On good behaviour

School suspensions fall

GOLD COAST teachers are less likely to suspend students than in years prior, new state education data has revealed.

The latest release from the Queensland Government shows that in 2019 local students faced 6154 suspensions, a drop of 10 per cent on the year before.

Across the city the studentto-incident rate sits at an average of 0.10 suspensions per child, down from an average rate of 0.11 last year.

The data comes as some local schools move away from traditional punishment and opt for alternatives like community service, in-school isolation and detention.

Locally, Nerang State School topped the list of highest rate of suspensions with 117 incidents out of its 284 students – an average rate of .41 suspensions per child. Average suspension rates are calculated by dividing the number of suspension incidents with the school population.

TOP SUSPENSION RATES Nerang State School:

Incidents Population Suspension rate average 117 284 0.41

Nerang State High School

Incidents Population Suspension rate average

Keebra Park SHS

Incidents Population Suspension rate average

Pimpama SSC

Incidents Population Suspension rate average

Upper Coomera SC

Incidents Population Suspension rate average

295 1097 0.27

207 813 0.25

395 1695 0.23

462 1993 0.23

Nerang State High followed with an average rate of .27 suspensions per student or 295 incidents among its 1097 students.

The lowest average on the Gold Coast occurred at Pimpama State School with just one suspension occurring in the last school year.