Pupil referral units (PRUs) – Adroddiad Blynyddol | Annual Report
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Pupil referral units (PRUs)

Early Insights 2025-2026

Teaching and learning

Staff in many PRUs develop positive, trusting relationships with pupils, helping them feel safe and ready to learn. However, the quality of teaching remains variable and planning for the progressive development of pupils’ skills is often underdeveloped, limiting progress over time.

What’s going well

  • Many staff build trusting relationships that support pupils’ engagement in learning.
  • Many pupils show positive attitudes towards their work.
  • Many pupils make suitable progress from their starting points when they attend regularly. The majority gain formal accreditation, and a few achieve a broader range of qualifications matched to their abilities and interests.
  • In a minority of PRUs, leaders are beginning to provide more purposeful, real-life learning experiences that improve engagement and motivation.

What needs to improve

  • The quality of teaching and learning is too variable. This limits pupils’ engagement and progress.
  • Planning for the progressive development of literacy and numeracy across the curriculum is underdeveloped.
  • Welsh language provision is underdeveloped and not equitable.

Well-being, care, support and guidance

Across PRUs, leaders and staff place pupils’ well-being at the centre of their work. This helps many pupils improve their behaviour, confidence and engagement. However, attendance rates remain too low, too many pupils remain on part-time timetables for too long, and too few return to mainstream education.

What’s going well

  • In nearly all PRUs, respectful relationships and nurturing approaches create calm environments and support pupils’ well-being, behaviour and engagement.
  • Safeguarding arrangements are generally strong. Nearly all staff understand their responsibilities and many pupils feel safe and well supported.
  • Most leaders recognise attendance as a priority and are strengthening arrangements to monitor it.
  • Staff generally show a strong commitment in supporting pupils with ALN. In many PRUs, tailored and person-centred support is developing appropriately, supported by external agencies.
  • Nearly all PRUs provide valuable support for pupils moving into further education, training or employment.

What needs to improve

  • In a minority of PRUs, the provision for teaching pupils how to keep themselves safe is underdeveloped. In addition, a very few learning environments are not fit for purpose.
  • Attendance remains too low and, in a few cases, leaders do not analyse attendance data carefully enough.
  • The use and review of pastoral support plans are inconsistent. As a result, too many pupils remain on reduced timetables for extended periods, limiting access to a broad curriculum and hindering progress.
  • In a few PRUs, strategies to support pupils in developing positive learning behaviours and approaches to emotional regulation are inconsistent. Fixed-term exclusions remain too high, and leaders do not always use behaviour data well enough to inform preventative work.

Leading and improving

In most PRUs, leadership has a positive impact on provision for care, support and guidance. However, leaders have not secured enough improvement in teaching, attendance or pupils’ skills. Management committees bring relevant expertise, but their challenge and direct contribution to improvement remain underdeveloped.

What’s going well

  • Leaders prioritise pupils’ well-being and inclusion, creating nurturing environments and positive relationships, while identifying appropriate priorities to improve teaching, learning and curriculum provision.
  • The majority of leaders are developing a secure understanding of the quality of teaching and learning through more systematic monitoring, evaluation and review processes.
  • In most PRUs, professional learning is becoming better aligned with improvement priorities and staff and pupil needs.

What needs to improve

  • Overall, leadership does not secure consistent, sustained improvement through effective self-evaluation, improvement planning, professional learning or strategic oversight.
  • Leaders do not improve teaching and learning or attendance quickly or consistently enough.
  • Management committees are generally supportive, but do not challenge leaders robustly enough or engage sufficiently with teaching and learning.
  • Accommodation and learning environments vary too much across the PRUs that we inspected.

Overview of recommendations from inspections

Four providers were inspected in the PRU sector during 2025–2026 of which two were placed in a statutory category.

All four providers were given recommendations relating to teaching and learning.

Three providers (75%) had a recommendation improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment, ensuring a clear focus on pupils’ progress and outcomes.

Two providers (50%) had a recommendation to strengthen planning and the provision for skills.

One provider (25%) had a recommendation to continue to strengthen the curriculum offer to meet the needs and interests of the pupils.

All providers were given recommendations relating to well-being, care, support and guidance.

All providers (100%) were given a recommendation to improve attendance including reducing the number of pastoral support plans in two cases.

One provider (25%) was given a recommendation to address the safeguarding concerns identified during the inspection.

One provider (25%) was given a recommendation to strengthen strategic leadership and provision for pupils with ALN.

All providers (100%) were given at least one recommendation relating to leading and improving, most often related to strengthening leadership and self-evaluation processes.

One provider (25%) was given a recommendation to develop shared leadership to increase the PRU’s collective capacity.

Three providers (75%) were given recommendations to strengthen the role of the management committee

Effective practice identified during inspection

Carmarthenshire Teaching and Learning Centre

Read about how Carmarthenshire Teaching & Learning Centre provides beneficial support for pupils who are economically disadvantaged.