By Katherine Sellgren BBC News education reporter

Referral units can offer students a fresh chance

Vulnerable teenagers are being let down by the education system, say inspectors. But as one girl's story shows, it does not have to be that way.

Permanently excluded from two schools, Olivia is now hoping to get a place at a top university.

But without the support of a leading pupil referral unit, the 17-year-old's story could have been very different.

"I was rude and cheeky. I didn't have any respect for teachers," she said.

"It was verbal abuse, I bullied students and I bullied teachers.

"Once a group of us were playing truant and we rang the school, making abusive calls - mine was the worst really.

"I didn't like the authority there and I tried to corrupt that authoritarian atmosphere.

"GCSEs, A-levels, university seemed so far away, I didn't think of the consequences - I was in with the cool crowd."

After a year at her local grammar school in Buckinghamshire and several short-term exclusions, Olivia was permanently excluded.

My GCSEs aren't the best ever, but I hope I can show them I've been on a steep learning curve Olivia

She was sent to another grammar school in the county, only to be expelled from there as well two years later.

She was sent to Wycombe Grange pupil referral unit (PRU), which proved the beginning of Olivia's transformation.

"It shook me up. I was in a terrible situation, not knowing where I was going to sit my GCSEs."

Staff at the PRU helped her work through various issues and, noting her academic ability, organised a range of lessons so she could complete her GCSE exams.

Now she is successfully integrated into a local sixth form and got two As and a D in her AS-levels this summer. She is currently applying to some of the UK's leading universities, such as Durham and University College London, to read English.

"My GCSEs aren't the best ever, but I hope I can show them I've been on a steep learning curve since then.

"Fingers crossed - I hope I can thrive in that environment."

A 'turn-around'

Olivia may not be the most typical example of a pupil permanently excluded from school - not now - but without targeted intervention from her local education authority and PRU, she knows she could have been treading a very different path.

The provision for pupils like Olivia in Buckinghamshire is highlighted as an example of best practice by Ofsted inspectors, but the watchdog remains concerned that too many vulnerable young people across England are "being lost to the system, becoming disaffected and underachieving".

Robert now has a positive outlook

Sixteen-year-old Robert, who attends the Abbey Centre PRU in Aylesbury after being permanently excluded from his school, agrees that the special help on offer has helped him to "turn around".

"I would have probably just been out of school and not had nothing. I'd have just been at home doing nothing," he said.

Now he is studying for four GCSEs, an ICT course at the local college and a mechanics course.

He is positive about the future and looks forward to learning a trade through the modern apprenticeship system.

"They don't look down on you like a kid here, they talk to you like you're the same age as them."

'Yob' image

The popular image of PRUs might be of yobs sitting around with their feet on the desks and their hoods pulled up defensively around their faces.

It's no good having a fire service where you call them out when the fire is blazing PRU head George Lloyd

But the reality is often very different. With specialist support on offer, many pupils settle down well and find they can manage their behaviour more positively than in the formal school environment.

And with local colleges and charitable groups offering a range of courses, PRUs are often surprisingly quiet.

"PRUs in Buckinghamshire are not 'sin-bins', they are part of the behaviour support system," said George Lloyd, head of the Wycombe Grange PRU attended by Olivia.

Much of the work of the PRUs in Buckinghamshire focuses on prevention - keeping within schools children who are at risk of exclusion.

Teams work closely with schools, offering part-time placements for pupils with behavioural difficulties and training teachers in behaviour management.

"Our outreach work is very important, because by the time they get here it's too late really," says Mark Norwood, who works on the outreach team at the Abbey Centre, attended by Robert.

'Damaged'

As George Lloyd puts it: "It's no good having a fire service where you call them out when the fire is blazing - the best PRU is an empty PRU."

Removing children to a special unit also spares their classmates

And he dismisses critics who say this special provision is just privileging disruptive pupils.

"How much damage is that kid doing to the other 29 kids in the class? There's no point leaving them in an environment they'll play merry hell in."

Mr Lloyd stressed that many of the pupils who end up in PRUs are very "damaged" and need specialist help.

"If you don't invest in them now, they will continue to drain society in a way you haven't seen yet," he said.

"A lot of these kids can't help themselves - they might be involved in drugs because their parents are or involved in criminality because their parents are.

"I think it's immoral if we let them down."