Pupils in P1 among over 4,000 to be suspended

FOUR and five-year-old children are among a rising number of pupils receiving suspensions at Northern Ireland’s schools, a report from the Education and Training Inspectorate has found.

In the academic year 2016-17, 4,084 pupils were suspended. Around three times more boys than girls were issued with suspensions.

The Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) noted that “alarmingly” 286 were of primary school age and officials revealed that 74 were in primary one or primary two.

Repeated infringement of school rules was among the main reasons for the suspensions.

The ETI’s biennial report — Learning Lessons: Inspiring People: Putting Learners First — published today sets out challenging times in education, noting a recent Audit Office report finding that the general schools’ budget has fallen in real terms by 9.3% from 2012-13 to 2016-17.

Power-sharing government in Northern Ireland has been in suspension since January 2017 which has left senior civil servants in charge of departments instead of ministers.

The ETI report said the absence of an Education Minister was restricting the decisions that can be made, which in turn creates “further uncertainty, delay and frustration”.

ETI chief inspector Noelle Buick did praise high standards in maths and good development of thinking skills at primary schools.

The report also revealed that a fifth of Northern Ireland’s children entering primary school are overweight. This rises to one in four by year eight.