Yet again the plight of a small minority of pupils is providing politicians with opportunities to come up with outlandish, disconnected and ill-researched suggestions (TES, December 3).
“Turnaround” schools will provide the Tories with a number of challenges including finding the pound;240 million (we don’t believe this is going to be new money).
Many young people attached to pupil referral units have complex emotional, mental health, social and learning needs, are often in public care and some may be offending. These young people are currently being supported by a range of professionals, often in an ad hoc way.
What they need is some well planned, co-ordinated and innovative ideas implemented at a community level. Sadly, many of us working in PRUs think that this has hardly begun to happen.
Jacky Mackenzie Secretary, National Organisation for PRUs 10 Stebbings Langdon Hills, Essex
