Referrals to Horizons Academy Bexley can made for one of the following placements for pupils who are not being successful in a mainstream school:
- Short-term 12 week placements in our Primary provision (capacity 20 pupils)
- Short-term 8 - 16 week placements in our KS3 provision (capacity 30 pupils)
- Short-term 12 week placements in our Medical needs provision (capacity 7 pupils in KS3 and 10 pupils in KS4)
- Long-term placements in our KS4 provision (capacity 20 pupils in Year 10 and 30 pupils in Year 11)
Before a place at Horizons Academy is agreed, referring schools must ensure that there has been a graduated approach to supporting the child and that every avenue has been explored to help the child to be successful. It is equally important that both parent/carers and the schools themselves have explored means of support that could help them to help the child to be successful. Forms of a graduated approach may include (this is not an exhaustive list):
- An assessment of the child through in-class observations and action plans developed to support the child and the school further
- Access to interventions e.g. Therapy
- A ‘Team Around the Child’ (TAC) meeting, adopting a multi-agency approach.
- A referral to the Early Intervention Team (EIT)
To make a referral each school must complete a referral form providing evidence of a graduated approach (as highlighted above), a risk assessment and a Boxall profile (KS3 only) and send these to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by no later than the Thursday before each Horizons referral panel which takes place fortnightly on a Wednesday afternoon e.g. if the panel is on Wednesday 4th October 2023 than papers need to be submitted to the email address above by no later than 12pm on Thursday 28th September 2023.
The panel is chaired by the Local Authority (LA) and membership includes representatives from:
- The Early Intervention Team (EIT)
- Children’s Social Care (CSC)
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS)
- Youth Justice Service (YJS)
- A permanent Headteacher from another school within the borough
- A Headteacher on rotation at each panel
The panel also includes the following members from Horizons Academy Bexley:
- Headteacher
- LSEAT Head of Outreach
- Head of Bexley Outreach
- Head of Student Experience
At the panel all referrals will be reviewed on an individual basis and lead to one of the following decisions being made:
- Pupil will be offered an ‘in-school’ place at Horizons Academy Bexley
- School, parent/carer and/or pupil will be offered Outreach support
- Pupil referral will be deferred pending additional evidence being provided by the referring school and/or referrals to other agencies e.g. Education Welfare Service, EIT, etc.
Letters will be sent out by the local authority informing schools of the outcome.
If a pupil has been offered an ‘in-school’ place at Horizons Academy than the parent/carer of the child will be contacted to arrange a ‘Pre-admission’ meeting by the Head of Student Experience at Horizons Academy.
If a school, parent/carer and/or pupil has been offered Outreach support than contact will be made by the Head of Bexley Outreach.
For more information, please contact our Head of Student Experience at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. who will be more than happy to help.