Expert calls for exclusion of primary pupils to be banned

A CALL has been made for the exclusions of primary school pupils to be banned.

It comes as figures show the number of primary school pupils banned in Staffordshire in one year.

There were 14 permanent exclusions during the 2019/20 school year – the most recent figures available. This included seven expulsions for physical assaults on adults, one for verbal attacks on other pupils, one for verbal abuse of adults, and three for persistent disruption.

As well as this, pupils in the area were suspended from primary schools for fixed periods on 527 occasions in 2019/20. Across England, there were 739 permanent exclusions of primary-age pupils in 2019/20. That was down from 1,067 in 2018/19, although the pandemic and restrictions on the number of pupils who could be in schools is likely to have had an impact. Pupils were also suspended on 47,261 occasions in 2019/20, down from 66,463 times the year before.

A report from former children’s commissioner Anne Longfield has said exclusions from primary schools should be banned by 2026.

It also argues schools should not be able to receive a “good” or “outstanding” grade from Ofsted without hitting new targets on including vulnerable pupils.

The report, from the Commission on Young Lives, says Ofsted should introduce a new inclusion measure, with schools that are not inclusive unable to receive a “good” or “outstanding” grade. It calls for exclusions from school of primary school-age children to be ended within the next four years, with schools “supported with the necessary resources to achieve this”.

It adds that all schools should report how many pupils have been excluded or moved from their rolls every year. The report notes that vulnerable pupils are sometimes “viewed as a problem that can be pushed onto someone else” and that some schools have used tactics such as managed moves, off-rolling, exclusions or encouraging families to pursue “home education”. Permanent exclusions of primary pupils had risen in recent years, from a low of 606 in the 2010/11 school year, to 1,253 in 2017/18, although numbers had fallen more recently. Temporary suspensions had also been rising, from 37,212 in 2009/10 to 66,463 in 2018/19. The report found that before the pandemic, the number of children excluded from school rose by five per cent in the autumn of 2019 compared to the same period the previous year.

Anne Longfield, who chairs the Commission on Young Lives, said: “Look behind the headlines of the tragic deaths, acts of serious violence and criminal exploitation of our young people over recent years and so often you see a pattern of children disengaging and falling out of school and into harm.

“Not all children who leave mainstream school will be affected, but the statistics show that too many will – even more so if the child has special educational needs or is black.

“These are the young people at the sharp end of an education system which has not always prioritised the needs of vulnerable children, and one that I believe could and should be transformed to ensure all children can succeed. A system that has no real accountability for a five-yearold boy being excluded 17 times in a year, or where a vulnerable teenager is out of school for months or even years, is not a system that is working for every child.

“Over recent years, we have seen the growth of an exclusions culture that perversely rewards removing some vulnerable children from school roll. That must not continue.

“We need a new culture of inclusion and accountability that recognises and rewards nurture and which sticks with children and families from cradle to career.”

Research by the Department for Education (DFE) Ministry of Justice has highlighted how one in five (22%) of children that had ever been permanently excluded were also cautioned or sentenced for a serious violent offence. As well as this, 59% of children that had ever been permanently excluded were also cautioned or sentenced for an offence.

A DFE spokesperson said: “While permanent exclusion for young children is rare, suspension and exclusion are necessary and essential behaviour management tools.

“We are working to understand and tackle avoidable absence through the attendance alliance [a Government scheme to improve school attendance], and the Alternative Provision and SAFE taskforces are providing direct, targeted support to vulnerable pupils at risk of crime or exploitation, to keep them engaged in education.”

These are the young people at the sharp end of a system that has not always prioritised vulnerable pupils’ needs