Admissions
Admission criteria to the david lewis school
The david lewis school is approved to accept children of both genders, aged between 7-19 years, with epilepsy or medical conditions associated with learning difficulties. Most of the pupils who attend our school have a cognitive and developmental delay which places them in the severe learning difficulty or profound learning difficulty category. Many also have additional complex needs which may include communication difficulties, autistic spectrum disorders, sensory impairment and challenging behaviour. We do not accept pupils to the david lewis school whose challenging behaviour is environmentally rather than neurologically generated. At david lewis we specialise in educating pupils whose neurological impairment requires a holistic approach including health and social care.
Parents of prospective pupils are welcome to visit david lewis and our specialist school on an informal basis.
Admissions procedure
Parents are very welcome to visit the school, and we highly recommend you do so as a first step to admission. We are more than happy to arrange a convenient date for you to visit.
You may also wish other professionals with whom you are involved, for example Educational Psychologists, Social Workers, etc., to visit, and we are happy to make such arrangements.
To arrange a visit to school and to discuss your child’s special needs please telephone Pauline Greenall, Headteacher on 01565 640141.
If you decide to proceed in seeking a placement at the school, you will need to notify your child’s leading funding agency, usually the Children’s Services Department, to make a formal referral to us.
Once formal referral papers are received, they are taken to the multi-disciplinary admissions panel, which meets weekly/fortnightly. The panel includes the Headteacher, Registered Manager, Doctor, Consultant Paediatric Neuropsychologist, Behaviour Support Adviser, Occupational Therapist, Speech and Language Therapist and Social Worker. Other professional advice, e.g. physiotherapy is sought as required. Due to the detail required in referral papers, which are sometimes incomplete or not sufficiently detailed with regard to the medical and other information we require, you may experience delay whilst this important information is being sought.
If we feel that the david lewis school could meet your child’s needs we will arrange for you to bring him/her for a placement visit. Usually we will also arrange to visit your child at home and at school. A decision will then be made to offer a place at the david lewis school to your child. This formal offer of a placement will also be sent to the referring agency along with a proposed start date.
All efforts are made to ensure an effective transition to help your child settle into the david lewis school and the procedure followed will be individually tailored to meet the particular needs of your child by our multi-disciplinary team.
Day Pupils
The david lewis school has a small number of school places available for day pupils from neighbouring authorities. Day pupils are integrated into class groups and have access to all the specialist support services available to our residential pupils.
For further information on admission for day pupils please contact the Headteacher.
Referrals
Referrals are normally received from the Children’s Services Department of the Local Authority and are paid by the child’s local statutory agencies (Health and Children’s Services Department).
