One of England’s leading pupil referral units (PRUs) is creating a new academy chain to help them and other alternative provision schools weather a “perfect storm” of pressures.
The Alternative Learning Trust will launch in April, led by the The Limes College, a Tes award-winning PRU in Sutton, south of London.
Headteacher Emma Bradshaw said the first five additional PRUs will join the trust in September, although she declined to name them.
The MAT will initially be based around London, but Ms Bradshaw said that could change as it expands.
She said the trust will help the schools build support networks, share expertise and be more prominent advocates for their work.
Ms Bradshaw said being part of an MAT would also give schools more financial flexibility at a time when they are facing intense budgetary pressures.
“We need to have strong partnerships and secure appropriate funding at a time when funding is such an issue,” she told Tes.
“The PRUs and alternative provisions [APs] that are out there that are of quality need to stand up.”
PRUs teach children who are having difficulties in mainstream education, many of whom need more support and care than their schools can provide.
Budget cuts mean mainstream schools are increasingly likely to exclude difficult students and they tend to find it harder to get back in after a stint in a PRU.
PRUs are also grappling with reductions in government support. Official statistics showed last year average spend per pupil slumped by £1,499 to £32,386.
Many of their students have special educational needs or mental health problems, so PRUs are also bearing the brunt of cuts in youth services and mental health support.
Ms Bradshaw said the focus on league tables and a curriculum that is “inappropriate” for many special needs children were adding to the strain.
She warned that, in the long run, this would mean leaving more young people alienated from society unable to get work and potentially ending up in prison.
“We’ve got the perfect storm at the moment,” she said. “There’s an increase in this population and there’s a decrease in the resources to get them back on track.
“We’ve got them on a ledge at the top of the cliff. If we let them fall to the bottom of the cliff it takes an awful lot of resources to help them.”
