Pupil referral units for children kicked out of school are being re-branded ‘short stay centres’ in a bid to improve their image.
Manchester council is introducing the new name as it reshuffles services for expelled pupils in the city.
Education officials say they want to get rid of the stereotype of the units as ‘dumping grounds’ for difficult pupils.
The units, for children expelled for bad behaviour, currently look after up to 150 students, some as young as seven.
The number of youngsters banned from Manchester classrooms is high, with secondary school expulsion rate more than twice the national average.
But a report to senior councillors says children are being failed because they are spending too long in the temporary units while they wait for a permanent new school.
A report prepared by the council also proposes a ‘pupil passport’ – containing an educational record – to ensure information is passed on between schools.
The former Labour government last year called for pupil referral units to be renamed – although few councils have so far implemented the change.
Education bosses in Manchester say the re-branding was not motivated by political correctness, but instead to emphasise the short-term purpose of the units.
Kieran McDermott, deputy director of the children’s services department, said: “The transformation of the current PRUs to short stay schools is part of a preventive approach we are developing across the city to reduce the number of children who are excluded from schools.
“They will allow earlier interventions for pupils who are at risk of permanent exclusion.
“This approach is also expected to improve the attendance of the children and young people concerned.”
There are 11 sites in Manchester which teach excluded youngsters aged seven to 16.
Although the centres are only meant to be a short-term solution with children sent back to other schools, education bosses warn that too many mainstream schools are unable or unwilling to take on excluded pupils.
Council bosses also want to open ‘inclusion centres’ in nine secondary schools and primaries – to help youngster deal with their behaviour before it leads to expulsion,
Officials will also put pressure on headteachers to take their fair share of ‘hard-to-place youngsters.
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Better to 'fail' these children by dumping in them in exclusion centres (whatever the council chooses to cause them) than the alternative of letting them stay in school and ruin the education of many other children.
In hard times we should exclude disruptive children let their parents take care of them at home. Shut the exclusion centres and spend the money on the majority of well-behaved kids.
What about calling them "secure education centres"?
How will renaming these centres imporve attendance?
The worst thing Manchester ever did was to disband their education welfare service. They are reaping the rewards from this crazy decision now.
R Marcus - why?
Should just rename them junior prisons as the kids will need to prepare for adult life.
blizzard, Midlands
How will renaming these centres imporve attendance?
I don't know but if you attended one it might improve your spelling.
you can start calling murder cotton candy but it still the same thing
There will be a lot more expelled students soon as Mr Gove changes the rules to prevent appeals from the Head/Governors decisions and presumably the City Council will have to pick up the kids expelled from the new Academies (sometimes called Free Schools or State funded Independent Schools) he is setting up, as the Council has a duty to provide education for any child in the City.
Hopefully they will have to pay, as Council Schools will have to for failing their pupils.
Usual ill-informed comments that I expect on this website. As a secondary school teacher in Manchester I too get fed up with the poor behaviour of the small minority who make it difficult for teachers to teach and pupils to learn. I have seen pupils who were a nightmare in one school go to a PRU amd move on to another and make a success of their education.