On admission, a key teacher is allocated to each young person in education and works as an advocate for the young person’s educational wellbeing whilst an inpatient. The key teacher works closely with the young people, parents/carers and their families, home schools/colleges and the multidisciplinary team (MDT), to support their continued school work, re-integration and finally a planned discharge. We also ask parents/carers to complete a short questionnaire about their child’s educational history and needs in the early days of admission.
On arrival, the key teacher will have an initial discussion with parents/carers and the young person regarding previous and current schools, courses studied and concerns that they may have. They will also highlight the education and support that the young person can expect to receive from our school. The key teacher works closely with an appropriate member of staff at the home school; this may be their Head of Year, SENDCo (Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities Coordinator) or Course Teacher, and at times, we seek the support of Senior Leadership Teams.
We request information on prior achievement and important educational information that will help us provide the best service possible. We request work is collated from all subject teachers and made available to the young person via email, post or school/college sites. We maintain a steady flow of work to and from school or college for the young person to continue learning in hospital and will return work completed for assessment and feedback. Towards the end of the school year there are many exams that young people expect to sit and as a registered examination centre, we are available to facilitate exams when necessary. Should the admission period fall during an exam period we will be able to facilitate the sitting of the exams at our school.
Regular communication
Regular updates are provided to parents, carers, schools and colleges on the young person’s progress. Our key teachers attend all weekly ward round meetings with the MDT as well as Care Plan Approach (CPA) meetings, which happen approximately every six weeks. These meetings involve the MDT who work to review, plan and give direct feedback to the young person. Attendance to these meetings ensures that we are able to offer young people consistency and continuity in their education and ultimately their recovery. An education report is written by the key teacher and forms part of the CPA. This information is shared with home schools once parental permission has been given.
Settling in period
In the first few days of admission, we assess the young person’s emotional and academic needs. We aim to tailor our approach to education based on information provided from everyone involved with each young person to ensure we quickly help them to assimilate into our classrooms and that the schoolwork provided suits their academic ability, as well as their state of mental and physical health.
An Individual Education Plan (IEP) is designed termly for each young person following a period of assessment by our staff in liaison with the hospital multidisciplinary team (MDT) and external services. We have an open and continuous dialogue with the following people to identify, assess and plan for each young person’s specific needs:
- Home school/college
- Parents/carers
- Medical teams
- Local Authority (LA)
- School or college
- SENDCo