Catcote Academy offers specialist provision and all students must have an EHC Plan. The number of places we can offer is limited and we have an Admissions Panel to make sure that this is managed fairly.

The Admissions Panel meets every month and includes staff from school and the Local Authority SEND Team.  We consider all requests for places using a child or young person’s EHC Plan, as well as any other assessments that are available, for example from an Educational Psychologist or Speech and Language Therapist.

We will always try our best to meet individual needs, but on some occasions we may not be able to.  This might be because our curriculum isn’t suitable for someone’s level of ability or because we don’t have enough resources or the right facilities.  The Admissions Panel might also decide that a child’s needs could be better met in another type of school.

Ideally, when a child or young person transfers to the Academy they will do so at the start of the school year in September.  In some cases we may be able to offer a start date part way through a school year, but this is usually only in exceptional circumstances.

After the Admissions Panel, the person who has requested a place will be informed of the outcome – this might be directly by the Academy or from the Local Authority SEND Team.

You can find out more about the admissions process by reading our Admissions Policy.

If we are unable to offer your child a place at the Academy, you can appeal this decision to the First Tier SEND Tribunal Service.  You find out more about this process here.