Pupil referral service is praised (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Pupil referral service is praised

11:00am Wednesday 20th February 2013 in News By Claire Armstrong, T&A Reporter

A pupil referral service has been praised for steering troubled teens away from gangs.

Bradford District Pupil Referral Unit (PRU), also known as More4U, gives specialist teaching to pupils who are unable to be taught in either mainstream schools or the district’s pupil referral units.

Ofsted has now rated the service as good, saying it had made a “significant improvement” since it was labelled satisfactory by inspectors in 2009.

The unit has 16 centres across the district, where full-time secondary education is given to challenging pupils by providers such as independent schools, further education colleges and voluntary bodies.

The inspectors’ latest report said: “Parents and students say how much behaviour has changed during students’ time at the unit. Most arrive with a history of failure in their previous schools, and many readily admit they have made ill-informed choices in the past.

“Others are facing exceptional difficulties in their personal lives which have the potential to affect their learning. Programmes such as the ‘Think Again’ project have been successful in helping students face up to their past actions, for example, as members of gangs, or in the way they treat other people.”

Bradford Council’s assistant director of access and inclusion, George McQueen, who oversees the unit, said: “This is an excellent achievement and is testimony to the dedication of the hard- working students and staff.”

Councillor Ralph Berry, executive member for children’s services, said: “We are all working towards improving the life chances of the district’s young people. Congratulations go to all who have worked so hard to bring about this positive outcome.”