Case Studies: Inclusion - Local Authorities

Brent’s Excluded Students thrive in the Virtual School

Brent Council has discovered that schools do not need classrooms, a playground or assembly hall to be effective learning environments.  In fact, not even a school premises is necessary.  The council is providing an education to excluded students through a “virtual school”, meaning that students do not need to leave the comfort of their own homes to study.

Every academic year, 150 students in Brent are out of schools through exclusion at any one time.  For the past three years, Brent Council’s solution to providing an alternative education to traditional schooling for these children has been through a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) and the Accipio virtual school.  This year, Brent has bought 10 “seats” with Accipio for Year 10 students who have been excluded from school.  These students spend three days a week at the PRU and a further two studying from home at a virtual school.  At Year 11, the year in which GCSEs are taken, these students study full-time from the PRU, continuing to build on what they have learnt in Year 10.

Lessons in a virtual school are much like in a traditional school: Accipio has subject specific teachers who take the register at the start of each class, teach a 45-minute lesson and set assignments for homework at the end.  Students receive a full-time education of 25 hours a week and can study for GCSEs in the core subjects of English, Maths, Science and ICT.  Students talk to the teacher via a microphone and headset and classmates use onscreen instant messaging and an interactive whiteboard to work together and support each other.  If and when Students reintegrate back into school, they have a report to accompany them detailing work covered and attendance.

Paul Roper, Head of Alternative Education Services at Brent Council explains why they chose this solution: “We don’t have the space in our PRU to accommodate all of our students at one time, so by studying at home, the students can fit in everything they need to learn.  Accipio really understands our needs, the social and educational issues of educating excluded children, and always adapts to our requirements.”

At the end of year 11, every student has an exit planning meeting where they can discuss possible avenues and if appropriate are helped to get into college.  Although many students go on to study at college, for some, attending a virtual school and a PRU is a last chance to gain valuable qualifications before leaving education for good.