Admissions to JPC

Admissions Procedure Summary

Referrals for the admissions panel are received from the child's secondary school, usually the SENCO or Headteacher. All referrals must be countersigned by the Headteacher of the referring school.

In exceptional cases, where a school refuses to refer to JPC, referrals can be accepted from:

• Children & Young People’s Department
• Community Paediatricians
• Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service

The guidelines for referral are:

• All referrals must be accompanied by a supporting letter from a suitably qualified specialist medical professional (not a GP), in addition to evidence of a multi-agency approach from the school.
• Students must have a medical condition, which makes successful attendance at their mainstream school impossible. Please note: ASC and ADHD are not medical conditions. As such, a diagnosis of ASC and/or ADHD does not meet the medical criteria for a hospital school placement.
• Students will usually have been causing serious concerns about their psychological, emotional, and/or social well-being.
• Students may have deep-rooted anxiety leading to school phobia/non-attendance.

Note: Joseph Paxton Campus is a short-term medical school catering for students who are suffering an acute medical condition that prevents them from attending their current school. As such, students requiring a new long-term provision as a result of the EHCP process cannot be directly referred for a placement at JPC. Students with an EHCP must be allocated a long-term school placement and can only be referred for a temporary placement at JPC after a full and graduated integration into their own school has been attempted. In all such cases, there must be a view that the student would be able to return to their own school following a temporary placement at JPC.

Also, where a young person has a developmental disorder, such as ASC, and is in years 7 or 8, it is very rare for them to be offered a placement at JPC unless there are separate, co-morbid, acute mental health concerns that are unrelated to their neurodevelopmental disorder. In these case, schools should follow the EHCP process, through which the most appropriate long-term support and/or provision will be identified.

Process leading to panel:

• Panel dates set and emails sent out informing schools and panel members of the dates.
• Admissions panels are usually held during the third week of each half-term.
• Referrals are required to be received at Joseph Paxton Campus by the end of the penultimate day of the preceding half-term.
• Once closing date has passed, the referrals are checked and any referrals that do not meet the admissions criteria are rejected. All others proceed to the home visit stage prior to the admissions panel meeting. Letters are sent back to all schools in each case informing them of this decision.
• The Headteacher makes home visits to all students and families before panel. This is an essential requirement before consideration by panel.

Following the panel, referrers and parents are informed of the outcome. If accepted, appointments are made for the students and parents to visit the school for a look around and to see if the student wants to attend here. Students are invited to start as soon as the integration and induction arrangements have been made.

Composition of Panel

• Senior Educational Psychologist (Chair)
• Headteacher of WHS 
• WHS SENCO
• Wirral LA Senior Attendance Officer
• LA representative
• CAMHS Representatives (Up to two)
• Wirral LA Home Education Coordinator
• (Members of WHS SLT and/or mainstream school's SLT are invited on a rota basis to observe the admissions panel meetings.)

For full details of the referral process, please see our full Admissions Policy.

Panel Dates 2024 - 2025

IMPORTANT NOTE

All students are accepted on a trial and review basis and on a dual-roll status, with the student’s referring school remaining as the 'main school' and Joseph Paxton Campus being the subsidiary service provider. 

Places at Joseph Paxton Campus are very limited, very expensive and in high demand. Sometimes months and years have been spent in helping vulnerable young people to access a school setting again and Joseph Paxton offers a real opportunity and chance to do this. Therefore, it is essential that the quiet, calm, supportive and 'safe' nurturing environment is not affected by the admission of any new student.

Placements at Joseph Paxton Campus may be ended by the Headteacher of Wirral Hospitals' School if the student: 

• Fails to attend satisfactorily / use the placement to full benefit   OR
• Behaves in a way that causes negative impact on other vulnerable young people or could cause a health and safety risk   OR
• Fails to co-operate with, or engage in, the therapeutic and educational opportunities available.

Advice, support, intervention and review meetings with the referring school, young person and parent / carers will have been put into place to try and resolve difficulties before a final decision is made by the Headteacher. Following these, the Headteacher's decision is final.

There is no appeal process - the young person's resource placement ends and they return to the care and control of their referring school. For more information on our admission policy please refer to the policies page in the about us section of the website.

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