioural, social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) difficulties who are at risk of being permanently excluded from their mainstream school, or who are struggling to access mainstream settings and possibly require a specialist setting. Southway would support with the Education Health Care Plan process.
Southway provides places for children in KS3 and KS4 from across the city, and neighbouring local authorities if needed. We are based in the South of Leeds, and offer a high-quality education package to meet the range of needs that learners may have. At Southway we aim to ensure that all pupils have access to an appropriate curriculum to ensure they achieve their potential and are not disadvantaged in comparison to their peers who access education in mainstream settings. Students accessing our educational programmes in KS4 will follow a range of accredited courses.
ADMISSIONS CRITERIA
The Full Time (FT) places offered by Southway, cover a range of programmes.
The pupils are either:
- at risk of permanent exclusion from a mainstream setting;
- new to the authority who were previously educated in a PRU setting;
- new to the authority who have a history of disrupted education;
- referred from alternative provisions on either a full-time or part-time basis.
APPLICATIONS/REFERRALS
Students are allocated a place via one of three main routes:
(1) They are allocated a 'City-Wide' place through the Leeds SEMH Pathways Panel, following a referral to the panel, by the child's current school.
(2) They are allocated a place through the Area Inclusion Partnership that supports the mainstream school that the child is on-roll with. (Where individual schools are not part of an AIP, schools will need to contact the Principal to apply for a place).
(3) Secondary schools in the South of Leeds, purchase 2 places each. A child attending one of these schools may be referred directly by the school.
Students that attend Southway are dual-registered as the subsidiary provider. All students remain on the roll of their current mainstream setting. (Where a child is returning from EHE, or is new to the area, they should be placed onto the roll of their most recent school, or allocated a school through the Fair Access Protocol before applying for a placement at Southway). In the event that a student's Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), named Southway as the recommended setting, Southway has no obligation to admit, owing to the fact that it is not registered on the Section 41 list of schools.
All referrals must be supported by a detailed and complete student passport from the referring school, including any supporting documents such as risk assessments.
This will form the basis of an initial risk assessment and will help us provide:
- the most appropriate placement structure;
- the nature and duration of the placement;
- the appropriate pupil exit strategy.
Other services and agencies (e.g. Education Welfare Service, Educational Psychology, Youth Offending Team, Health and Social Services) and parents and carers will be asked to supply additional information to support the referral process (if needed). Following the referral process, a contract meeting will be held with a representative from the mainstream school, parents/carers, and any other agencies with a vested interest in the learner and/or their family. A place will only be offered when an agreement has been reached with those attending, that Southway is the right placement at the time.
For further information, please contact Mrs C. Boardman, cboardman@southway.org.uk.
