The Link Full Prospectus

 

The Link in Sections

Welcome

Admissions

Primary Provision

Secondary Provision

Therapeutic support

Parent support

Working with professionals

Safeguarding

Key information

Current news

Gallery

 

Aims and Purpose

To ensure the continued education of children and young people in Key Stages 1, 2, 3 and 4 in a supportive and nurturing education environment. It caters for students who, because of exclusion or other reasons, would not receive a suitable full time education.

To support students to address any emotional and behavioural difficulties which affect their development and to help them develop emotional resilience. We are developing access to a range of behaviour support, counselling and therapeutic interventions to address these difficulties.

To reintegrate all children and young people into mainstream education whereever possible. We will either directly provide the education and support service, or  put suitable arrangements in place where alternative or off site packages are required to best meet a student’s needs.

To provide training for schools in order for them to build capacity to meet students’ needs.

Outcomes

The Link is a child and young person centred provision which is outcome focused. We want our students to achieve the following outcomes as a result of our service:

• Students to be highly motivated and engaging in their education, increasingly enjoying learning with confidence in their academic ability
• Students to access the best possible placement in order to meet their individual needs
• Students to be regularly attending our school
• Students to gain emotional resilience and show improved behaviour
• Students to make good progress and achieve stretching academic and vocational attainment targets
• Students to be able to access mainstream education settings and / or successfully progress to education, training and employment at 16
• Parents to feel supported and positively engaged with The Link and their child’s education
• Schools to develop strategies to meet the needs of their learners

Eligibility criteria

The Link will cater for students who, because of exclusion or other reasons, would not receive a suitable full time education. This will include:

• Primary aged students who are unable to sustain a mainstream school place because of unmet needs in relation to their Behaviour, Emotional and Social Difficulties and disaffection
• From the sixth day of permanent exclusion or fixed term exclusion from primary school (or first day for children in care)
• Students at risk of disengaging from mainstream education due to mental health and emotional difficulties in Key stages 3 and 4

Referrals and access to The Link 

Following referral to, and identification by, the RISE team, The Link at Manor Green School will support students based on individual assessment of the student and their needs. 

Where a referral is made for an Alternative Provision placement, an initial response will be made within 48 hours of receiving the referral.  This response will confirm receipt, timescales and the next steps with regards to the referral. A full response will be provided within five school days advising whether or not the child or young person can be placed/accepted, with reasons being provided if they cannot be placed/accepted.

The Primary Outreach Leader will attend meetings to discuss the needs of the student with their current school and their parents. 

Following the referral an observation or series of observations of the student in their current setting will take place. An outreach support plan will be created to identify clear aims for the student. This plan will identify the steps required in order to reach their goal. 

The support plan will be individual to the student and may involve:

• Strategies to support the student in their current setting with guidance and training for staff in order to effectively deliver the strategies 
• Recommendations for therapeutic support or intervention package 
• Individualised learning goals based on their need 
• A short term programme based at Manor Green School with teaching in small groups, 1:1 or within our Nurture Group  
• Supported transition to prepare for a new educational setting if required.

We will regularly review progress and needs with the student, their family and their school to ensure the strategies or programme are effective. 

The progress made will be carefully monitored and reported on during the programme. This will include assessment on their social and emotional development as well as academic progress.

All children and young people who are referred and meet the eligibility criteria for the service will be placed or supported.

Assessment, personalised support , Individual Progress Plans (IPPs) and reviews

Once a child or young person has been placed, they will be allocated a named key worker. The key worker will have a lead role in coordinating the support and education package and acting as a key contact, providing support and guidance for the student.

A full and comprehensive assessment will be undertaken and an IPP developed jointly with the student, their parents or carers and the home school. The IPP will be tailored to meet the individual student’s needs, matching provision closely to each student’s interests and aspirations.

Assessments may consist of:

• FAGUS
• Reading Analysis (sentence completion and context comprehension)
• Learning and assessments for Maths, English and ICT
• Strengths and difficulties questionnaire.

Developing the IPP will provide an opportunity to listen to the child or young person, identify their strengths and aspirations, look at their needs holistically and start to build a positive and trusting relationship in order to engage them in education.  It will also ensure the specific personal, social and academic needs of students are properly identified in order to help them to overcome any barriers to learning and attainment. For children in care, this plan will be the Personal Education Plan (PEP).  The plan will have clear outcomes and objectives for meeting needs and attainment goals with clear time frames and arrangements for monitoring progress. It will capture the baseline position of a student’s educational and behavioural position to enable progress to be monitored. Plans will be linked to other relevant plans or activities, as appropriate.

Progress against outcomes in the plans will be frequently monitored with regular reviews (every two weeks for students on long placements). All key stakeholders involved in the reviews (the student, their parents/carers, home school and others as appropriate) will be involved and informed via termly reports. 

Behaviour support, counselling and therapeutic interventions

We will provide additional support interventions to help students address any social, emotional and behavioural difficulties.  This may take many forms depending on the needs and approach which best suits the student. This may include a range of interventions, such as talking or art therapies, group work, counselling, psychology support, mentoring or coaching.

Where a child or young person has complex needs, it may be appropriate to modify or suspend their full time curriculum for a period of time, so they can start to address any attachment /emotional issues. This will be through the receipt of therapeutic support to help them to re-engage in full-time education.

Reintegration

Where there is an objective to return the child to school, there will be an agreement with the school on how to assess when the student is ready to return. The Link will plan an appropriate package to support the reintegration process with the school, the student and the carers and agree with the school when the child or young person is ready to return. 

The student will be well prepared and supported throughout the reintegration process which will be stepped and carefully managed with regular reviews to ensure the child is settled before reintegration support ceases.

Curriculum and Accreditation of Learning

The Link will provide access to a broad range of high-quality provision and a balanced curriculum.   All individual learning packages will be of high-quality and provide a suitable curriculum designed to meet the needs of the individual child or young person. All potential opportunities for accreditation will be identified within the IPP and agreed with the home school and parents/carers.

IPPs will set stretching but achievable attainment targets for children and young people. The curriculum specified within an IPP will include age-appropriate PSHE and physical exercise/ activity.

Provision of preventative support, advice and outreach support into schools

The Link will provide support and guidance to primary and secondary schools where requested. This will include support and advice with strategies and creative ways of supporting children and young people with social and emotional difficulties /disaffection to remain in mainstream school.  Areas of training include: Autism, Attachment, Anxiety, Downs Syndrome, Behaviour Management and Global Developmental Delay.  

We will run drop in advice sessions for schools to discuss ways to meet the needs of students with additional needs.  

We will work collaboratively with school to develop learning, behaviour or development plans as required for students. 

School staff will be supported to develop their understanding of different needs and strategies.  
There will be further opportunity to develop strategies through observations, team teaching and the modelling of strategies.

Transitions planning and progression at 16

The Link will support young people at Key Stage 3 and 4 to consider their aspirations, strengths and progression options at Post-16 into future education, employment and training, ensuring they are supported to access independent information, advice and guidance.

The Link will support transition planning arrangements as required at Post-16 to ensure smooth transitions for young people as far as possible.

Information, advice and guidance (IAG)

The Link will provide good quality information, advice and guidance to students aged 15 and 16 regarding education, employment or training opportunities.