Admissions Arrangements

Parents/carers cannot apply for their child to attend Three Towers. 

Our planned places can only be commissioned by local authorities and schools. 

Wigan Council currently commissions the vast majority of our places so Wigan schools should refer to the Access & Inclusion Team for consideration of a referral to Three Towers.  Referrals for a medical needs place should also be submitted via the Access and Inclusion team. This referral must be accompanied by supporting evidence from a medical professional including recommendations about the extent of support required.

Almost all of our places are commissioned on a full-time basis, although some medical needs places may be commissioned on a part-time basis to support reintegrating a child back to school. 

If you are an organisation that wants to know how to commission a place, please email: hindleyoffice@ttapa.net

Number of Places

We are currently registered for 193 places across the entire provision.  However, the distribution of these places varies in response to the needs of the local authority.

Referrals Arrangements

Referrals for permanently excluded learners are considered daily; all other referrals, including for medical needs placements are considered by the weekly Admissions & Placement Panel on Tuesday morning.

All referrals to Three Towers are considered on a needs-led basis. If we feel that we can meet the referred learner's needs, we then consider the appropriateness of the placement for that learner, as well as the effect admitting them will have on the wider group before we make a final decision to go ahead with the admission.

If we cannot meet the needs of the learner or we determine that accepting the referral is not in their best interest or that of our existing cohorts, we discuss this directly with the local authority who are statutorily responsible for providing alternative provision to permanently excluded learners. 

Key Stage 1

There are 8 KS1 (Years 1 & 2) intervention places based at our Whelley Campus. Four of these are commissioned by the local authority who charge for these places so any funding discussions should be had with the Access and Inclusion Team.  The other four are part-time places which are brokered directly between the mainstream school and Three Towers.  The top up funding for these place is paid to Three Towers by the commissioning school. 

Key Stages 2

There are 10 Lower KS2 (Years 3 & 4) places and 10 Upper KS2 (Years 5 & 6) places based at our Whelley Campus.  These are a mixture of full-time and part-time places and they are all commissioned by the local authority who charge for these places so any funding discussions should be had with the Access and Inclusion Team. 

Key Stages 3

There are 16 Lower KS3 (Years 7 & 8) places and 24 Year 9 places based at our Hindley Campus.  These are all full-time places for single-registered learners and they are all commissioned by the local authority who charge for these places so any funding discussions should be had with the Access and Inclusion Team.

Key Stages 4

There are 48 Year 10 places and 48 Year 11 places based at our Hindley Campus.  The remaining places are for Key Stage 4 learners who require a more bespoke offer.  These are all full-time places for single-registered learners and they are all commissioned by the local authority who charge for these places so any funding discussions should be had with the Access and Inclusion Team.

Medical Needs Places

There are 8 places based at our Hindley Campus for medical needs referrals who are able to attend onsite, as well as places allocated to in-patient teaching on Rainbow Ward.  All these are places for dual-registered learners who remain on role with their mainstream school.  They are all commissioned by the local authority who charge for these places so any funding discussions should be had with the Access and Inclusion Team.

Admission and Induction Arrangements

We will endeavour to admit permanently excluded learners no later than six days from receiving the referral if we can meet their needs.  However, meeting this timescale is dependent on receiving the referral information as soon as possible from the referring school.

Once a referral has been accepted the relevant Admissions & Induction procedure is followed.  This process depends on

• the type of referral;
• the key stage of the learner;
• the support requested in the referral;
• the identified needs of the individual referred (including their wellness); and
• the expected outcomes for the placement at Three Towers.

Whilst personalised to the learner, the different procedures have common strands – a discussion with the previous school to get an idea of what barriers the learner faces and what strategies have been tried, as well as what led to the referral being made; completion of a risk assessment with the previous school; a meeting with parents / carers and when appropriate external agencies involved with the learner to get their perspective on what led to the referral being made; completion of a 360 pastoral assessment with the learner and their parent / carer; a handover meeting at the learner’s mainstream school to collect all work and the school records; a variety of academic baseline assessments; and a visit to the Campus for those referred for onsite provision.