Sir - The Oxford Times recently covered David Cameron's comments on provision for "tough kids" (Report, August 3).
As David notes, Base 33, a charitable organisation in Witney, provides a valuable service to young people and schools in the area.
What he may not have been aware of is the wider local authority provision in Oxfordshire available through Oxfordshire County Council's Pupil Referral Unit and Integration Service (PRUIS). The Oxfordshire PRUIS is served by dedicated teachers and support staff who work with all children and young people in Oxfordshire who have been excluded permanently. Permanently excluded young people at Base 33 will have been placed there following negotiation organised by the PRUIS.
PRUIS operates on three sites across the county and makes a wide variety of courses available to students from vocational through national accreditation (including GCSE) to recreational courses.
It caters for approximately 85 15-16 year olds and 100+ 11-14 year old students in a year, a scale which voluntary organisations could not hope to match.
The staff are experienced and dedicated to achieving the best possible outcomes for the children and young people in their care. PRUIS was fully inspected by Ofsted 18 months ago and was judged to be providing a satisfactory to good service using strict Ofsted criteria.
I hope David will be able to visit PRUIS early in the autumn so that he can see for himself the valuable work being done by this dedicated and specialist team.
Keith R Mitchell, Leader of the council
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