Refer a pupil to an alternative provision

Written for: Schools, local authorities and other professionals referring a young person to an alternative provision.

Alternative provisions that use Student Radar can give you a referral link. The link opens a secure online form where you tell the provision about the young person and what you’re asking for. You don’t need a Student Radar account, and filling in the form doesn’t give you access to Student Radar.

Submitting the form records your referral. It doesn’t confirm an assessment, a response or a placement. The provision then reviews it.

The form isn’t for emergencies. It says “Do not use this form for an emergency. Follow your organisation’s safeguarding procedures and call 999 where someone is in immediate danger.”

Before you start

• Get the link from the provision. Each provision has its own link, for example on its website or in an email. If the link doesn’t work, ask the provision for its current one.
• Have the details to hand. You need your name and email address, the young person’s first name and surname, and the context for the referral. Everything else is optional, so share what you know now.
• Check you’re allowed to share the information. You’ll be asked to confirm that you’re authorised to share it with the provision.

Open the form

Open the referral link. The page shows the provision’s name and logo, Make a referral and any welcome message from the provision.

At the top of the form, a progress bar counts the 4 required sections: Referrer, Child, Reason and Confirm. Each one gets a tick when it’s complete. Click a section’s name to jump to it.

1. Referrer details

1. Choose the Referral source, for example School, Local authority or Social care.
2. To fill in a school’s name and URN, type at least 3 characters of its name or URN into Find a school by name or URN, then click the school in the list. This fills in Organisation or school and School URN (optional). You can also type them yourself.
3. Choose Who will pay, for example Commissioned by the school or Commissioned by the local authority.
4. Fill in Referrer name and Email. They’re required.
5. Add your Role and Phone if you want to.

The school search uses the public schools directory (GIAS). Choosing a school only fills in its details. It doesn’t give anyone access or confirm the young person’s registration.

2. Child details

1. Fill in the young person’s First name and Surname. They’re required.
2. Add their Date of birth, Year group and UPN (optional) if you know them.
3. Choose their SEND status: Not known, No identified SEND, SEN support or EHC plan.
4. For Has an EHC plan, Looked after child, Child protection plan and Child in need plan, choose Yes, No or Not known.

3. Reason and requested placement

1. Under Reason for referral, tick every reason that applies, such as At risk of exclusion, Attendance or school avoidance or Medical needs.
2. In Referral context, explain why you’re making the referral. It’s required.
3. Use Needs and support that helps to describe the young person’s needs and what works for them.
4. Use Known risks and safety information for anything the provision needs to know to keep the young person and others safe.
5. Choose the Requested arrangement: On-site, Outreach, Assessment place or Not specified.
6. Add the Requested hours per week and the Requested start date if you have them.
7. Choose the Expected learner school registration. Leave it as Registration not yet confirmed until it’s been checked.
8. Add anything else in Anything else the provision should know.

Add supporting documents (optional)

You can attach documents such as an EHCP, a risk assessment or a professional report. You can also submit the referral without any.

Before you can upload, you verify your email address:

1. Make sure your Email is filled in under Referrer details.
2. Under Supporting documents (optional), click Send verification code. You’ll see “If the email can receive a code, check your inbox.”
3. Type the code from the email into Email verification code, then click Verify email. You’ll see “Email verified for these supporting documents.”

Then add your documents:

1. Click Select supporting documents and choose your files.
2. For each file, choose its category, for example EHCP, Risk assessment or Medical.
3. Click Upload document next to each file.

Each upload shows its status. Documents are security checked before the provision’s staff can download them. The check doesn’t confirm that a document is accurate or accepted.

You can attach up to 10 files, up to 100 MiB in total. Each file must be a PDF, DOCX, JPG or PNG of 25 MiB or less. Upload or remove every file you’ve selected before you submit. To remove one, click the Remove button under it.

If you change your email address after verifying it, your verification and documents are cleared. Verify the new address and select the documents again, or submit without them.

4. Confirm and submit

1. Tick the box to confirm that you’re authorised to share the information with the provision, and that the details are accurate to the best of your knowledge.
2. Click Submit referral.

You’ll see Referral received and a receipt reference. Keep the receipt for your records. See What happens after you submit a referral.

Download the provision’s policies

Some provisions share policies and other documents with referrers. If they do, the form has a Referral & due diligence pack section. Click Download next to a document to save it, or Download all (.zip) to save them all at once. You always get the latest version.

If something doesn’t work

What you see	What to do
“This referral link is not available”	The link is old, mistyped or switched off. Contact the provision and ask for its current referral link.
“The referral form could not be loaded”	It may be a temporary problem. Wait until Try again can be clicked, then click it. Use the same link.
“Enter the referrer’s name and email and the child’s first name and surname.”	Fill in Referrer name, Email, First name, Surname and Referral context.
“Confirm that you are authorised to share this referral.”	Tick the confirmation box above Submit referral.
“Upload or remove each selected document before submitting.”	Click Upload document for each file, or remove the files you don’t want to send.
“Verify the current referrer email before submitting documents.”	Your email changed after you verified it. Verify the new address, or remove the documents.
“Enter your referrer email first.”	Fill in Email under Referrer details, then click Send verification code.
“The verification code is incorrect or expired. Check the code or request another.”	Check the code in the email. If it’s still refused, click Resend verification code.
“Choose PDF, DOCX, JPG or PNG documents, up to 25 MiB each.”	Save the document as a PDF, DOCX, JPG or PNG, and make sure it’s no larger than 25 MiB.
“Choose up to 10 documents, with a combined size of 100 MiB.”	Send fewer or smaller files.
“School lookup is unavailable. You can enter the school details below.”	Type the school’s name and URN into Organisation or school and School URN (optional).
“Too many requests. Please wait before trying again.”	Wait a few minutes, then try again.
“The request could not be completed. Please try again.”	Click Submit referral again without changing anything or reloading the page. Repeating the same submission doesn’t send it twice.