Hospital schools

HHTS provides educational support to all school age children and young people who are admitted to either St George’s Hospital or any of the three Child and Adolescent Wards at Springfield Hospital (Aquarius, Wisteria and Corner House). Any inpatient of these wards, regardless of where they live, or length of stay, is entitled to attend the classrooms on site and engage in the education provision on offer. There is no need for any referral for these inpatients to access the classrooms.

Medical needs tuition including home tuition

Who is this for?
The Medical needs tuition provision is for children and young people in Wandsworth who have been deemed as too unwell to attend school by their clinician for 15 days cumulatively or consecutively.

For students with medical needs preventing attendance to school, WHHTS can offer an initial package of fully funded home tuition for 6 weeks, during a period of acute illness.

If a child or young person is unable to return to school after 6 weeks, WHHTS will request a proportion of the AWPU for each child or young person, in line with the updated guidance for LAs ‘Arranging education for children who cannot attend school because of health needs’ (DfE December 2023).

The new charge to school for outreach home tuition/medical AP support which will be a proportion of the Age Weighted Pupil Unit charged per week. This will start from 1st September 2024, and will be contained in a SLA with the school and in our Charging to Schools policy.

Referrals will only be accepted if the pupil is resident in Wandsworth, regardless of where their home school is located.

What documentation should be provided?

• A fully completed referral form
  A WHHTS referral form needs to be completed and submitted to the Headteacher for consideration.
• Documentation from the child or young person’s clinician
  Please send medical or CAMHS documentation by the child or young person’s consultant or most relevant clinician indicating clearly that the child cannot attend school due to illness.
  It is helpful for both the school and the tuition service if clinicians indicate an estimated period the child or YP is not expected to be able to attend school and the treatment that is underway. This supports the school and service to form a suitable education plan swiftly, and in consideration of appointments and effects of medication.

Medical documentation ensures that children are safeguarded effectively when absent from school and supported to attend school when appropriate. If a GP is writing the supporting evidence, their letter should indicate that their surgeries safeguarding lead has verified this medical documentation. GP’s considering recommending absence from school should see the child face to face before issuing a medical note and should also give due consideration to advice here: https://bjgplife.com/the-role-of-the-gp-in-maximising-school-attendance/

Please note that meeting minutes, EHCP’s, attendance statistics or collated views from non-clinical staff will not be accepted as medical documentation.

Referrals can only be accepted from schools, and must be accompanied by (medical) evidence from Education Welfare, CAMHS and/or other clinical professionals. Unfortunately, we cannot accept parent or self- referrals.

Consultation and advice
The service can offer consultation to schools for individual students or cohorts of students with medical or mental health needs preventing attendance to school. Please use the referral form provided below to request this service.

Compass

Referrals to the Compass Programme come directly from the Special Needs Assessment Service (SNAS) as this programme is commissioned by this department. These referrals require a young person to be Wandsworth residents and in receipt of an EHCP. Please speak to SNAS if you would like a young person to be referred to this programme.