Admissions

Criteria for Admission All pupils at the Rashid Centre have a disability which would make it difficult for them to be included in a mainstream setting at the time of admission. These disabilities include a range of physical, cognitive, sensory processing difficulties and other complex needs. A comprehensive assessment is done prior to admission following referral to the Centre by a variety of agencies, including parent referrals. Previous medical and psychological assessments generally indicate the pupil’s primary need and the level of learning and other associated difficulties. This makes it necessary for the school to provide an alternative or modified curriculum which meets the differentiated needs of the pupil. Students will be admitted once we are sure that we can meet the needs of the pupil as identified in professional reports and the subsequent assessment. Admissions Selection Selections for admissions are discussed after an assessment has been done. The assessment will be done by an allocated team which includes: an occupational therapist, speech therapist, physiotherapist, psychologist and teacher. The Centre identifies where there are vacancies. Admissions selection is based primarily on pupil need balanced against the ability of the Centre to meet the pupil’s specific needs. It is also essential to take into consideration the balance of needs within each year group. Priority is given to Emirati families. A significant factor for the Centre is the support given by parents/carers working in partnership with the Centre in the education and development of their child. Students can be admitted from the age of 4-18. An extra year can be granted by the Community Development Authority (CDA), if that year will improve the outcome of the student. In this case, permission needs to be sought from CDA, which will be a letter requesting for this to happen. There are also three workshops at the Centre that provide opportunities for students aged 18-25 to work and produce items that generate funds for the Centre. These students will earn a small salary. Assessment for the workshops are also done by the Occupational Therapist where students are already attending the Centre and by workshop staff when students are admitted from outside. There are opportunities within the workshop setting, to identify those students that might eventually get employment outside of the Centre, In this case students will be supported to develop work skills. Long Term Internal class organisation The needs of the pupils and specialised facilities demand small class sizes. These will vary from 6-10 pupils depending on the needs of the students, and which part of the school they are placed. To allow for a broad and balanced curriculum the school aims to organise its classes as follows: Lower school: The lower school has SCAMPs and SMILE classes, Nursery English, nursery Arabic, Integrated Learning Groups (ILG) for students with physical difficulties, Integrated Sensory Learning groups (ISL) 1,2 and 2B, English and Arabic classes for pupils with cognitive difficulties Senior School: For students aged 14-18 with cognitive difficulties. There are both Arabic and English classes where genders are separated. There are also two ISL and two ILG classes. This policy will be evaluated every Summer Term by the Senior Leadership Team. They will look at the school population and the capacity of the school to meet the numbers that are looking for admission for the following year Updated: January 2018

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