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    • Our Academy

    OUR CRITERIA

    • Riverside Meadows Academy is a split-site secondary school for 120 pupils aged 11-16 years whose primary special educational needs is Social, Emotional, and Mental Health (SEMH) difficulties. The pupils’ needs may be complex, creating significant barriers to learning. They may have associated behavioural difficulties, but they will not have severe learning difficulties.

    • Placements are full time, subject to specification of education and health care plan, although pupils may be admitted on a phased return if all parties around the pupil are in agreement.

    • Arrangements for admission are managed by Cambridgeshire Local Authority procedures for admission to special schools with the agreement of the Co-Head Teachers for each of the sites. There will be no prioritisation for pupils enrolled in particular schools and the system of admissions will follow a fair process.

    • Each application is assessed on an individual basis. In each case, we take account of the needs of the individual pupil and consider whether the school would be suitable to meet their needs with particular reference to the following factors.

    • The pupil will be aged between 11 and 16 years of age
       
    • The pupil has an Education, Health & Care Plan (EHCP)
       
    • The EHCP will specify that the pupil has social, emotional, mental health difficulties.
       
    • The pupil will normally have been assessed as within the average ability range of educational functioning. (In some cases, pupil’s levels of ability as measured using psychometric tests may prove difficult. In these cases the school will base its judgements on its ability to meet needs)
       
    • The pupil may have moderate learning difficulties and/or low attainment that are associated with their emotional and behavioural difficulties.
       
    • The pupil may have one or more area of difficulty.
       
    • The pupil will express a commitment to the placement.
       
    • The pupil’s parents/carers will express a commitment to the placement.
       
    • We will also consider if the pupil under consultation will be compatible with the current cohort of pupils already in the classes we have.

    • In any event the school becomes oversubscribed we will prioritise pupils from the local area and children in care.

    There may be the following constraints on admissions:

    1. Appropriate resources have not been made available to the school to deliver provision and services required for the pupil.
    2. The pupil requires a residential placement.

    Process for admissions

    Admission requests and EHCP and related papers should be sent to:

    Statutory assessment team:

    Telephone:   01480 372600       
    Email:           sat@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

    Cambridgeshire Admissions information link: Cambridgeshire County Council

    Our response and what you can expect

    We respond to local authority requests for placements within 15 days. The local authority Statutory Assessment & Resources Team (SAT) caseworker has role to communicate with the family of the young person to outline responses of the school and next steps and explain if the admission is unsuccessful.

    We would expect to meet your child before any offer of admission to the school is made and the school is named on the EHCP.

    Tours of the academy for available spaces will need to be pre-booked in advance via the school office. Opportunities to view the academy are invited when the SAT team submit a request for placement to our school if there are vacancies.

    To make the process as fair as possible, places will be allocated in consultation and agreement with the Head Teacher following the Cambridgeshire Local Authority provision and placement panel.

    If the school can meet need but the EHCP requires amendment this will need to be agreed, funded and formalised with the appropriate LA officer before the placement is confirmed. The school will outline this request in their formal response.

    Once the academy is named on the EHCP and parents/carers have accepted a place, the academy will contact the family with information to plan the transition.