How we allocate places
Places at SAFE are prioritised against the following criteria:
- Person having suffered from continual bullying
- Having a committed desire to learning (with evidence of this)
- Person having social differences (including but not exhaustively autism spectrum conditions) that may make them a target for bullying/isolation
- Person having school/peer-related anxiety or phobias
- Person not being able to access social or group learning environments due to any of the above
- Person having medical or social needs that require flexischooling
Further information can be found in our Admissions Policy.
Our pupil profile
SAFE is a provision that aids the recovery of students who have continually suffered from bullying and associated psychological problems.
A typical student will have SEMH (social, emotional and mental health needs), displayed through passive and anxious behaviour.
We are not a suitable provision for any students who readily or regularly display any forms of aggression.
This is due to the detrimental effect these behaviours can have on the trauma recovery of other students.
The first step in any application to SAFE is to fill out the Needs and Support Assessment form. This allows us to work out whether or not we are able to meet your child’s needs. You can find this form here.
Call US
020 8850 3268
eMail an Enquiry
lisa.king@safeschoolbexley.co.uk
The SAFE Admissions Process
Please click on the stages below for more information.
Needs and Support Assessment
Admissions Visit
Reservation of place
Documents and references
Trial sessions
Placed
The Needs and Support Assessment
The first step in our application process is the Placement Needs Assessment.
This allows us to gauge the following:
- Whether we can meet your child’s needs
- What support your child will need for us to meet their needs
- Whether we currently have the available resources to offer this level of support
- What resources we may need to put in place before your child starts
- Whether your child’s placement with us is compatible with the SEN of other students
- When a place with appropriate levels of support would be available
- The likely cost of the support.
The form can be found here.
Alternatively, you can contact us for a copy.
The Admissions Visit
We will review your Placement Needs Assessment form.
If we believe we can meet your child’s needs, we will contact you to arrange a visit.
Visits usually take place after school. They are a chance for you and your child to view the building, and to have any questions you might have answered.
They also allow our staff to assess in more detail if we can meet your child’s needs.
Reservation of place
If, following the admissions meeting, we believe that we can meet your child’s needs, we will ask you to pay a one-off admin fee of £150 to hold their place.
We will then reserve a place for your child for two weeks, to give you time to get all necessary documentation to us.
Documents and references
From the date on which we receive the admin fee, you have two weeks to provide us with the following:
- Proof of your child’s ID
- Proof of your child’s address
- Two references for your child
- Details of your child’s current or previous school, if applicable
Please note, references cannot be from family members or anyone directly employed by a family. They should, ideally, be from a previous school. If this is not possible, they should be sought from other professionals who know the child well.
Trial sessions
Upon receipt of satisfactory references, we will invite your child in for some trial sessions. We will try to make these as varied as possible, to give your child a full picture of life at SAFE.
The trial sessions form part of our assessment of whether we are a suitable placement for your child. If it is felt, following these sessions, that we are not a suitable placement, the admissions process will be discontinued at this point.
Successful trial sessions will lead to an offer of a place.
Placed
If your child’s trial is successful, and you and they still feel that SAFE is the right school, we will make a firm offer of a place at this stage.
We will ask you to sign our contract, which includes a pupil behaviour agreement. We will also give you a start date – this will vary dependent upon available places, the level of support your child will require and currently available resources. A transition plan will be created for your child.
A bursary against your child’s base placement costs can be applied for at this stage. Information about our fees and bursaries can be found here.