Thread by @SteveHowell30

A little thread 🧵 on #AP #PRU and the strains on the current system. This is really aimed at commissioners such as schools and LAs I think. But it may stray elsewhere….

Across the country I hear that PRUs and APs are at capacity. That systems are stretched beyond capacity as we come out of the pandemic, see the impact of a decade of austerity, a cost of living crisis and a general increase in complexity of young people.

Permanent exclusions (expulsions but I hate that term) are increasing across the country and many authorities have more pupils out of provision than they have commissioned places for. This is causing a problem.

In basic terms, if you don’t commission enough places, you have nowhere for permanently excluded pupils to go. They are the responsibility of the authority and many have children out of school for some time at the moment.

I’m certain that the legal requirement to provide education from the 6th day of exclusion isn’t being met as regularly as we would want!

There’s two approaches I hear of to this…
1. Pupils are on a list and admitted in order when places become available, often additional places are commissioned to meet the need.

2. The LA expect the PRU or AP to continually admit pupils, regardless of their commissioned number. This is what I like to think of as disaster diversion. You divert the disaster from the authority to the PRU. Never allowing the PRU to be full

Basically, don’t do the second thing! PRUs and AP are schools, staffed to a certain level and with a limit of physical space. The drive to overfill them is significantly flawed and, without being dramatic, quite dangerous!

15 years ago we used to operate like this. But, it was a different time. Almost all of our pupils did part time, we could have places double filled and have some in the morning and some in the afternoon. We were teaching a limited curriculum and that was all fine!

It’s not done anymore; it hasn’t been for years.
The vast majority of our pupils are now full time, following a full school day. Our KS4 follow a full gcse / qualification programme and younger students have a broad curriculum, as is their right.

Double stacking places isn’t ok. It risks the quality of provision, the safety of the children and staff and consequences that run deeper for leaders and governors as and when Ofsted or anyone else comes around.

I don’t think this is new; waiting lists became common knowledge to me around 2015. Sometimes running to dozens of pupils. Sometimes more!
The pandemic and resulting closures of schools and, therefore, reduction in exclusions put a sticking plaster on this.

Basically, this period allowed PRUs and APs to work through lists and create some capacity over time. This was a false picture.

What’s worrying is that this capacity has eroded with alarming speed. There’s no space left in the system. When year 11s leave this summer, there should be spaces created in PRUs and APs - I don’t think there will be anywhere need enough space for next year!

I predict waiting lists from October / November across the country.
Kids being out of school following exclusion is bad. Obviously.
But the PRU model in particular often relies on a churn, a revolving door of pupils joining and leaving.

When pupils have long spells out of school they are undeniably more challenging to turn around quickly.
When the doors stop revolving we can’t create space. This exacerbates the capacity issues!

Let’s not forget, either, that schools are struggling with behaviour, which is increasingly extreme, recruitment, budgets and much else.

This isn’t a simple problem to solve and I believe the current situation is ‘baked in’ for a few years. Time to settle and strategic approaches to embed is important… there’s no easy answers but here’s a few suggestions…

1. Commission enough places

2. Commission additional places for 2-3 years with funding for these guaranteed. (Provides stability for staffing, amongst other things)

3. Stop asking PRUs and APs to stretch their provision / it doesn’t work

4. Work in local areas on strategic approaches to reducing the time spent in AP and PRUs

5. Related to 4, fund support for reintegration

6. Fund outreach support for mainstream schools, to support behaviour, from AP, PRU and special

There will be more people can think of and the list isn’t exhaustive. It’s a start. The main thing is not to put unrealistic expectations on provision within settings!