Children and young people who are inpatients at one of the four hospital centres will attend the education provision within the hospital. The four centres include the Darwin Centre, the Phoenix Centre, the Croft Children and Families’ Centre, and Addenbrooke’s Hospital.
Pilgrim Pathways School is responsible for the provision, arrangement or monitoring of appropriate education for pupils with medical and mental health difficulties. Appropriate education provision, including the number of hours per week, will depend on the nature of the mental health or medical condition, the impact of the condition, and the educational needs of the individual pupil.
Any decisions will be made in consultation with the medical and wider professional team, as part of the multi-disciplinary model.
The expectation is that once admitted to one of the above units, pupils will attend all timetabled sessions. However, there may be occasions when a pupil is too unwell, attending a medical treatment or have a therapy session, and therefore cannot attend the prescribed timetable. Should this be the case the Pilgrim teaching staff take a flexible approach to ensuring the young person does not miss out on their education.
Every effort will be made to encourage medical staff to acknowledge the importance of school attendance and to, where possible, arrange for medical procedures or appointments to be scheduled outside school hours.
Pupils who wish to receive education but are unable to leave the ward will be offered bedside tuition, where staffing levels permit.
Young people who attend either of these centres will usually have a referral from their local Child and Adolescents Mental Health service (CAMHs). Referrals are taken for young people aged from 13-18 who are suffering from mental health problems that cannot be managed by CAMH community services. Referrals must be agreed by the consultant at the hospital of which the child is due to be admitted.
Children who attend the Croft will usually have a referral from the local CAMH service. Referrals are taken for children from 4 -12 years of age who have severe mental health problems, those that require an assessment due to complex presentations and those requiring specialist treatments. Children are usually admitted with a parent/carer and sometimes with other family members depending on family circumstances and clinical need.
Children who attend the Addenbrooke’s Hospital School will be an inpatient on one of the 7 children’s wards (Including Teenage Cancer Trust) on the main site. Referrals to the service are made through the NHS system EPIC by the nursing team. The teachers at Addenbrooke’s will make a professional judgement on a daily basis about which pupils they teach and for how long pupils will receive education. They will liaise with ward staff on a daily basis and will take pupils’ medical needs into account.
