Alternative Education Provision (AP) Framework - Quality Assurance (QA) Protocol

The Alternative Education Quality Assurance Protocol [pdf document] explains the duties of schools and the council to arrange and monitor AP placements.

The Darlington alternative education framework (including individual placement process and the providers monitoring process) is managed by the Education Strategy Group. 

You can find an overview of both the placement process and provider monitoring process in the Darlington AP flowchart [pdf document]

Alternative Education Provision (AP) Framework – School Led Individual Placement Process

To support schools and providers throughout an AP placement, the following documents are available:

AP referral form (Word document). Use this form for all AP referrals. Schools should not need to complete a provider’s own referral form. Using a single referral form helps ensure a consistent approach across all providers.

The following Pupil Strengths and Development Questionnaires should be completed at the start, during and at the end of a placement. They provide evidence of the impact of the placement and should be included in the Vulnerable Pupil Panel (VPP) return:

• Primary questionnaire [pdf document]
• Secondary questionnaire [pdf document]

The local authority also has the following guidance documents:

Example AP Policy [pdf document])
Checklist for choosing an AP placement [pdf document]

Alternative Education Provision (AP) Framework – Quality Assurance, Alternative Education Provider Monitoring

Providers will receive up to two monitoring visits in an academic year.

These visits are to monitor the quality of provision being delivered. The visit will look at the service and processes, not individual pupils.

A provider quality visit monitoring form [Word document] should be completed to record the main findings at each visit. The form should then be returned to [email protected]