FEATURE FOCUS: ALTERNATIVE PROVISION
Making provision for the hidden children missing from our education system
lockdown. With 65,533 referrals to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in March 2021, more than double the number in March 2020, many young people have fallen out of the system and they and their families have been left to struggle alone.
Many just stay in their bedroom, have little interaction with family, have few friends, no social life and their mental health deteriorates still further. Clinical teams report an increase in more serious mental health conditions. Anxiety and depression are now escalating to self-harm and suicidal thoughts.
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n our first look at alternative provision and curricula this month, Sal McKeown speaks to Lisa Alberti, founder of Pinc College, about the challenges many children face and the ways in which alternative provision can help them find their feet outside of mainstream education.
‘I'll never have a job. I’ll never have a girlfriend or live on my own.’ This bleak view of the world is becoming increasingly common, especially since
For many children poor mental health has led to devastating consequences. Feeling overwhelmed in schools, they have proved unable to rein in strong emotions. While schools may understand the issues, they are ill-equipped to deal with them so there has been a sharp rise in the number of exclusions.
Laura Partridge, Associate Director for Creative Learning and Education at the RSA, said: ‘7,905 children and young people were permanently excluded from English schools in the academic year 2017/18, never to return to the excluding school. On average, that’s 42 pupils expelled every school day.’
Many teachers find themselves torn between 28
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the demands of the system and the needs of vulnerable children, but not many respond as Lisa Alberti did and set up their own alternative provision.
What prompted you to start Pinc College? I worked in mainstream for 15 years as an art teacher, senior leader, and assistant head but I realised that schools could never meet the needs of some students. There are not enough breaks. Lunch is served in the actual building itself with all those associated sounds and smells. There is the structure and regimentation of the school day. I saw that I was becoming as disillusioned and disaffected as some of my students. I had fallen out of love with the system and that was not a good place to be.
How did you get started?
I thought about what alternatives might look like for these learners and came up with a spark of an idea. You know, in every town and city we have a cracking cultural offer. Think about the art galleries and museums. Why aren’t students going there? Yes, they go for special visits but there are so many ways it could stimulate and engage them, but it remains out of reach. What if it could be their base, their place of learning day
January 2022
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