Alternative Provision

The 2011 annual report from Ofsted pointed out that many providers of alternatives to mainstream schooling are outside the inspection framework. A survey in the 2010 autumn term visited 61 providers of whom only 17 were subject to inspection. Despite this over 10% of pupils in years 9-11 attended off-site provision; for some this was a "significant proportion of their week"; occasionally they were full time.

Supervision can be patchy. "It can be the case that the school’s or unit’s staff visit infrequently or not at all"; nearly 20% of the providers had "never received a visit from a member of staff from the school or unit"


The characteristics of effective alternative provision was:

• Careful selection of placements
• Good communication between school and placement: the school should share relevant information with the provider and agree on "what information the provider would collect to show a student’s progress." This would be used "to celebrate success or intervene when things were not going well."
• Regular visits from school staff to students at providers.
• Careful timetabling so students  "did not miss key lessons when they were out at their placement, or at least they were given good-quality additional teaching to keep up."

All quotes from p 61