Being sent to pupil referral unit

Good heavens! So it is. I wish people would start new threads rather than tag onto old ones! Or display the date on my phone!!!

8 year old thread bubbles!

The DfE has guidance on exclusion from mainstream schools.

Some PRUs are used very effectively to help children reintegrate into mainstream education. They can be very good at this and work closely with the SLT of mainstream schools. Others take only permanently excluded children. This was never the intention.

I think the parents should listen carefully to what the school is proposing. If she is at risk of permanent exclusion, going to a PRU is the best option. Some are very poor though so read the Ofsted inspection for the one proposed. At secondary level, some are very basic because they lack science labs etc. so exam results can be very low. There is also the risk of very meeting difficult children in them. You also need very good staff to ensure the children do well.

I think posters above have talked about primary PRUs which can be quite different from secondary ones. Less drugs and illeagal wayward behaviour for a start. However, the idea is to reintegrate into a mainstream school and I would talk along these lines and not agree to off rolling to a PRU.

Agree that many dc who end up in PRUs have undiagnosed special needs, ime it's even more likely with girls. Many are very good, some aren't, you'd need to take a look to decide. You'd be v welcome on the SN boards... many of us are used to being told by unhelpful schools about our need to act on dc terrible behaviour (during school hours when they're in charge)

DS2 has also been to a PRU and it was a good environment for him. He has SN which at the time wasn't being met at his m/s school and the small classes at the PRU and structured setting was certainly better than m/s provision. However, they are used to seeing behavioural problems caused by parenting/social circumstances so their approach wasn't entirely appropriate for his SN. In our LA, a lot of students with unmet/undiagnosed SN end up in the PRUs.

PRUs do get inspected by Ofsted so I would encourage your friend to look up the reports and also make a visit.

They might also want to read some background information on PRUs - White Paper on Modernising Alternative Provision and Guidance for LAs on PRUs. They are good when they're used as a temporary provision to deal with short-term behavioural problems, but they can also be used as a bit of a dumping ground. The parents may need to be proactive in pushing for regular review meetings to decide what support needs to be put in place to allow the child to go back to mainstream. DS2 should have been in a PRU for a few months but ended up spending a year there.

PRUs don't have the same legal status as schools, have a different management structure, don't have to run the NC and often focus on core/vocational skills as it's common for their pupils to come with below-average scores. The links above give more detail about what is different about them. If the child is at secondary age, I would ask about the curriculum policy and number of hours of provision. It may well not have specialist facilities that a mainstream school has (science, art, PE etc).

I agree with others in that the socio-economic mix is what you'd expect and the child could end up picking up bad habits/getting bullied. Fortunately I found that the staffing ratios meant that DS2 was quite well protected and they knew when he'd be vulnerable.

www.guardian.co.uk/education/2007/dec/11/pupilbehaviour.schools

a few examples.

First of all - thanks for reminding me about The Wedding Present.

Now, to business...

Your friends DO have a choice about their daughter. I take it the exclusions were "temporary" (obviously) and for a day or so, and then she was allowed back into her mainstream school (after an interview?)

The risk is that she does something v bad and gets a "permanent" exclusion and then isn't allowed to finish her education at her regular school... Then things can get v tricky and governors etc get involved...

The other thing that can happen is that their daughter has a "managed move" to another school in the area, where she sees if she fits in for a few weeks, but isn't taken off-roll at her first school. If it works out, she stays, if not she returns.

Or she can try out the PRU, but if I were the family, I would make sure noting permanent happens at this stage.

• Just to cover myself, I may be a little bit out of date with all the latest rules and regs but think am pretty current.

Good luck.

yes i would ask how long on average the other children have been in the PRU, that might give an idea what is going on.
have been in some lovely, homely and supportive prus which lack some of the irritating institutionalised (sorry spelling) rules of school and also some quite scary ones too.

x-post with retired goth and a thousand others!

So pleased to read your positive experience of one PRU RetiredGoth. DD3 went to a PRU and it was fantastic and she would not be anywhere near where she is today if she had not had the care and support she was given there.
I was so impressed I am now on the management committee and do a bit of voluntary work with the team, too.

I would also urge your friend to go along and meet the staff, ask questions and get a feel for the place. It could be the best place for her DC for a while.

As cornsilk says, most PRUs are now called 'short stay schools', and are (supposed to be) there as a temporary measure with the aim being reintegration into a mainstream school. However, this is not always the case, so be sure to ask the PRU how it supports children in returning to mainstream.

You say your friend's DD has had two exclusions- do you know what these were for and how long they were? Other mainstream schools would not necessarily refuse a place to a child on the number of exclusions, but rather on the severity of the incidents IYSWIM.

It sounds as if they are trying to organise a managed move (also good article here) and it is best practice to do this with parental consent.

Your friend needs to ask her DD's school for a list of all strategies and interventions put in place to support her with her behavioural difficulties since she started at the school. The school need to show that they have exhausted all their resources, and that moving on is the only option.

If moving to the PRU looks likely, then a visit should be arranged for your friend, which may allay some fears. It may not, but a visit is a necessity IMO.

hum an online tune and I'll try to remember

Retired Goth - I remember the name but can't remember any songs.

I have run projects in PRUs and found them very helpful with children who are just not managing to fit in in bigger schools. If she is offered one which is small, where students are able to get more individual attention, with pastoral support etc, it could be great. They aim to support pupils: being sent to one isn't primarily a punishment.

I'm pleased your urchin is doing well, RetiredGoth.

messy, pru's cost the school a huge amount of money, as well as counting against them in the league tables so they are unlikley to suggest it unless your friend's dds behaviour is really poor. It really might be the catalyst that turns her around, so don't discount it just because it's a pru.

The Weddoes (Wedding Present) are a popular beat combo of 1980s vintage, Cornsilk!

The Wedding Present - indie band with hairy-kneed Dave Gedge as lead singer.

Sorry Op!

It is, ultimately, better for the child to succeed in a good PRU, than to consistently be seen as 'bad', a 'failure' in mainstream.

The Feral Urchin suddenly found himself as the star when he went to PRU. Fragile self esteem benefits from this.

And yes. PRU is temporary. You have to be registered at a mainstream school to attend though it is possible that after a period of assessment the child may receive a permanent EBD placement.

(shudder. 0.5% of such kids get 5 GCSEs...)

what's weddoes?

Brilliant post Retired Goth - and v good to see a fellow Weddoes fan still knocking around on here!

I have experience of PRU.

The feral urchin was excluded twice in the years after his Mum's death. I fought it, but he ended up in a good PRU.

I'll name it.

Cotswold Education Centre, Mangotsfield.

They deserve credit.

6 pupils in his group. And yes, most of them came from the socio-ecomomic group that stereotype would suggest. But MOST were very sweet kids who had had a bum deal.

The teaching was high quality, dedicated, firm but kind. And the Feral Urchin began to learn.

Then we moved, and were offered an equivalent provision in a different LEA. It was AWFUL.

I'll name it

The Link. Bath.

All the things that were good about the previous PRU were not present. Firm, kind, professional dedication? Nah.

So we refused. And (after a lot of jiggery-pokery)he went to a lovely village primary to finish year 6.

He is close to finishing his first month at a (very highly rated) secondary. He is flying (with the aid of a fully funded statement). I am hugely proud of him, and enormously grateful to the work of both the PRU, and the small C of E village primary.

The lesson?

Don't just blankly refuse. Go and see the provision. It COULD be the best thing. And you DO have a choice. If the local unit is poor, look at others in neighbouring authorities.

Good luck.