A more secure future for area's pupil referral unit

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporting Service

A major change of fortunes has been revealed for the Pupil Referral Unit in Newtown, with a move to have two separate PRUs rather than one run from two sites.

For most of the year, the prospect of closing one site, either in Newtown or Brecon, hung over the PRU.

Budget proposals to close a unit were part of this year’s budget, which was agreed last February to save the council over £ 600,000 over two years.

Remodelling the PRUs based in Brecon and Newtown was estimated to save the council £325,555 this year and £251,285 next year.

However, due to a staff shakeup in the education department, the proposal to close a unit was dropped last month.

At a joint meeting of the Learning and Skill and Health and Care scrutiny committees today, councillors and independent lay members presented the new draft Additional Learning Needs (ALN) and Inclusion strategic plan.

Amongst the plan documents are details of the change of thinking about the PRU.

The changes also follow a damning report on the PRU by education watchdog Estyn.

They said following their May inspection that the PRU needed “significant improvement.”

The strategic plan said: “The intention is to de-register the PRU and re-register as two separate entities.

“This means that each individual PRU can create a learning environment specific to the needs of the learners within their community.

“This will enable a management of change process to be carried out to ensure that there is appropriate staffing of both PRUs.”

At the moment the council is renting the unit sites in Newtown and Brecon.

At the meeting inclusion ALN and inclusion service manager Simon Anderson was asked to explain the changes

Mr Anderson told the joint committee that the PRU sites currently has to work in lockstep – but deals with children from very different communities and needs.

Mr Anderson said: “If approval is given for the de-registration, we’re looking to move that forward from January.

“Pupils that Brecon PRU support have very different needs to the ones being supported in Newtown.”

He explained that the needs being dealt with in Brecon were around anxiety and school avoidance while Newtown dealt with behaviour issues.

He added that secondary schools in both areas were also “very different.”

Mr Anderson said: “On a practical note it’s looking at the children that are in front of them, and it allows the schools to make decisions on a specific basis for their needs.”

The report adds that for the time being the PRU’s will remain in their current sites while “further exploration” of alternatives in council owned sites will take place.

PRUs are small specialist schools that deal with children who need greater support than mainstream schools can provide.

Pupils attend PRUs for a range of reasons including exclusion from mainstream school due to behavioural issues, mental health issues and illness.

Comments on the  strategy from the scrutiny committees will be added to the report by the time it goes before the Liberal Democrat/Labour cabinet for a decision at a meeting on Tuesday, November 26.