The Rainbow Centre is part of Egerton Rothesay School

Admissions Procedure

Entry Criteria

The Rainbow Centre aims to meet the needs of children between the ages of four and ten years whose primary disability presents as one or more of the following:

  • a severe language delay or specific language impairment affecting understanding and/or expression with evidence of at least  average non-verbal potential;

  • a severe phonological delay or disorder affecting intelligibility of speech;

  • developmental verbal dyspraxia (Developmental Apraxia of Speech);

  • pragmatic language difficulties resulting in immature social/emotional behaviour.

Admissions Process

If you feel one of the Rainbow Classes may be suitable for your child, we suggest you telephone to make an appointment to visit the school.  Here you will have the opportunity to see Rainbow I and Rainbow II children and other children in the preparatory school at work and play, and discuss informally your child’s needs with the Section Leader of the Preparatory School, the class teachers and the speech and language therapist. Please bring along any reports you have that will help us to understand your child’s specific needs e.g. Statement of Special Educational Needs, Educational Psychology, Paediatric and SLT reports.


After this preliminary visit, if both you and the Rainbow staff still consider it appropriate, you will be invited to bring your child along for a visit. Prospective Rainbow I children attend first for a morning only, then for a morning and lunch, and finally for a full day. Older children are asked to visit for three full days. Although your child will be observed very carefully during this visit, no formal assessments will be carried out as it is recognised that he or she may not perform in this new environment as well as they might otherwise do.


This visit is a very important stage in the admissions process as it allows you to see if your child settles happily and, crucially, it allows us to gauge better whether or not this is the right placement for your child, and the effect he or she is likely to have  on the group dynamics.


Within a few days of the visit, the Rainbow teachers, educational psychologist, and the speech and language therapist meet to share their observations and decide whether they consider this to be an appropriate placement for your child.   You will be informed of the decision by letter as soon as possible.


For more information or to arrange a visit please contact: Mrs Liz Martin, Egerton Rothesay School, Durrants Lane, Berkhamsted, Herts HP4 3UJ. Telephone: 01442 877060 or E mail: liz.martin@eger-roth.co.uk .