How To Apply
St Rose’s has an ‘open’ referral system which allows families/carers, local authorities and professionals to refer possible applicants for admission in respect of specialist placements.
The key requirements which we believe are fundamental to providing a service for a child, young person or adult are:
- To work in partnership with local authorities in providing unique specialist services for children and young people with additional needs.
- When an enquiry is received directly from a family / carer St Rose’s School will inform the local authority and continue to keep them appraised of how/if the request progresses.
- St Rose’s School will only ever consider offering a placement to a child or young person where it feels it can meet the level, type and severity of need compatible with the knowledge, skills and expertise of its staff.
- St Rose’s School key indicators for placement will be its ability to meet the communication, learning, behavioural, health and social needs of the child or young person.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Preliminary contact
All enquiries are directed to the Principal or Vice Principal. A telephone consultation with the referrer takes place to collect some preliminary information i.e. the service required and needs of the child/young person. A prospective student information form is completed. If an enquiry from the local authority initiated the contact then St Rose’s School receive an Expression of Interest form to complete. The local authority then decide if they want to progress the application and if this is the case then the young person and their parents are invited for an assessment visit.
Initial visit
The Leadership and Management Team (LMT) meet weekly to discuss initial enquiries. If the referral is appropriate a visit will be arranged specific to the requested services; St Rose’s School and/or Short Break Services.
In order to identify the applicant’s needs and suitability for admission additional information will be gathered from families / carers and professionals during the visit.
After an initial visit the Prospective Student Form is shared with SMT (School Management Team).
The family / carer will be invited to make a formal application and the child/young person will be offered a multi-disciplinary team assessment.
Assessment visit
Following the initial visit, if St Rose’s School considers that we can meet the needs of the young person, an assessment visit will be arranged. During the assessment visit the young person will be met by relevant members of the multi-disciplinary team who will complete an Assessment of Need document.
It is important that families / carers accompany their young person at the assessment in order to provide relevant information to the multi-disciplinary team.
Assessments help us evaluate how well the young person might adapt to the learning and / or care environments St Rose’s School provides. During the assessment process we can arrange for the assessment to be carried out in the existing provision. If it is felt the young person would benefit from a visit in their current setting this would be arranged.
Offer Decision
When the Assessment of Need document is completed a decision will be made with regard to offering a place. At this point an offer letter will be sent and the local authority will be informed, if they have not already been notified.
Transition
Once funding has been confirmed in writing a series of transition visits will be arranged. The length and nature of the transition period is determined and is based on the needs of the young person. Home visits and school visits may support the transition process.