Facility for excluded pupils moves to Smith's Wood

A CENTRE for school pupils who have been permanently excluded is moving to a new home in Smith's Wood, following concerns that its old base was distant from many students.
Summerfield Education Centre, which supports 11 to 16-year-olds, will be moving to Jensen House, in Auckland Drive, from next week.
The move was agreed following concerns that many children were travelling several miles to get to the pupil referral unit in Olton.
When Jensen House - which was most recently being used as offices - became vacant, the decision was taken to make the move. The site had in fact originally been used as an education centre, so planning permission was secured to return it to its original use.
Councillor Ken Meeson, cabinet member for children, education and skills, said: "Moving the Summerfield Education Centre to the Jensen House site will be much better for the pupils.
"They won’t have so far to travel and they will have much more space too.  Altogether this will make for a much improved learning environment where we can support our youngsters and get them back on track."
Department for Education figures released last summer, which related to the 2015/16 school year, suggested that there were 62 exclusions at Solihull's state secondary schools.
Pupils will start at the new premises from Wednesday (February 28).