New Pupil Referral Unit to provide specialist support for Salford School Children
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Salford City Council’s new pupil referral unit (PRU) has officially opened. It aims to help children in the city who have been permanently excluded from school to re-engage with education and have positive futures.
The Broadwalk Green PRU supports up to 55 pupils aged 11 to 14 years old who have either been excluded or are at risk of being. Children who attend the PRU have struggled to access mainstream education and most have been excluded from school. They may attend from six weeks to two years in some cases, with a balanced curriculum, very similar to that of a mainstream school.
As part of the council’s strategy to create a fairer, greener and healthier city, as well as focusing on becoming a UNICEF-accredited Child Friendly City, the new unit provides extra support for pupils, delivering a provision that enables the pupils to make better progress and improve their life chances.
The focus is on encouraging and supporting personal development, building resilience and promoting academic progress in a safe, caring, inclusive and nurturing environment.
The previous buildings on the site have been rebuilt and added to, to create the new unit. It cares for a different age range of pupils to other PRUs in Salford and provides for capacity for the city.
Councillor Jim Cammell, Lead Member for Children’s and Young People’s Services at Salford City Council, said: “Broadwalk Green PRU is a great addition to the support we provide for children and young people in Salford to have a high quality education and have fulfilling futures.
“Families of the children cared for at the unit benefit from the help they receive to support their children re-engage in learning. We believe to be most effective we need to work in partnership with parents and carers and other agencies to provide wrap around support.
“PRUs help to close gaps in learning, identifying unmet needs, supporting children to recognise how to engage successfully with learning, opportunities to build positive relationships in an educational setting, as well as numerous experiences which build a love of learning.”
After attending Broadwalk Green, some children will then move on to specialist settings and some back into mainstream schools with support from PRU staff.
Staff at the PRU include teachers, teaching assistants, mentors, subject and SEND specialists, family support workers, outreach and re-integration support, and outdoor learning leaders.
The PRU also runs an outreach team who work in high schools to prevent exclusion and will support re-integrations into schools from the PRU for those pupils ready to return.
Working towards Salford becoming a UNICEF Child-Friendly City is a priority in the council’s corporate plan, to ensure Salford is a great place for children and young people to grow up and feel safe, cared for, heard and have quality opportunities to play, learn and work. This will take the council on the next stage of its journey to improve education outcomes, support children to have positive and successful futures, and champion the voices and rights of children and young people in the city.