Four pupil exclusion centres face closure after Wiltshire Council’s support service for young people was slammed as a failure by Ofsted inspectors.

Up to 80 jobs could be lost after it was announced that the Bridge Centre at Chippenham and the Kennet Centre in Devizes could be closed from September 2012.

Councillors have agreed to hand over the £2.6m used to run the centres directly to schools, which will have to make their own provision for excluded pupils. Centres in Trowbridge and Salisbury are also affected by the plans, which are being recommended as part of a three-year Government trial.

Schools, including academies, will be responsible for the education of permanently excluded pupils until they leave education at 16. The grades and records of the pupil will reflect on the child’s original school and not the new school. It is hoped this will encourage schools to care more for the pupils rather than treat them as another school’s problem.

The decision to join the trial follows a damning Ofsted report for Wiltshire Council, which placed the Young People’s Support Service (YPSS) into special measures in June. The report criticised the four centres as ‘inadequate’ in almost every way.

Ofsted inspector Sarah Mascall said in her report: “It is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement.”

The change in policy by means the county’s four exclusion centres will close and 29 teachers and 29 teaching assistants could lose their jobs unless schools decide to team together to save a centre and run a service from it. Many schools may choose to run an in-house service.

Conservative councillors had hoped to push through the changes in February but headteachers have said they needed more time to consider their options. They will now come into effect in September 2012.

Wiltshire Council leader Jane Scott said: “Many young people go through turbulent times at school and this will be a better way of giving them the support they need.”

Martin Watson, headmaster at Lavington School, who has only had to exclude four pupils during his 14 years at the school, said: “YPSS does not work effectively and the general view is that schools are better placed to know what to do with pupils who are at risk of being excluded.

“With this move comes some extra resources that can be used to provide temporary off-site provision to help avoid permanent exclusion.

“It is going to be a bit tricky to begin with, but moving a child to another school to complete his or her education and give them a fresh start could work well.”

Wootton Bassett School headmaster George Croxford said: “Within the North Wiltshire Federation (of Schools), which I chair, we are very positive about it. We have to grasp this opportunity and go for it; it will be great for the students. It will mean we can provide individual packages of support for each student’s needs.”