EXPELLED children could be sent to a special centre to pave their way back into Bolton classrooms. Education chiefs are looking into the possibility of setting up a pupil referral unit for permanently excluded pupils. Youngsters who attend would be assessed and counselled to prepare them for slotting back into classes at another school.

The unit is among a number of strategies being considered by Bolton to ensure pupils thrown out of one school do not drop out of the education system altogether.

Others include reviewing the red tape which often holds up the re-admission process and looking to extend the pioneering Youth Challenge scheme for older pupils.

The strategy is designed to meet David Blunkett's target of finding appropriate full-time education for all excluded pupils within three weeks.

Education chiefs admit they are not meeting the Government target at present and £137,000 has been set aside to make the necessary changes to speed up the process by 2001/2002.

Their main strategy is prevention and they are hoping a newly adopted 'one out - one in' agreement between local headteachers will cut the number of pupils expelled from local schools from around 80 per year to 60 per year.

But education chiefs are also looking to see if a specialist unit is needed to smooth the way for pupils and schools when expulsion cannot be avoided.

Bolton is already in the process of looking for a site for a unit to try and turn around disruptive children in danger of being expelled.

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