Admissions and attendance
The admission process
- A pupil’s school requests a placement at The Key Intervention via the online form.
- A Pre Panel open evening is held, to allow parents of the potential pupil to visit the setting and meet staff.
- Pupils are observed in their school by a member of staff from The Key Intervention.
- The Key Panel is held, and a member of staff from the pupil’s school is invited to present the pupil’s request.
- The panel, made up of service leaders and head teachers, decide on placement allocations.
- School is informed of a placement offer
- An initial intervention meeting including parents/ carers and professionals is arranged
- A home visit takes place.
- Pupils begin a placement, with an agreed reintegration plan for their gradual return to school.
Who can request a placement?
Only professionals from the pupil’s home school can request a placement at The Key Intervention for a pupil, however the parent/carers and pupil views are an important part of the request. Parents/ carers are not able to request a placement for their child, if a parent/carer feels that their child may benefit from the Key Intervention, they should speak to the SENCO at their child’s school. All requests must come via the online request form.
FAP
Pupils who are permanently excluded from school will continue to be considered via the Coventry Primary Fair Access process (FAP) and may be offered a placement at the Keys to support their reintegration back into a new school.
Attendance
Pupils attend the Key Intervention on a part time basis over 26 weeks. The pupils attend for a maximum of 85 days out of 190 days of the academic year. For the first 12 weeks, pupils attend The Keys 4 days a week with a Friday back in their home school. On week 13, pupils start a gradual reintegration building up from the 1 day in their home school each week, to 3. The home school works closely with The Key during the pupil's intervention, visiting on a regular basis and attending review meetings. A member of staff from The Keys will visit the pupil on a regular basis in their home school.
While attending the Key Intervention, pupils stay on the roll of their home school, and the home school continues to be the main provider of the pupil’s substantive education for that academic year. The home school remain responsible for ensuring the pupil's education, safeguarding and attendance are monitored. As documented within the Key Intervention Child Protection and Safeguarding policy, The Key will keep an attendance register of days attended and arrival and exit times for the pupil while they are on a placement. The Key will inform the home school by 10am each day if the pupil is absent.
Criteria
Key Criteria
- Minimum age: Reception Year, Summer Term
- Maximum age: Year 6, Autumn Term
- Pupil's must be on a Coventry school's roll
- Pupils will NOT have an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP)
- SEMH must be the pupil's primary area of need
Graduated approach
Schools must offer Universal Provision to all pupils, to support social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) development.
Universal provision includes:
- A whole school behaviour management policy.
- A Special Educational Needs Coordinator.
- An inclusive ethos. Personalised approaches.
- Clear whole school procedures.
- Parent/Carer involvement.
- Solution-focused approaches.
This may involve the following practices and strategies:
- A positive classroom climate, focusing on praise and encouragement.
- Routines that promote emotional wellbeing, and successful transition.
- A classroom environment and layout that account of SEMH needs of learners.
- Active, engaging and meaningful resources & supports for learning available.
- Access to named quiet areas of school and playground.
- Planned/ targeted support from Teacher or Teaching assistant in the classroom.
- Action plans to meet need with regular monitoring of progress
- Staff who have knowledge and skills of meeting the needs of learning
- through training/ CPD.
- Trained staff to support pupils at unstructured times of day, such as break & lunch time.
- A well planned and structured PSHE curriculum, that is stimulating and effectively delivered.
Some pupils may require further support to meet their individual SEMH needs. This further support will come in the form of targeted provision. At this point schools may consider a placement at The Key intervention. A small number of pupils may need to be provided with higher needs or specialist provision to meet their needs.
Example entry level for a Targeted Early Intervention pathway
Such pathway offers preventative early intervention for pupils who are finding it difficult to meet the behavioural expectations of mainstream school. Pupils appropriate for this level of support at The Keys intervention will not have an EHCP and will be attending school full time. We will not consider requests for pupils in year 6 for the Early Intervention pathway, year 6 pupils who are already on a Key placement will return to school by the end of Autumn Term.
These pupils will currently be receiving some targeted provision in school, which may include:
- Identification of SEMH difficulties, recognised as special education need (SEN).
- A plan which is personal to the pupil which outlines specific, measurable targets with planned opportunities to monitor progress (such as an IEP/ Personal provision map)
- Reasonable adjustments to teaching and learning; such as simplified language, achievable curriculum expectations, practical & stimulating lesson delivery and access to resources/ learning support which is additional to what is universally provided
- Opportunity for regular & structured teaching to a small group by trained staff to work on clearly defined targets, reviewed often
- The use of strategies and programmes that are proven to be successful (Eg: precision teach/ thrive/ social skills/ ear defenders/sensory objects/ nurture groups)
- Adaptations to the learning environment which provide support for specific needs, such as individual workstations, low arousal/ quiet area, seating positioned to minimise distractions, removal of sensory overload
- Extra support from adults to follow consistent, regular routines and to prepare for change and transition – by staff that have received training which is matched to the learner's area of need
- Ongoing parentally/carer engagement and support for target setting and reviewing progress and strategies
- One off/ initial involvement from external specialists (Eg: SEMHL, CCT, EP) to gain advice and recommendations.
Example entry level for a Higher Needs Specialist Intervention Pathway
Such pathway offers an intense programme of intervention for pupils whose SEMH needs are so significant, all interventions have so far have been unsuccessful, and advise/ recommendations exhausted. For these pupils a continued placement in a mainstream environment is at risk, and this may include pupils who have been permanently excluded. Pupils will not yet have an EHCP but higher needs provision is likely to be in place in school, which may include:
- A highly personalised approach to the curriculum, informed by the SEMH needs of the pupil
- Highly structured routines, communicated with visual resources and prompts
- A personalised timetable that is reviewed regularly, which may include temporary withdrawal from some activities that are challenging for the pupil (such as assembly).
- Daily teaching of skills by experienced staff, that may address specific targets outlined in the pupil’s pastoral support plan/ behaviour action plan
- Priority access to an attractive safe space, and/or a workstation that reduces emotional and sensory arousal.
- A tailor-made environment/ structured activity at unstructured times such as break and lunch to reduce conflict and to support social interaction
- Access to a trusted key member of school staff who is available to the pupil (not necessarily a 1:1) to act as a secure base, this staff member should have relevant experience in being attentive, emotionally welcoming and understanding of need.
- Ongoing assessment, support and advise from external professionals (Eg SEMHL, CCT EP) These professionals may support and advise on the pupils pastoral support plan/ behaviour management plan/ risk assessment and plan, do, review process.
- When a pupil’s behaviour can put themselves or others at risk, the use of effective documents that are designed to inform staff of process in place should be agreed with pupils and parents, and reviewed regularly. Documents such as: positive handling plans, risk assessment.
Autism diagnosis
The Key is an SEMH intervention and while we are able to accommodate pupils with ASC, it must be noted that we are not an autism specialist setting and our service is not set up with autism as a priority. When considering a placement for a pupil with ASC, parents and professionals in school must carefully consider whether the presenting behaviours are due to SEMH difficulties or whether the root cause of the behaviour is an unmet autism need. Pupil's primary area of need should be SEMH for them to attend the Key Intervention. When making a decision about a placement for a pupil with ASC, the following points must be considered:
- Pupils will be attending two different settings each week, which means two different: environments, sets of adults, daily structures, peers and curriculum content. Some pupils find this lack of consistency challenging. How important is routine in meeting the pupil’s ASC need?
- Pupils will begin a placement at the Key which involves a new setting and a new set of staff, after two terms they return to their home school. For some pupils, it takes a long time to settle into these changes. How well does the pupil manage change and transition?
- Many of our pupils have challenges with regulating their emotions, which can sometimes result in behaviours which create high noise levels and distractions. How important is a calm and quiet environment to meet the pupil’s sensory needs?