Children’s Commissioner for England @annelongfield responding to today’s latest data on school exclusions https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/2020/07/30/too-many-children-in-england-are-still-being-excluded-from-school/

A few observations on these statistics:

The rate of permanent exclusions has remained stable at 0.10 – equivalent to 10 pupils per 10,000. The number of permanent exclusions has reduced slightly from 7,905 in 2017/18 to 7,894 in 2018/19.

The number of fixed period exclusions across all state-funded primary, secondary and special schools has increased by 7% from 410,800 in 2017/18 to 438,300 in 2018/19. The rate of fixed period exclusions has increased. This continues an increasing trend from 2013/14.

The fixed period exclusion rate in PRUs has increased from 2017/18 to 2018/19 to the highest rate since data was first collected in 2013/14. This increase follows a drop in rate from 2016/17 to 2017/18.

The rate of pupils with more than one fixed period exclusion has increased.

The region with the highest fixed period and permanent exclusion rates is the North East. The fixed period rate is 8.00, compared to 5.36 nationally. The lowest rate is Outer London with 3.51. The lowest permanent exclusion rate is in the South East.

Boys have more than three times the number of permanent exclusions, with 6,000 permanent exclusions, at a rate of 0.14 compared to 1,900 for girls in 2018/19 (0.05).

Exclusion rates are higher among pupils eligible for Free school meal (FSM).

The permanent exclusion rate for FSM pupils is 0.27, compared to 0.06 for those not eligible. The fixed period exclusion rate is also higher at 13.76 for FSM eligible pupils, compared to 3.83 for those not eligible.

Exclusion rates are higher among SEN pupils.

The permanent exclusion rate for SEN pupils without an EHC plan is 0.32, compared to 0.15 for SEN pupils with an EHC plan and 0.06 for pupils without SEN.

The fixed period exclusion rate is also higher for EHC pupils and SEN support pupils, compared to those not eligible.