The number of children excluded from school has reached a record high, prompting fears of an “immediate unfolding emergency” in England’s schools.
A total of 9,376 children were permanently excluded from school in 2022/2023 – up by 44 per cent on the year before.
The number of children handed temporary suspensions also rose by more than a third (36 per cent) to 786,961 on last year.
The scale of the problem is laid bare in new government figures which show exclusions and suspensions have now exceeded pre-pandemic levels.
And the numbers expose a growing inequality in schools, with the most vulnerable children most at risk of falling out of school.
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More than half of all suspensions were children growing up in poverty, while children from Gypsy Roma and Traveller backgrounds were more than twice as likely to be suspended.
Children from mixed white and Black Caribbean backgrounds were 85 per cent more likely to be temporarily barred.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders’ union the National Association of Headteachers (NAHT), said: “The fact that we’ve reached this headline figure of record suspensions and exclusions should be a deep concern to everyone involved in education and it will be another stark reminder to the new government of the scale of the task ahead of them. One thing is very clear, we cannot go on as we are.”
Beth Prescott, Education Lead at the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), added: “These are truly shocking figures.
“Combined with the crisis in school absence, with so-called ‘ghost children’ at near record levels and one in five kids persistently absent, there is a pressing and immediate emergency unfolding across our schools.
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Over 100 thousand children dubbed as ‘ghost children’
“Yesterday’s King’s Speech had precious little to say about how to get kids back to school.”
Kiran Gill, CEO of The Difference, a charity that supports school leaders, said: “Today’s sobering rise in children losing learning through exclusions shows the need for a joined-up approach.
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“We can’t separate out policy response on behaviour from the special needs crisis, mental health problems or unequal opportunities for the poorest children.”
A Sky News investigation last year revealed evidence that some schools were deliberately excluding some pupils.
A whistle-blower at a local authority told Sky News she had witnessed schools excluding children for having special educational needs or a disability.
In some cases she said teachers bragged about a “cull” of some pupils.
Minister Stephen Morgan said: “These shocking figures show the massive scale of disruptive behaviour that has developed in schools across the country in recent years under the previous government: it worsens working conditions for school staff, restricts learning and ultimately harms the life chances of children.
“Every pupil deserves to learn in a safe, calm classroom and we will always support our hard-working and dedicated teachers to make this happen.
“We are determined to get to grips with the causes of poor behaviour: we’ve already committed to providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every secondary school, introducing free breakfast clubs in every primary school, and ensuring earlier intervention in mainstream schools for pupils with special needs.
“But we know poor behaviour can also be rooted in wider issues, which is why the government is developing an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty led by a taskforce co-chaired by the education secretary so that we can break down the barriers to opportunity.”