Significant Improvement Needed at Powys Specialist School Amid Whistleblowing Incident

“SIGNIFICANT improvement” is needed at a specialist school in Powys which is at the centre of a whistleblowing incident and could still be closed as part of budget cuts.
In May, education watchdog Estyn inspected the Powys Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) which is split between two sites, with one in Brecon and the other in Newtown.
PRUs are small specialist schools that deal with children who need greater support than mainstream schools can provide.
Pupils attend PRUs for a range of reasons including exclusion from mainstream school due to behavioural and mental health issues and illness.
They cater for those either at risk or permanently excluded from schools in Powys.
Estyn has issued four recommendations for the school to address.
These are:
1- Leaders work with the local authority to establish a strategic vision for the
PRU
2- Stabilise and clarify the roles and responsibilities of leaders at the PRU.
3 – Improve quality assurance procedures, self-evaluation, and improvement
planning across the PRU,
4 – Improve attendance
Estyn said: “The local authority does not have a clear strategic vision or improvement plan for the PRU.
“As a result, leaders at the PRU are unclear of their roles and contribution within the local authority to support pupils accessing education other than at school.”
“Leadership arrangements differ across the two sites.
“At the Newtown site, there has been considerable change to the senior leadership team for a significant period of time.
“This negatively impacts the ability of leaders to effectively plan for
improvement, provide sustained support for staff and establish processes and
systems at this site.”
The education watchdog will monitor the PRU’s progress for the next year.
The education setting’s future has been a hot topic following proposals to close a unit in Powys to save £600,000 over two years which are part of this year’s council budget.
Remodelling the PRUs is estimated to save the council £325,555 this year and £251,285 next year.
A Powys County Council spokesman said: “Work has begun on drawing up an action plan and officers in the council’s education service are working at pace to address the recommendations made by Estyn.
“This is to secure the necessary improvements to ensure pupils have the best education possible whilst at the PRU.”
On the potential closure the spokesman added: “A comprehensive business case is being completed and therefore no decision has been made as to what the future of the PRU provision in Powys will look like – a number of options remain under consideration.
“These will be scrutinised before being submitted to cabinet for a decision to be made.”
The whistleblowing complaint followed concerns of misuse of public funds at the Newtown PRU back in 2021.
A whistleblower had reported that work tools had allegedly been purchased using a council credit card.
On being told in September 2022 that no evidence of fraud could be found the whistleblower then took their concerns to Audit Wales.
The problem had become known to Plaid Cymru group leader, Cllr Elwyn Vaughan, who raised concerns about the handling of the complaint with the council’s chief executive Emma Palmer and cabinet member for education, Liberal Democrat Cllr Pete Roberts.
After these concerns were made public, Cllr Vaughan was reported to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales over an allegation of bringing the authority into disrepute by disclosing confidential information.
Cllr Vaughan said: “I’ve voiced my concerns about this place many times perhaps someone will start to listen.”
In January, the issues at the Newtown PRU were brought up at a meeting of the council’s Governance and Audit committee.
At that meeting several committee members had wanted to use the whistleblowing affair at the PRU as a case study with “lessons learned” presented back to the committee.
However, this was stopped by the council’s chief executive Emma Palmer who wanted to make it “very clear” that they could have their say on whistleblowing strategy and policy but not individual cases.
A review of the council’s whistleblowing policy is underway. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

By BBC LDRS ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​