Pupil referral units

In a school context the employer is the LEA in county, controlled and special agreement schools, and in pupil referral units the governing body is the employee in CTC, voluntary aided, non-maintained special, grant-maintained and grant-maintained special schools the owner or the trustee is the employer in some independent schools. 

Temporary or part-time placement in a pupil referral unit (PRU). In theory this is available, but PRUs are rapidly filling up with pupils who stay a long time, and therefore PRUs have little flexibility to respond to shorter placements or support work in schools. This, in turn, has a knock-on effect for some LSUs that are full of pupils who will not move back into class or other provision outside the school. As a result of this, some schools have developed a range of provision to meet longer-term needs of pupils, for example, separate classes within the school. 

Part 7 of the Exclusions Guidance LEA Responsibility to E rovide Full-Time Education and Re-integrate Permanently Excluded Pupils (DfES, 2004) is a useful document for schools as it outlines the role of the local education authority (LEA), pupil referral units and other provision for permanently excluded pupils. The DfES will publish guidance on the role of remove rooms and the inspection of LSUs in 2006. There is helpful information on reintegration, planning, panels, steps towards successful placements, transition issues and work with colleges of further education (FE). 

The choice of the most appropriate training and development will also depend on the preferred area of work and the context of the school, that is, early years, primary, special, secondary, further education or specific programmes such as those for asylum seekers or pupils who move frequently, looked after children or those in pupil referral units. 

The inspection of pupil referral units will fall under the inspeaion of schools framework. Most PRUs will be different and will reflect the contextual needs of the local schools and community. The issues and inspeaion focus, and the range of quality indicators in the SEF will not be significantly different to those applying in all schools. However the following areas are significant for this provision ... 

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