Pupil referral units

The remit of pupil referral units is to provide a suitable and appropriate education to children of compulsory school age who, because of illness, exclusion or otherwise, are unable to attend a maintained (ie mainstream or special) school.

Context

Under section 19 of the Education Act 1996, local authorities have a duty to provide suitable education for children of compulsory school age who, because of illness or exclusion from school for example, will not receive a suitable education without these arrangements.

Suitable education is defined as "efficient education suitable to the age, ability, aptitude and to any special educational needs" a child may have. Local authorities must decide what is suitable education for a particular child in consultation with parents, and have regard to guidance and the efficient use of resources. In discharging their responsibilities for the education of pupils who cannot be educated in mainstream (or special) schools, local authorities need to:

• Assess pupils' needs
• Arrange suitable placements at PRUs or other alternative education centres
• Check that the provision is of suitable quality
• Monitor puils' attendance and achievements
• Review the impact of local policies on admission and reintegration into mainstream schooling

What do they do?

Pupil referral units (PRUs) are a type of school, established and maintained by the local authority, that provide education for children in who require alternative educational provision.

As well as pupils who have been excluded and children with medical problems, PRUs may provide education for school-aged mothers and pregnant schoolgirls, school-phobics, and pupils awaiting placement in a maintained school. Many children attending PRUs have been permanently excluded and some are at risk of exclusion. The focus of units should be on getting pupils back into a mainstream school.

The numbers of pupils in a PRU will vary. Grouping pupils by age and the nature of their referral, where possible, enables PRU staff to match the education more closely to pupils' needs (it is considered good practice, for example, for PRUs providing for pupils with medical needs to cater exclusively for them).

Like other schools, PRUs are inspected by Ofsted. Local authorities operate different models of PRU provision developed to meet local circumstances and in line with local policies. Provision may be on a single site, or on multiple sites under one management structure. Provision may include hospital or home-teaching services, separate provision for young mothers and pregnant schoolgirls, and peripatetic pupil referral services in rural areas, for example.

PRUs may provide full or part-time education. Requirements in terms of the minimum level of education to be offered varies depending on the nature of provision and the reasons why pupils are not attending mainstream school. The amount of teaching available for children with medical needs, for example, will be at the judgement of professionals involved, but children should receive as much education as their condition allows (and a minimum of at least five hours a week). Pupils who have been permanently excluded from school, on the other hand, must receive full-time education (a minimum of 25 hours a week for pupils at Key Stage 4) from the 16th day following the headteacher's decision to exclude. However a full timetable for an excluded pupil may look rather different to that provided in a mainstream school.

PRUs may offer education directly, or they may organise packages of educational provision (for pupils of secondary school age) that involve external providers, such as further education colleges, employers, and work-based trainers, and programmes offered by independent schools, voluntary organisations or other agencies.

Many PRUs also work jointly with mainstream schools to support vulnerable pupils and pupils at risk of exclusion. They may do this through outreach support to pupils within mainstream settings, or through 'dual registration', whereby pupils attend the PRU (possibly on a part-time basis) but remain registered also with their mainstream school.

How do they differ from mainstream schools?  

Legally, PRUs are both a type of school and a form of 'education otherwise' (a school is any educational institution that provides full-time education for five or more children of compulsory school age). However, PRUs are not subject to all the legislative requirements that apply to mainstream and special schools.

Like other schools, a PRU must have an SEN policy and appropriate child protection procedures, and is required to fulfil other duties as to the health, safety and welfare of pupils as specified in guidance for other local authority schools. Like other schools, PRUs should identify a designated teacher to advocate for pupils in public care and liaise with other services.

The key differences that distinguish PRUs from mainstream schools are:

Management committees

Management arrangements are the responsibility of local authorities and are accounted for within the authority's managerial structure. Most authorities set up management committees to oversee the work of PRUs (one committee may cover two or more PRUs to ensure better local coordination for children out of school). As well as authority officers, committee membership might include headteachers from maintained schools, special educational needs coordinators, local governors, elected members, Connexions personal advisers, and parents, among others.

Curriculum

Although PRUs do not have to teach the full National Curriculum, they must still offer a balanced and broadly based curriculum in accordance with national guidelines from the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. Pupils' progress and attainment must be monitored. The local authority must have in place a statement of its curriculum policy for PRUs.

Staffing and the relative duties of local authorities and teachers

PRU staff must be qualified teachers or instructors.  It is good practice for a PRU always to have at least two qualified members of staff on site to provide support in case of disruption and to give respite to other staff during the day. Local authorities must provide support and supervision for staff who may be dealing with pupils with high levels of emotional, social and personal difficulties.

Premises

PRUs do not have to provide a headteacher's room, playing fields or staff accommodation for teachers to use for both work and social purposes (although local authorities may well provide such accommodation for PRUs that provide full-time education).

Although the local authorities duty to provide suitable education may be met by contracting out education (for example, to the voluntary or private sector, including work-based learning providers and further education colleges), the local authority remains accountable for the quality of education.

Local authorities cannot delegate their core responsibilities. These include responsibilities for health and safety, duties towards disabled pupils under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, duties under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000. In addition, the local authority has an ongoing duty of care towards all its pupils.

Guidance suggests that in order to ensure an integrated approach to provision of suitable education otherwise than at school, local authorities should identify a named senior officer with responsibility of education for children otherwise than at school. This is already a requirement for some aspects of provision (eg children unable to attend school for medical reasons).

Education improvement partnerships

While most PRUs are directly managed by the local authority, under the new education improvement partnership arrangements schools will be able to contribute to the management of a PRU through headteacher membership of a PRU's management committee.

(Education improvement partnerships are groups of schools that work together and with their local authority to make support and provision available for excluded pupils and pupils at risk of exclusion. This could involve schools commissioning alternative provision as a group.)