Nearly 16,000 children in England learn in state-funded alternative provision (AP). These are educational settings for school-aged pupils who are unable to attend mainstream school. These pupils may have been excluded from their previous school, have a medical condition or find themselves without a school place.
There are around 333 state-funded APs in England, with a growing array of unregistered providers. While APs offer core elements of the national curriculum, they typically provide additional elements such as work-based qualifications and recreational activities like sports and art, as well as therapeutic pursuits. Class sizes are usually much smaller than in mainstream school, and many APs have a higher presence of support staff.
