dd has been expelled from school Y11, anybody with experience of PRU please come and talk to me

[expelledfromschool]

dd started the new term on tuesday, I received a call that afternoon to tell me that the school were expelling her. I have since found out that it isn't expulsion but a managed move to a PRU for two days and vocational training on the other days.

She has been on a monitoring card last year and we were warned if she failed, this would be the outcome. In the last meeting that I attended first week of June, I was told that she was failing the card. The cards which she brought home didn't reflect this because I was told she had to get over a certain % which she had. I was then told that they were going off emails from her teachers. The inclusion teacher couldn't explain why there was a discrepancy, instead of me just relying on the card that she would email me weekly regarding any behavioural issues. She would be in touch before the end of term to arrange another meeting.

I never received a single email, the card again didn't reflect failing although neither did it reflect excellent behaviour. I wasn't contacted for a meeting so naively thought things were improving. So I am feeling a little shocked to get a call on the first day of term.

The behaviour that has caused this : rude, uncooperative, can't take a telling off has to have the last word, etc etc.

No violence, drugs etc.

I am really worried about the kind of children she will be mixing with, although she obviously has a bad attitude towards authority in school she has never been in trouble with police or anybody outside of school.

The other problem is that the school she attends is out of the borough although it is only a mile away. Due to this the PRU she is to attend is in the same borough but a lot further about fifteen miles, three buses and in a VERY rough area (think shameless). The local PRU is only two miles away.

She is really devastated and came home on the first day full of the joys, determined to change until I burst her bubble. I have told her the choices she has made have led her to this, and she needs to take responsibility for her own actions. Her sidekick at school tends to load the bullets and then stand back whilst dd fires the gun so I am relieved that they will now be separated.

Please share your experiences with me if any of your dc's have attended a PRU, positive or negative.

Please don't flame me, I know my dd has been disrupting other dc's education, I know I have obviously failed as a parent so if you want to tell me what I already know don't bother.

This is a really interesting thread considering a report out today. A friend of mine is looking for cases of 'unofficial' exclusion - ie where like expelledfromschool, your daughter has been shifted to a pru... this is the page for the story: bit.ly/pmdBj9

HI

I hope I am not to late to let you know that this sort of PE is unlawful!! Schools have been using this method of removing kids from school for all sorts of reasons for a long time. It is a very big issue with CSJ who reported that schools were acting unethically and illegally by asking parents to voluntarily remove their children from school under threat of permanent exclusion. The Government Guidance, Improving behaviour states that a parent must NEVER be pressured into removing a child under threat of permanent exclusion. This has happened to me and I am still fighting the school and the Local Authority. It is an appalling situation and I hope anyone reading this fights any school who tries to force their child out in this manner. There is a marvellous artice called The New Secret Garden by Tom Ogg which explains why schools do this. Please can we stop this happening to other children.

I think it depends where the PRU is. My son was at one temporarily and shouldn't have been [he has a statement] and it was a holding pen and very little was learnt.

As a teacher who works in alternative curriculum I would think the school should have some provision and combine that with work/ college/ etc. Although she hasn't done anything 'serious' its low level constant disruption and constant time consuming hard work for staff. If you have any questions pm me, I am not judging as I have a very difficult teenager as you may see if you check my other threads. Take care

I feel sorry for your daughter but if she really cannot behave and conform in a mainstream school at the expense of other children I find it hard to understand why you are so surprised that she has been invited to leave. She had done four years at the school so they must already have been very patient with her. Presumably the 29 other children in her classes are also taking GCSE's this year and the school and possibly some of their parents feel the educational opportunities for the majority should be maximised to ensure that children who are prepared to and want to study and to achieve are able to do so.

My daughter suffered two years in an outstanding London comprehensive that had four or five children like your daughter and about whom it was prepared to do nothing. They were intimidating, rude and disruptive and had a negative effect on the entire school community. They still do. They should not have the opportunity to impact on the educational opportunities of others. When I was at school such pupils would have been expelled.

There needs to be more money available within the system to fund specialist units for children like your daughter, partly to remove them from the mainstream system where they cause incalculable damage and partly to ensure they are able to maximise their own potential in safe and nurturing environments staffed by specialists with the skills to help them to do so.

Had such units been available for the miscreants at our dd's school she woudl have stayed there it was an otherwise very good school. Fortunately we were able to transfer her to the independent sector where she seems to be blossoming and much happier than she has been for the last two school years. It is sad that she has said how different life feels and how she doesn't feel frightened or that she has to watch her back all the time. The better remedy would be for more money to be available for the children who cannot or will not conform but the system doesn't facilitate it. We can pay £13,000 a year for dd; that £13,000 would be much better spent on children like your dd. She woudl get what she needs and the remaining children woudl be left in peace to maximise their potential and it woudl be a win win all round. At dd's school the other 27 in the class continue to suffer and two girsl who continually disrupt (I believe because of their own insecurities about achievement and lack of support at home) remain square pegs in round holes who receive inadequate help.

I'm going to throw another bone in here. People have very negative connotations of PRUs - I can only speak for my borough - thye do tremendous work with pupils who cannot cope with mainstream.

And as a parent I can see why outsiders get 'antsy' that on-the-face-of-it disruptive pupils get 1-2-1 and small group tuitions, having spent the past 2-3 years spoiling classes for mainstream pupils.

No one pupil should have the right to spoil other pupils learning.

On the other hand , there is massive underfunding for pupils who cannot learn in mainstream.

Op - no one will flame you as 'failed' parent. My son narrowly avoided the PRU - I have no idea how as I was demanding he be sent from Y8 - school refused on the grounds he was naive and ultimately found an alternative education provider for him.

OP I'm late too, but I would be fighting with the school, if only because I know of one "managed" move where the LA agreed to fund an "distance learning course", which might be suitable for your DD. I also agree this does not sound like all the hoops I know have to be gone through in my LA have been gone through for your DD.
For instance any move to the "short stay" school would be temporary at first, with a first "managed move" being to another school in the area.

I really feel for you. I have a son who is in Year 6 who has had many behavioural challenges in his time at school, albeit due to a disability. He had many temporary exclusions at his old school, parents complaining to the Head etc about him. It was truly awful for him, and us as a family. IMO there is no point fighting a school that doesn't want a child there. My son was not excluded permenantly, but the school requested his removal, stating 'they could not meet his complex needs'. Nearly broke my heart, and sure I could have kicked up a fuss and insisted he stayed under inclusion rules. Allowing the move to a more suitable school was the best thing that has happened to him. He did not go to a PRU, but to a school with a Resourced Provision in a rough area that in my blinkered little middle class world I considered horrible. I was wrong, it is a fantastic, caring, inclusive, supportive school. In fact it has children from army families who move around a lot, children from roughish part of the City, many children with special needs, high level free school meals blah blah blah. Still managed to top the league tables in our county last year. Just trying to say, sometimes what seems terrifying and outside your comfort zone is what is best for your particular child. A school that does not want her is not.
I also have 2 perfectly behaved hardworking little boys. Although I wouldn't like their education to be disrupted I cannot stand this sanctimonious attitude saying 'keep these naughty children away from our children's precious education'. That 'naughty' child deserves a future and some understanding, people very rarely know the reasons behind this behaviour.
I am now terrified of the move to high school, and of going back to all the negativity again, but that is another story......