Authority to look into removal of pupils from registers

A COUNCIL is to resume its investigation into controversial “offrolling” – where schools find ways to remove troublesome pupils from their registers without a formal exclusion.

Previous Leeds City Council meetings heard of a possible link between off-rolling and a significant increase in the number of parents choosing to home educate pupils in their final years of secondary school or with special educational needs.

Experts were concerned this may be a result of schools encouraging families to home educate their children to avoid the prospect of permanent exclusion – therefore off-rolling pupils to benefit the school.

The inquiry also heard how the number of fixed-term exclusions – otherwise known as suspensions – had increased dramatically over the years, while internal exclusions – known as isolation – were not measured in many schools, as they were not obliged to provide the data.

A meeting in March 2020 heard evidence that pupils in some high schools were being put into isolation for forgetting their books or “eating some Rolos”.

Councillors and education experts said they worried schools could be veering towards Victorian values and that children were being taken out of lessons for “punitive” reasons.

A paper set to go before Leeds Council’s Children and Families Scrutiny Board next Wednesday is to start the investigation again.

An inquiry into the issue heard evidence in February and March 2020.

Due to the Covid-19 lockdown, the inquiry was suspended, with officers stating it would not recommence until 2021.