Pupil Referral Units

[Hakluyt]

Has anyone got any good news stories about kids at PRUs? I haven't- and a friend's child has just been referred to one. He has no SEN (apparantly) but does have quite a chaotic family life and his behaviour is completely out of control. No question that he "deserves" to be there. He is academically fine-level 7s in year 9, but behaviour so appalling that no MS school would keep him- 3 tried. Any thoughts, advice, hope?

If he's moving into year 10 next year it is unlikely that he will be reintegrated into a MS school before the end of his GCSEs. PRUs often do a really excellent job of ensuring that the pupils they take get at least the minimum qualifications needed to progress to the next stage in education. For most this means at least 5 GCSEs at grade C or above including maths and English. The students are taught in very small classes, they get a lot of support and intervention, and their results often exceed what they would have got had they continued on the trajectory they were on at MS school. A very bright child is unfortunately likely to find that it is not the ideal place for them. The range and number of subjects available is unlikely to match a MS school. They may also find that GCSEs are taught by non specialist or unqualified teachers and may not be geared towards A-A* grades. that being said I think they are doing a great job in lots of PRUs with some very difficult young people.

Yes, fuzzy- that's what I feared. He really needs to be in two places at once-the PRU for his behaviour, and the top set somewhere else to get his GCSEs. It's so frustrating!!!!!!. He managed to get the grades like that while hardly engaging with school at all- if only he could get his act together...........

But addressing his behaviour is the most important thing at the moment, and he's in the right place for that. So fingers crossed.

I went to a PRU after being 'asked to leave' a very prestigious grammar school. My parents took years to recover from the shame.. In fact they still shake their heads about it 20 years later.

However, honestly in many ways it was the best thing that could have happened to me. Very small class sizes, very invested teachers who had taught far 'worse' kids than me. A very nurturing environment where I felt accepted. I did well in my GCSEs went on to college, got a great job. I will admit I skip the PRU part on my CV .. As I was never officially expelled I remained on the books of the original school.

I will be honest though, there were kids that were quite extreme in their behaviour (eg bringing a gun to school ) but often they were kids like me that had got a bit lost and weren't coping in mainstream school.

It can be a positive move. It certainly was for me.

I think there won't be many at this place whose behaviour is worse than this kid. So hoping they can sort him out. He is lovely when he's lovely- and he will always be welcome in our house. Sadly, not in most of his other friends houses. And I can see why.

Hak
Yes. My local one works wonders with kids. It turns them around in significant numbers.
DH has also worked at a couple that do really well.
The important thing is that they need to be big enough to be properly resourced.
My local has 150 pupils and thus teachers in all areas.
Small ones with 30 or less seem to be more of dumping grounds
BUT
there is no point putting kids in for exams till their heads are in the right place.

The thing about the PRU is they spent a lot of time rooting out the causes of my bad behaviour. I think main stream schools are better at this now, in my mine not one teacher ever sat down to question why I was behaving so badly. The PRU reached me, understood me and very quickly turned things round for me. I hope the same happens for your friend's son.

This one has a maximum of 16 kids..........

Honestly? It massively depends on the PRU, and to a certain extent which county/ borough its in. Can you say a little more without compromising yourself?

I can give you a positive story although was a primary rather than a secondary PRU.

ds1 who has challenging behaviour as a result of AS was sent to one in Year 5 and thrived. The very small class sizes meant he was given lots of adult attention which he loved and there was much less distraction than in a large mainstream class so behaviour of all could be better managed. The teachers and TA's were fantastic and really understood his needs. Plus they were able to differentiate the work much better (ds is pretty academic) again because of the small class size so they gave him secondary level work which he loved. It was as another parent said a very, happy school - the kids came out smiling and the staff always seemed to have a smile on their faces too.

The one thing I would say is that if a return to mainstream is planned this only happens when appropriate support is put in place. ds1 had a managed move to one school fail after only three weeks because they put him there with even less support than he had had in his original school. Crazy.

What area are you in op?? Some colleges have been granted 14-16 provision (direct delivety or alternative provision depending on who the referral comes from)

The one local to me has a small cohort of year 10 and year 11 studying for GCSE and a couple of Alternative Provision groups doing lower level quals.

Thank you, some very encouraging stories. I don't think I can be more specific- I probably should have name changed, now I think about it, then I could have gone into more detail. I'm not sure how he could be integrated back into mainstream- he's been through 3 schools already. Oh I do want to shake him! (don't worry, I won't)