Council responds after report finds children needing alternative education were missed

Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter

Work to better identify and help children being educated outside school has been developed by education chiefs in response to a scathing Estyn report published last year.

At a meeting of Powys County Council’s Learning and Skills scrutiny committee on Friday, June 5, councillors and independent lay members will receive a report that explains how education chiefs have been “strengthening” how they deal with children that are receiving: “Education other than at School” (EOTAS).

This report responds directly to Estyn’s February 2025 comments that Powys council needed “to improve strategic and systematic EOTAS evaluative approaches” to provide education for these children which is “value for money.”

The Estyn report also highlighted the need for oversight and assurance from councillors on this issue.

It also draws attention to a previous lack of understanding of the needs of children accessing EOTAS outside of Pupil Referral Units (PRUs).

This includes those receiving tuition through alternative arrangements for medical reasons.

The report

The report said that in February 2025, 15 children had been recognised as receiving EOTAS provision.

This was being “facilitated” by the PRU North in Newtown and PRU South in Brecon.

According to the report this “significantly underestimated” the scale of need across Powys.

The report said: “At the same time, a further 17 learners were absent from school due to emotionally based school avoidance (EBSA) and receiving no provision.

“This indicates that only 45 per cent of learners who subsequently required EOTAS had been identified or supported at that stage, meaning that more than half of need was not recognised or addressed early enough.”

The report explained that the “lack” of identifying problems early enough meant that pupils had reached “crisis” point before being taught in a different way was considered.

The report said: “By the time support was in place, anxiety had often escalated and relationships with school had deteriorated.

“As a result, EOTAS was more likely to become a longer-term placement rather than a short-term intervention.”

The report continued: “Once learners were deemed medically unfit for school, access to a broad curriculum was typically no longer possible, further limiting future options.”

Since October 2025, an EOTAS coordinator and strategic lead officer have been appointed by the council to tackle the issues.

The education department has “redesigned” its data systems and now tracks: “attendance, engagement, quantitative and qualitative progress.”

Patterns and trends

Work is also underway to analyse and “identify patterns and trends” in the schools from which EOTAS referrals are coming from.

The report adds that “targeted work” is taking place with families to understand why the child has become EOTAS in the first place as well as trying to get them back into school.

The report said: “By April 2026, the number of learners recorded on the EOTAS register had increased to 50, representing a more than threefold rise since February 2025.

“This increase reflects both improved identification processes and a genuine growth in the complexity and scale of need.”

The report said that the most of these children are secondary school age and the majority are in key stage four who are 14- to 16-year-olds about to take their GCSEs.

This does pose a problem for moving into post-16 education.

The committee will provide recommendations following discussion of the report.