Kent PRUs and Alternative Provision

Introduction

The PRUs in Kent have been reviewed and funding reorganised to ensure PRU resources are in the hands of local Headteachers, enabling them to oversee the provision and maintain the responsibility for their students through the PRU Management Committees. A key principle has been that they should be primarily for short term respite with successful reintegration to mainstream school. Where alternative provision is being made for a KS4 programme, the pupils remain the responsibility of mainstream schools as they commission and should own that provision. Ofsted holds schools to account for the alternative provision made for pupils in KS4 and the results that are achieved. The agreement for the PRU review was that we would dramatically reduce permanent exclusions and use the resources more flexibly to support vulnerable learners at risk of exclusion and to substantially improve the quality of alternative provision.

In Kent, Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) and Alternative Provisions (APs) are maintained by the local authority with the budgets fully delegated to the Management Committees. There are five behavior PRUs and one Health Needs Education Service -

• Thanet and Dover - Enterprise Learning Alliance
• West Kent - Two Bridges School
• Folkestone and Hythe - Birchwood School
• Dartford and Gravesham - North West Kent Alternative Provision Services
• Maidstone and Malling - Maidstone and Malling Alternative Provision
• Kent Health Needs Education Service

These provisions are specifically organised to provide education for children who are excluded, sick, or otherwise unable to attend a mainstream or special maintained school.

Curriculum Statement for Alternative Education Providers and Pupil Referral Units in Kent

In Kent we recognise that pupils who attend an AP or PRU exhibit a wide range of both emotional and educational needs, which by their very nature can impinge negatively upon their progress. The aim is always to provide them with the highest quality provision.

The AP and PRUs provide a curriculum which is enriched by a range of planned activities and experiences to enhance learning and personal development so that all young people become:

• successful learners, who enjoy learning, make progress and achieve
• confident individuals who are able to live a safe, healthy and fulfilling life
• active and responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to the wellbeing of present and future generations.

The AP and PRU curriculum seeks to promote values:

• Education as an important and ongoing process, which enriches the lives of all members of the community and through this, the society in which they live and to which they contribute.
• Education as a route to the spiritual, moral, social, cultural, physical and mental development, and thus the wellbeing, of the individual.
• Education as a route to equality of opportunity for all.
• Education should also reaffirm our commitment to the virtues of truth, justice, honesty, tolerance, trust, respect and a sense of duty.

The curriculum, therefore, needs to be flexible, inclusive and offer continuity, coherence and progression. It must motivate and provide challenge for all young people whatever their ability and promote achievement for all.

PRU Year 11 Progression and NEET Prevention

Working together with Early Help and other Services, PRUs play an important role in ensuring young people are effectively supported so that they will have a suitable and sustainable post 16 destination engaging in education, employment or training. Information about possible Post 16 education is available through these websites:

• Kent Choices
• Ready to Work Kent
• National Apprenticeship Service

PRU and School Attendance Codes

There have been a number of queries about the different use of attendance codes in Pupil Referral Units and schools particularly when pupils are dual registered or attend off-site education. It is important that PRUs and schools’ attendance registers are marked accurately and in accordance with statutory guidance so that children are safeguarded. Pupils attending PRUs are not permitted to be taken off the roll of school to have sole registration at the PRU, unless there are exceptional circumstances. The law allows for dual registration of pupils at more than one school or PRU. The attendance code ‘D’ can be used for pupils who are dual registered with the PRU. When using the D code, attendance is not counted as a possible attendance in the School Census and does not affect a school’s attendance rate.

Application for Single Registration

Pupils attending PRUs are not permitted to be taken off the roll of school to have sole registration at the PRU, unless there are exceptional circumstances. After consultation, Kent County Council and the Management Committees have agreed the exceptional circumstances in which a school may apply for a child’s name to be removed from the school roll and to be single rolled at a PRU. The main rationale for these exceptions is that a school cannot reasonably be deemed accountable for the education of the pupil. To ensure consistency across Kent, a referral system has been set up for schools to apply for sole registration.

Visit the Digital Front Door below to make an application for Single Registration at PRU:

• Request for Single Registration at PRU