Our School
City of Birmingham School is Birmingham City Council’s Pupil Referral Unit.
The school has 7 specialised teaching campuses across the City offering personalised educational programmes to pupils from 5 to 16. Our campuses are spread across the city and broadly serve children from their local areas.
Our school consists of one primary campus (Stratford Park), three Key Stage 3 campuses (Grove, Millpool and Oxted Hall) and three Key Stage 4 campuses (Kings, Firsbrook and Link)
Our curriculum is broadly based on the national curriculum, with a range of experiences that our pupils may not have had the chance to undertake before. These include a weekly outdoor education programme, chess, camping trips and much more.
We offer high quality outreach support for schools and settings on a traded basis and work with the Birmingham Family of Schools as well as schools and settings beyond Birmingham.
The Local Authority commissions places for 600 pupils who may be:
- Permanently excluded, or at risk of this
- On an Education, Health, and Care Plan with behavioural, emotional and/or social difficulties
- Anxious, depressed, school phobic
- ‘Looked After’ with no school place
- Remanded by the courts to the care of the Local Authority
- Struggling with learning and faced with a multiplicity of problems
When they join the school, most pupils are disaffected and disengaged from school and assessments indicate a wide range of ability, from P levels through to potential GCSE candidates. Pupils reflect the make-up of a large multi-cultural City.
Around 75% of pupils are eligible for free school meals. Attendance levels on referral are generally below average for Birmingham but those with previously poor attendance usually improve during their time in the school. Pupils spend varying amounts of time with us ranging from four weeks to over two years.
We have a strong and supportive Management Committee (the equivalent of a school governing body), chaired by Barry Bowles.
