Pupil Referral Unit

The Pupil Referral Unit, commonly referred to as the PRU and known informally by pupils as the "sin bin", was a special unit at Waterloo Road used to help pupils with their poor academic performance in the mainstream or with their disruptive behaviour. It was proposed by then Headteacher Michael Byrne and was funded by Lorraine Donnegan. Nikki Boston returned to Waterloo Road to head up the new unit in Series 8 Episode 11. The students seen in the Unit included Phoenix Taylor, Rhiannon Salt, Jodi Allen, Barry and Kacey Barry, Jade Fleming, Connor Mulgrew and Lisa Brown. It is believed that teaching staff would also be timetabled to teach students in the PRU away from the mainstream.

The entrance to the unit had two passcode doors to maintain security and ensure authorised access. The unit was under threat of closure on multiple occasions by Lorraine Donnegan due to budget constraints and her questioning its success. Students are moved back to mainstream once they have proven themselves. One major storyline was when Barry Barry holds Kacey Barry hostage and forces makeup on to her after she was doubting her gender until being found by Sian Diamond and Nikki Boston. Although it is never formally mentioned, it is believed that the PRU officially closed when Nikki Boston left in Series 9 Episode 20.

History[]

In Series 8 Episode 10, Phoenix Taylor was at risk of dropping out of school due to his poor academic performance. At Tariq Siddiqui's leaving party Lorraine made the announcement to local press at the event that she and Michael would be working on plans to open an onsite Pupil Referral Unit which pleases Phoenix, believing he's been given a second chance. Before anymore is said however the fire alarm goes off due to Connor Mulgrew setting a fire in the Art block which scars Imogen Stewart.

Inbetween the terms, work on the PRU began with Michael presumably being contacted by Carol Barry to bring her children Barry, Kacey and Dynasty to the school with both Barry and Kacey in particular being placed in the unit. At the start of the next term, the unit officially opens and Nikki Boston returns to head it up, seeing as Michael presumably contacted her inbetween the last and current term.

Once the PRU officially opens in Series 8 Episode 11, multiple students are seen to already be placed in the unit, with students such as Rhiannon, Jodie and Phoenix all being moved here due to poor academic performance, in the case of Rhiannon she was moved to the unit additionally because of disruptive behaviour. Jade Fleming was placed in the unit for support with her academic performance. Barry and Kacey were both placed in the unit due to their violent and disruptive behaviour in previous schools with the PRU seemingly being Barry's last resort.

The PRU gets off to a shaky start when the Barrys arrive in the school, after Jack McAllister catches Barry sneaking out of his home having slept with Jack's mother. A feud occurs in this episode between Jack and Barry once the whole school is made aware of Barry sleeping with Jack's mum after a sex tape was shown to a majority of the students in an assembly. Whilst Michael attempts to explain the situation to Carol, she tries to place the blame on Jack's mother stating that Barry filmed it so he could prove Jack's mother was taking advantage of him.

In Series 8 Episode 12, Phoenix Taylor leaves the PRU after he and Harley win the lottery, he leaves to go and work with his father presumably investing the money in the family business.

Another notable storyline to come out of the PRU was the feud between Jodie Allen and Nikki Boston, after Jodie is accused of stealing Nikki's car keys and whilst Jodie went into Nikki's bag to retrieve her letter and confiscated phone, Barry also went into the bag and stole the keys himself with Nikki later accusing Jodie. The feud continues up to Series 8 Episode 14 when Michael tells Nikki that he doesn't need another bully on his staff. Nikki later realises the upset she's caused Jodie after Barry hints he was the responsible party.

In Series 8 Episode 16, former pupil Bolton Smilie pays a visit to see Tom Clarkson after he went AWOL from the army. Whilst Bolton is visiting the school, his bag ends up in the hands of Barry who likely planned to sell it, but found Bolton's gun inside and likely planned to sell that on its own instead. Bolton eventually discovers Barry stole his gun and after retrieving it holds the PRU pupils hostage, Grantly manages to talk Bolton down and he's taken away by military police. Following this, Lorraine having heard about the incident wants to close the Unit but is persuaded by Rhiannon Salt to keep it open on the condition that she along with the other students can prove to Lorraine that it's worth investing her money into the PRU and their education. Also in this episode, Connor Mulgrew mentions to Kevin Chalk that he's been transferred to the Unit after his admission to starting the fire that scarred Imogen Stewart.

In Series 8 Episode 17 a presentation is held to show the other students in the school what the PRU students have been able to achieve with Scout, Jade and Barry's presentations being seen on screen and the end of Connor's presentation as well.

In Series 8 Episode 18, Barry Barry holds Kacey Barry hostage and forces makeup on to her after she was doubting her gender until being found by Sian and Nikki. In Series 8 Episode 20, Jodie left the PRU after passing her English exam, later going on to do her teacher training at university. In Series 8 Episode 21, there was some confusion over whether new student Fergal Doherty was going whether he was placed in the PRU or in the mainstream, the confusion eventually doesn't matter and Fergal leaves at the end of the episode.

In Series 8 Episode 29, the PRU pupils are all given a fresh start and sent fully back into the mainstream after Christine takes over as the Head. In Series 9 Episode 5, Lisa was placed in the PRU because her maths ability wasn't up to scratch and it was believed she would have benefitted from the unit on a part time basis. Whilst not confirmed by any characters on screen it is presumed that the PRU was officially closed due to its absence in Series 10 and the departure of Nikki, who resigned and moved to Germany with Vix Spark.

From Series 11, Waterloo Road High School had a similar unit called the Behavioural Unit (BU).