'I LIKE COMING TO SCHOOL NOW'

Children share what it's really like going to a pupil referral unit. Education Editor Abbie Wightwick reports

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THEY'VE been excluded or can't cope in mainstream school but the group of children describing the one they've been sent to instead are clear - they like it here and like their lessons.

The group of eight to 11-year-olds attend the Tai Education Centre in Rhondda Cynon Taf, a pupil referral unit for some of the most challenging children. Some describe how they tried to run away from other schools, were shouted at or didn't have friends. At Tai, they say it's different, although of course, as their head teacher Marisa Chadney says, that takes a lot of hard work.

As the number of children needing extra support in schools increases, pupil referral units are at capacity. PRUs, as they are known, have a reputation as places for naughty children who are at risk of exclusion, or have been excluded from schools. The reality is that some children, especially post-pandemic, can't cope in mainstream and need more support, often because of factors outside their control, say their teachers.

Family breakdown, growing up in care, abuse, adverse experiences or being neuro diverse are just some of the reasons children may become challenging. More than one in four (27%) of the 56 five to 11-year-olds at the Tai Education Centre are looked after by the local authority.

Some of the boys at Tai talk of how they tried to “escape” from their previous schools where they felt unhappy or unsafe. They say they prefer the PRU and the data shows that what it does works. Attendance here is higher than in many schools, there are no exclusions and no child leaves without being able to read and write, although some of the older children have arrived without being able even to write their names.