[SENco-forum] PRUs are not Special schools (was: exclusions and statements)

Hear, Hear! Some children, with a statement for

From: Gillian Clayton <jillclayton at mac.com>
> Hear,  Hear!  Some children,  with a statement for
> emotional or   behavioural difficulties benefit hugely
> from the more relaxed   atmosphere and higher
> pupil-teacher ratio of a PRU. 

I agree that many students benefit from 'the more relaxed
atmosphere and higher pupil-teacher ratio of a PRU', but
this is probably true of any child (I don't hold with this
'pupil:teacher ratio is irrelevant' nonsense)

Students with a statement of SEN should _not_ be in a PRU
(except perhaps for a very brief period whilst proper
provision is arranged). The named provision on a statement
should not be a PRU.

If a student's needs are so great that a mainstream school
with support is inappropriate then that child should be in
an appropriate special school. 

As SENCos we should not tolerate LAs trying to wriggle out
of their statutory duties by using PRUs as overspill when
their Special Schools are full and they are too tight to
fork out for independent special school places.

No child should be in a PRU for any length of time. They
should be reintegrated either into a mainstream or special
school as soon as possible. The statutory guidance on
exclusions is clear on this.

Whilst I work in a good PRU and feel our provision is very
good it is not equivalent to that found in a special school.
As the SENCo my job is to assess whether a statement is
necessary, if so get one and get them into the appropriate
provision as named on the statement. If not then they should
be reintegrated to mainstream.

In reality if year 11 students come to us we usually keep
them till they finish their GCSEs.

If a statemented child is PXed (permanently excluded) we
have an immediate review of the statement. In practice this
almost never happens as our Outreach work tends to pick up
on the need for a review before it gets to exclusion.

For more information about PRUs see: 

http://www.aylesburyvale-sec.bucks.sch.uk/students/centre/more/more.htm

Hope this helps.

Mark

--
Mark Norwood
www.avssc.org

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Conclusion: We live in a century where people are more
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PLEASE BUY FAIRTRADE!
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