Admissions
The Leeds Local Authority have a policy to reduce and eradicate Permanent Exclusions across the City.
Southway was set up to help tackle this issue. We are a school for pupils with behavioural, social, emotional and mental health difficulties who are at risk of being permanently excluded from their mainstream school, or have been permanently excluded from their mainstream school. We provide 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:
- permanently excluded from mainstream school;
- at risk of permanent exclusion;
- pupils new to the authority who were previously educated in a PRU setting;
- pupils new to the authority who have a history of disrupted education;
- pupils referred from alternative provisions on either a full-time or part-time basis.
APPLICATIONS/REFERRALS
All learners accessing the educational programme/s at Southway are not on roll with us, they all remain on roll with their referring school/centre. Applications for a place at Southway from within Leeds, are carried out through one of the four Area Inclusion Partnerships (AIP’s).
Where individual schools are not part of an AIP, schools will need to contact the Principal to apply for a place. Applications for places can also be carried out via the Local Authority’s SEMH Panel.
All referrals need to be supported by a detailed, and completed student passport from the referring school.
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 see our Admissions Policy, or contact Mrs C. Boardman.