Taxis pull up throughout the day outside the brightly painted Magpie Centre to drop off its growing cohort of school refusers. The former youth club, which became Leicester’s fourth hospital school site 18 months ago, is designed to look as welcoming as possible to entice anxious youngsters back into classrooms.
The average school refuser has been at home for 18 months before they arrive. One pupil has not attended school for three years. Rather than sterile hospital wards, learning takes place in homes and purpose-built ‘hospital’ alternative provision.
Magpie’s therapeutic curriculum includes board games and growing rhubarb. A large social space includes table tennis and foosball. Pupils are taught in classes of up to eight, where teachers usually go by their first names.
Most attend the centre part-time for 12-week ‘early intervention’ blocks while still enrolled at their mainstream school.
