What are PRUs?
(Explanation from Wikipedia):
“In the UK, a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) (previously known as Pupil Re-integration Unit by some Local Education Authorities) is an alternative education provision which is specifically organised to provide education for children who are not able to attend school for a number of reasons.
Reasons for referral might include:
- Neurodiverse learning styles which make it challenging for the pupil to engage in mainstream school;
- A pupil having a short- or long-term illness, including mental health illness;
- Anxiety or school phobias (which may have been triggered by bullying) preventing the pupil from comfortably attending school;
- Behavioural issues that have led to other pupils being disrupted in school;
- A child waiting for a mainstream school placement to become available.
Each LEA has a duty under section 19 of the Education Act 1996 to provide suitable education for children of compulsory school age who cannot attend school. Placing pupils in PRUs is just one of the ways in which local authorities can ensure that they can comply with this duty. PRUs are a mixture of public units and privately managed companies.There are currently over 421 PRUs in England. Between 2002 and 2003, 17,523 pupils attended PRUs at some point. Although PRUs do not have to provide a full National Curriculum, they should offer a basic curriculum which includes English, mathematics, the sciences, PSHE and ICT.”
Thomas, a fifteen-year-old with whom Robinson worked asked one afternoon the difference between the Medical Unit and the Behavioural Unit – the two PRUs in the local area that work side by side. Ana, his teacher, explains in this video (AUDIO) “[off mic – one is where young people have been diagnosed with a neurodiversity; the other is for students who have been kicked out of school].
Thomas had had been in mainstream school until age 12 but was asked to leave because of an ‘incident’. Ana never discusses the particulars of the children’s circumstances, but she does tell me separately they are most commonly typified by physical violence. In Thomas’ case, he has a known and openly discussed diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Because of the incident, Thomas was not offered the opportunity to attend the medical unit. One afternoon, spying a flyer from another school about safeguarding which I keep in my field notebook, he asks me ‘what does disclosure mean?’ He listens to the answer. He has unexpectedly deep knowledge of 1990s comedy sketches and personalities. He is the only student at the PRU who sees the whole ABC project through. But on several occasions, he cannot sit still. One afternoon a fly arrives in the swelteringly June-hot classroom, and Thomas cannot ignore it. He races around after it, swatting at it with flailing arms and by throwing books. He settles when the fly does, but as soon as it buzzes near him again, he gets wild and apprehensive. He insists it’s a wasp (it isn’t) and cannot be soothed.