Cyfle is a small school, known as a 'pupil referral unit' or PRU. We can teach up to approximately a dozen young mums each year and we also have an on site crèche so the girls can bring their babies with them. We will also offer other forms of supportto the girl's family and sometimes the baby's father if he wants us to.
Girls are referred to Cyfle, usually by their schools or sometimes through the midwifery service. Occasionally parents have even been known to contact us directly.
When we first hear about a pregnant pupil we arrange to meet the family to discuss what will happen to her education. In fact the answer is a lot! In Wrexham, school-girl mums are fortunate in that there is a special provision for them where they can get a high quality of education. Our aim is to support the pupil in as many ways as we can. This includes talking to her school to ensure that she can continue going to school safely until she is at least 28 weeks pregnant. Schools are not allowed to stop a pregnant pupil from attending on the grounds of health and safety or even to shelter her amid concern she may suffer from bullying etc. But neither are parents permitted to keep her off school just because she's pregnant. If the baby's father is also at school and wants to attend Mums2B or other antenatal or baby clinics we will also negotiate with the school to allow him to participate as fully as possible in his baby's care.
Once we have talked to both the parents and the school the girl continues in school until she is between 28 and about 34 weeks pregnant. At this point she transfers to Cyfle for teaching. Very occasionally, if the pupil is completely fit and keen to continue in school then she can stay in school beyond 34 weeks. However, in practice it is very, very unusual for her to stay beyond 36 weeks as her baby will be due anywhere from 37 weeks onwards and most schools and parents are unwilling to take the risk of her having the baby in the loos.
On transfer to Cyfle all of the pupil's education is temporarily switched to us. The girls are brought in by taxi each morning for 9:30 am and attend normal lessons for 4 hours, four days a week (Tuesdays to Fridays). We teach a core curriculum of GCSE English, Maths, Science, Child Development and Business and Communication Systems (ICT). We also cover GCSE Short Course RE and PSHE. If a pupil comes to us and she has already started other GCSEs which she wishes to continue then we will do our best to teach these subjects too. We try our best to match in our lessons to cover the same work as the pupils were doing at school.
The girls continue coming to Cyfle during their pregnancy for as long as they are fit to do so and in many cases this will be right up until the day they go into labour. We have excellent contacts with the maternity service and in fact are integrated with the Wrexham Maelor Maelor's Mums2B teenage clinic. One of their midwives is a regular visitor to the unit and we call her in if we encounter any problems during the day. We expect all pregnant pupils to attend the Mums2B Clinic on Monday afternoons for their antenatal care and parenting classes. One of Cyfle's teachers is normally there to help support the service and the young parents who attend. This is why there are no lessons at the unit on Mondays. We also link into the Welfare Rights service and help the young mums find out about any benefits they may be entitled to (if they are under 16 and the parents work there are not normally any benefits available to them). A representative from the Careers Service is also a regular visitor and a large majority of our pupils do go on to further education after their GCSEs.
Once a pupil has had her baby she is given two weeks' maternity leave. This may seem a very short time but in practice we have found that the girls are taking themselves off round town or on holiday after only a few days and so are more than fit enough to attend after this time. However, we always check with a midwife or health visitor before her return. Occasionally, a pupil has medical problems following the birth and so the leave can be extended provided a doctor or midwife certifies that she is unfit to attend. But this would mean that she was practically house bound and unable to visit friends or go shopping etc.
When she returns to the unit the new mum brings her baby with her. We have an on site, free crèche. There is no expectation that the girl will immediately dump her baby in the crèche and be prevented from seeing it again till lunch time. In fact, it is quite usual for the pupil to bring the baby into the classroom for a few hours or even days until she is completely happy to leave it in the care of our highly qualified crèche staff. If she breast feeds she can leave the class to do so at any point in the day, as she can if she has any worries or just is plain missing the baby. Our aim is to encourage bonding and for the girls to learn to take as much responsibility for their babies as possible whilst giving them the freedom of a few hours a day to learn in the same way as any other teenager in Britain. Should the pupil choose not to bring the baby to the crèche at all but have mum care for it then this is also acceptable, but in this case she will be expected to return to school as soon as possible - possibly within six weeks of the birth.
The girls remain with us for about a term after they have had their babies, after which time we try our best to return them to school as this is the best place for a young person's all round education and helps return them to a more "normal" teenage life. Occasionally, no childcare can be found within the girl's family and, since there is no money available to pay for private childcare, the pupil finds that return to school is not possible. In which case she will remain at Cyfle until the end of Year11 and sit her GCSEs with us. All of our pupils take GCSEs, even if their baby is due in the middle of the exams; we just keep a very close eye on them indeed!
Cyfle has a very high GCSE success rate for its Year 11 pupils and we generally return most of our younger pupils to school where we support them to reintegrate as smoothly as possible. We also support sixth form pupils but they rarely attend with us for education; generally preferring to remain in school till 36 weeks and then return four weeks after delivery. We support them to collect appropriate work to do at home during their leave and negotiate with the schools for them.
Cyfle and Mums2B's over all aim is always to support the young parent(s) and help to guide her/him in their future choices for themselves and their baby. 
Teen mums - talk about this story
