Plans to amalgamate three Deeside Pupil Referral Units to be discussed this week

Plans to amalgamate three Deeside Pupil Referral Units (PRU) are set to be discussed by Flintshire County Council Cabinet Committee this week.

The Welsh Government announced in November last year a further £2.3bn for its 21st Century Schools modernisation programme.

The money will allow for a second wave of schools investment in Wales, Flintshire County Council has proposed nearly £85m of projects under the scheme.

It includes the remodelling Queensferry Primary School and three Deeside PRU’s Bryn Tirion and the Learning Centre in Shotton relocating to the Queensferry campus and amalgamating with Troi Rownd PRU which is already based at the campus.

There are currently 50 pupils on the roll of the two Shotton PRU’s.

The council says the Cabinet Committee will be asked to approve a proposed submission to Welsh Government which will explore an improved service model for the Portfolio Pupil Referral Units.

The agenda item, which will be heard behind ‘closed door’ with the public and press excluded, is listed for this weeks Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

The council said that at present the PPRU service operates from a number of different locations which raises some operational challenges.

The existing centres are not purpose built so do not offer access to rooms which support specific interventions for pupils or that can host multi-agency meetings, a regular need for this kind of provision.

It also says that staff expertise is spread thinly across the centres and not always available when needed at a certain location.

Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Education and Youth, Councillor Ian Roberts, said:

“We want to explore the possibility of improving the Pupil Referral Unit service and we are proposing the development of a Business Case to present to Welsh Government.  The new service would need to offer flexibility.

A key recommendation from the 2015 Estyn report was “Introduce a strategic and shared approach to managing within a single organisation.”  

 “It would, therefore, be prudent to investigate whether the Council is able to develop the Pupil Referral Unit service with funding from Welsh Government’s 21^st Century Schools programme.

This would provide a solution for the reported service difficulties along with the opportunity for service development and improvement and ensure that learners who have very specific needs are supported effectively to achieve their potential.”