When should a referral be made

Schools should refer to their own Supporting Students with Medical Needs Policy before making a referral, referral to TRS should be a last resort.  .

As a rule of thumb the following conditions will need to be met:

  • Young people whose mental health needs are at Tier 3 (CAMHS).
  • Young people whose physical health is evidenced by a hospital (paediatrician,
    consultant or registrar) to be too unwell to attend school. This applies to
    young people whose cases are managed by hospitals within Kent as well as
    in more specialist hospitals in London and across the country.
  • Young people whose illness has reduced their school attendance to less than
    50%


The following document also helps when supporting a student with health needs:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3

As schools are aware there are many types of interventions that may be appropriate for you to support a young person with their mental or physical health; we have provided a list that allows for you to see ‘at a glance’ if there is anything you haven’t considered before a referral is made

Interventions could include:

An Individual Health Care Plan – see link above

A support plan that is developed with the pupil and parent/carer containing suggested strategies for school staff/parents/pupils to implement.  Regular reviews to monitor progress and next steps.

Use of rooms/smaller groups or safe places in school to go to when in crisis - for example EHub

Rest rooms

Part time timetable – to be reviewed as health improves

Mentoring support in school from school staff or commissioned agencies

Utilise support from an Educational Psychologist or access support via other support mechanisms such as Kent Autistic Trust

Make a request for support - Early Help

Family Support Worker/Student manager etc. (school based)

Collaboration with mental health support teams (Mental Health Support Teams (MHST) https://www.nelft.nhs.uk/kent-secondary-schools

Ensure the pupils is on the SEN register and then with evidence make an application for high needs funding to support the pupil in school

Headstart has some great support including toolkits https://kentresiliencehub.org.uk/

Direction off-site to another mainstream provision if appropriate

Referral to an alternative provision such as TRS must be evidenced as being the very last resort

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