Dame Rachel de Souza was right to raise concerns about the safety and quality of Alternative Provision (AP). But we must be honest: if our education system worked for everyone, unregistered AP wouldn’t be needed at all.

Instead, rising numbers of families, schools and young people are turning to grassroots providers — often citizens and charities — who have built solutions where the system has failed. These are the people now at risk of being scapegoated.

Dame de Souza has brought this issue back into the spotlight. That gives us a vital opportunity to speak the truth.

---

What is Unregistered AP, really?

Let’s start with the language. We don’t call private security firms “unregistered police”. When family lend you money, we don’t call them an “unregistered bank”.

The Department for Education doesn’t currently offer a registration process for APs. So, if there’s no route to register, how can you be “unregistered”?

In reality, Alternative Provision is when everyday citizens step in to educate children who’ve been failed by the mainstream system. Many of these children have been pushed out, ignored or labelled — and good APs are helping them find their feet again. A small minority of providers may break the law, and this must be addressed. But the majority are filling a gap the system created.

---

Let’s talk about the children

The young people who attend our AP at Bath Rugby Foundation haven’t ended up here overnight. For many, it's the result of years of missed opportunities, unmet needs and gaps in support. Some haven’t set foot in school for over 18 months — not because they didn’t want to, but because they had nowhere left to go.

Parents and carers frequently tell us they feel exhausted and invisible — trapped in a system that claims to help, but too often doesn’t. When AP is done right, it rebuilds confidence, teaches life skills, and opens a pathway to independence. At BRF, we regularly see students re-engaging in mainstream education part-time, feeling seen, safe and supported for the first time in years.

And it’s not just us. According to the Centre for Social Justice, up to 80% of children in unregistered AP are there because of unmet special educational needs or mental health challenges. These are not ‘difficult’ children — they are young people who’ve been let down by a system that wasn’t designed for them.

---

We’re already under scrutiny — it’s just not working

This academic year alone, we’ve hosted 13 inspections from Ofsted-registered headteachers and local authorities. These are thorough, multi-layered reviews of our safeguarding, curriculum, processes and classroom practice. The findings feed back into their own Ofsted inspections — and we’re often contacted directly by Ofsted too.

There is no lack of process. The issue is how the system places huge demand on APs, while schools often lack the time, staff or mandate to properly quality-assure them. The oversight exists — but it isn’t being consistently or fairly applied.

---

The system didn’t fail — it was built this way

School standards oversight, as we know it, began in 1992. In the ten years I’ve worked in education, one issue has remained constant: pupils with high needs continue to be poorly supported. Today, we’re seeing the highest rates of absence and disengagement ever recorded — despite the most rigorous inspection system we’ve ever had.

The truth is: schools are being asked to deliver something that no longer fits a growing number of children. That’s why AP is rising. And that’s why good APs like ours exist — not to undermine schools, but to offer young people a route back to success.

---

Funding logic, not student need, is driving decisions

Our education system is built to secure as many GCSE passes as possible. While this works for many, it creates barriers for students whose needs don’t fit the model. These children are too often seen as a ‘problem to fix’ rather than people with untapped potential.

Early intervention is rare, and in many cases, children arrive at AP not because they’ve been supported — but because they’ve been moved around, mislabelled or missed entirely. When there’s nowhere left to place them, and when the costs become inconvenient, institutions argue about funding responsibilities instead of acting in the child’s best interest.

I think of students like Sam, Keiran and Ben. By the time their needs were formally recognised, the window for early help had closed — not because they had changed, but because the system waited too long to look.

---

AP isn’t a scandal — our system built one

Unregistered AP isn’t the problem. It’s the symptom of a rigid, outdated system that’s failing to evolve.

Instead of rushing to regulate, we should be asking the bigger question: why do so many children need AP in the first place?

Let’s focus on strengthening the good APs already working. Let’s apply the oversight tools we already have. And let’s value the professionals quietly transforming lives outside the spotlight.

Don’t make us register — show us a system that doesn’t need us. And if you’re serious about building that system, give us a call. We’d love to help.

---

Refer a young person to our AP

If you have been inspired by our article and would like to refer a young person to our Alternative Learning Hub, email Jonno Wood (Alternative Learning Manager): [email protected]