Percy Hedley Foundation

Assessment Service

Percy Hedley Children's Services provide a free assessment service to local authorities and parents across the Northern region. We can help them make decisions about meeting the needs of children with complex special educational needs through clear, detailed assessments of their strengths and areas for development. Assessments are carried out by our experience team of teachers, therapists and educational psychologists.

Parents are always welcome to arrange a visit to any of our schools by contacting the Headteacher of Northern Counties School, Judith James or the Headteacher of Percy Hedley Schools, Lynn Watson. If parents feel that one of our schools might meet their child's needs, they can request their local authority to ask us for an assessment. Parents may make a direct referral for an assessment which we are always happy to discuss with them.

Admission to our schools is restricted to pupils who can travel on a daily basis or board for four nights each week.

A formal referral of children thought suitable for admission to the school can be made through the child's local authority or by the child's parent. Referral normally takes the form of presenting educational, therapeutic and medical reports to the school. These reports are considered, and any child who we feel might benefit from our approach will be offered a full assessment by the school. We will always contact the local authority to inform them of parental assessment requests and to gather all the information available on the child and their needs.

Parents play a very important part in the multi professional assessment process and meet with our school Medical Director, Dr. Mary Gibson, who is a consultant paediatrician, early in the assessment week. The outcome of the week long assessment is presented to the local authority and parents with a detailed report. Support for parents is made available throughout the whole assessment and admissions process. Our objective is to ensure that every child gets the best possible support to fully meet their needs. Our reports enable parents and their local authority to have an informed discussion based on an independent assessment of the child's needs in order to determine future provision and placement.