Alternate education provision for primary school children

For some children, there is a recognition that school does not always work for them due to a number of factors. The end result can often be challenging behaviour, poor attendance, disruption, and exclusion on a temporary or permanent basis.

There is a commitment in the borough to helping all children achieve and this can be done by using Alternative Provision programmes, allowing some children to follow a different educational route to their peers.

Alternative Provision programmes can take a variety of forms including:

  • Education provided off-site by staff not based in the school,
  • Through external training providers
  • Agencies and at a different venue
  • Primary settings who have developed their own in house provision and programmes. In the borough of Rochdale, this is known as ‘Internal Inclusive Provision’. It can also be a specialist-commissioned 'special educational needs and disability' (SEND) provision to meet the needs of children with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or education offered by Brownhill, Rochdale’s Pupil Referral Service.

Where schools are commissioning Alternative Provision, they will work closely with the provider, and the pupil and parents to develop a curriculum that best meets the needs of the child. For children with an EHCP or who are Cared For, the EHCP team or Virtual School will remain the ‘lead’.

Through our partnership working arrangements, Rochdale Borough Council will develop a high quality alternative provision offer which will enable any school or academy to meet the needs for individual pupils. Provision accessed will be engaging and supportive and ensure all pupils are stretched and challenged within a safe and happy environment. It will provide outcomes which will empower the pupil to progress and aspire to their full potential.