Admissions & Funding

Pace / Pace School / Admissions & Funding

Admitting a child to Pace education

Pace helps children aged 0-18 years with sensory motor disorders and other associated difficulties, with our school currently registered for 3-16 years. The range and severity of the educational needs of children at Pace varies from those who require intensive work to help them learn basic foundation skills such as moving, looking and listening, to those who are working age appropriately but who would benefit from fine tuning independent mobility and functional living skills. Our integrated educational programmes are highly specialised and appropriate for those with:

Cerebral palsy or motor delay/disorder, including a range of associated problems, for example sensory, perceptual, auditory and visual
Head injuries
Genetic disorders resulting in motor impairment.

The specific nature of our programmes means that we do not normally accept children who have the following conditions:

Learning difficulties but no motor disorder
Behavioural problems but no motor disorder
Autism or rapidly progressive degenerative disorder.

How to get referred

We are happy to receive referrals directly from a child’s parent or family member, and also from other bodies or agencies, for example:

NHS
Children’s Services
Education authorities
Voluntary agencies
Portage services

How Pace responds:

All enquiries taken by telephone, email or via our enquiry form will be responded to as follows:

The person enquiring should provide the basic details of the child and his or her needs when completing the enquiry form, or a member of our team will complete the form with you during your initial conversation
These details will be passed to a senior manager who will call the parent or person making the referral within three working days
If appropriate, an appointment will be made for the child to attend Pace with their parent/s for an initial assessment that will take place over a number of individual sessions. This assessment will be carried out by senior members of Pace staff who will discuss the child’s needs with their parent/s
Information about Pace services, practice, policies and procedures will be available to prospective parents during this visit
If parents and staff feel that a place at Pace would be beneficial, and a place is available, arrangements will be made to join an appropriate group as soon as possible, subject to funding.

If a place is not immediately available, the child’s name will be placed on a waiting list for admission. Parents will be kept informed about when a place will become available for their child.

Access legal advice and support on the IPSEA website (Independent Parental Special Education Advice) to aid your application for independent special schools such as Pace.

Details of charges and funding arrangements for therapy service (0-18 years) are available here.

Placement

For children of statutory school age (4+) placement at Pace is normally made through the Education, Health and Care Plan needs assessment procedure, which:

Identifies whether your child’s special needs fall into the category that requires an Education, Health and Care Plan needs assessment
Carries out a full assessment of your child’s abilities and challenges
Identifies additional support and provision required to meet his/her special educational needs
Names an appropriate nursery or school that is able to meet your child’s needs on the Education, Health and Care Plan written for your child.

Sometimes children enter Pace Early Years or Primary Services before their Education, Health and Care Plan needs assessment has started or is completed. Local authorities may not always agree to name Pace on your child’s statement; however, you are entitled to appeal against this decision if you wish.

Guidance on how to apply for Education, Health and Care Plan needs assessment (formally referred to as a statutory assessment) and on the statementing procedure is available in the SEND Code of Practice.

Funding and charging

When Pace is named on a child’s Education, Health and Care Plan, the place is then funded by your local authority. The funding authority will cover the cost for either a full time place or for a part time place.

Education, Health and Care Plan applications and appeals

The trustees acknowledge that application for statutory funding and the Education, Health and Care Plan process can take some time to complete and that appeals are sometimes necessary. Therefore during this period, while local authority funding is not available, and if an appeal is unsuccessful, parents will be asked to self fund their child’s place at a rate equivalent to the local education authority fee, currently between £40,804 and £61,206 for a full time place or pro rata for a part time place. The level of charge is based on the degree of complexity of the child’s needs.

Pace will provide access to initial independent legal guidance and support for all parents whose child is going through the Education Health and Care Plan assessment process. Following this initial advice, parents will be informed about the options for ongoing advice and advocacy services from the provider.

Pace welcomes applications from families wishing to place their child privately without going through the statutory assessment process. Fees for privately funded children are available on request.