A SYSTEM to educate and support children excluded, or about to be excluded from school, was approved by councillors yesterday.

The cabinet committee of Darlington Borough Council agreed to the development of a Pupil Support Service, to ensure that all pupils permanently excluded from school receive support to get them back into mainstream education or on to an alternative programme.

The service would also take referrals from mainstream schools, where pupils are in danger of permanent exclusion.

Geoffrey Pennington, the authority's director of education, said in a report: "The development of this service is a key step in reducing exclusions in Darlington. A second element of the service is the management and organisation of services which support pupils who are out of school, but are not permanently excluded."

There are ten young people in both years ten and 11 for whom Darlington Borough Council needs to make alternative provision because a return to mainstream education is not possible or not appropriate.

They need a combination of vocational training, work experience, a relevant education curriculum offering access to and accreditation in key subjects, constructive leisure activities and wider educational and learning experiences.

There are also a further ten children in Key Stage Three, aged 11 to 14, for whom the council needs to build a programme for reintegration into mainstream education.

The councillors agreed that the Pupil Referral Unit in Yarm Road, Darlington, should be replaced on April 1 by the Pupil Support Service, which will deliver programmes of education for the young people in need