Bury schools handing out permanent exclusions at highest rate in England

Figures released by the Department for Education show that between 2015/16 and 2016/17, the borough's schools handed out 83 permanent exclusions.

The total equates to 0.28 per cent of pupils - the highest rate in England and almost three times the national average.

Bury schools also handed out 1,728 temporary exclusions last year at a rate of one every 5.88 per cent of pupils. The national average is 4.76 per cent.

Secondary schools accounted for 75 of the permanent exclusions, while primary schools handed out the remaining eight.

The figures come a year after a damning report into Bury Council's special educational needs and disabilities provision, carried out by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission, found that too many children and young people who have SEN support were being permanently excluded at the borough's schools, and that leaders had identified inaccurate identification of pupils' needs as a 'significant contributing factor'.

Bury North MP James Frith said that although he acknowledged schools were often stuck 'between a rock and a hard place', the figures show there are clear issues that need addressing in the borough.

He said: "It is a real issue. It is not the kind of poll you want to be top of.

"Cuts are no doubt having an impact, but with exclusions at nearly three times the national average, clearly there are issues to address in Bury. I’ll be discussing this with headteachers and the local authority in the coming weeks and months."

Nationally, permanent school exclusions rose by 15 per cent between 2015/16 and 2016/17, and according to DfE figures, pupils on free school meals are four times more likely to receive them than other pupils. Meanwhile, children with special educational needs account for almost 80 per cent of all expulsions.

A council spokesman said: “As the local education authority, our policy is that pupils should not be permanently excluded from school except in the most extreme circumstances.

“It became evident last summer that the number of pupils being excluded by their schools had risen significantly.

“We have been working with all schools to determine why this had happened, and to put measures in place to reduce this number, with the focus clearly on inclusion, not exclusion.

“To support this, we set up two Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) partnerships to cover secondary schools and four to work with primary schools.

“A new team approach involving education, health and social care is responding early to the needs of pupils whose behaviour is concerning to enable them to stay in school before problems escalate.

“A Year 6/Year 7 transition programme for vulnerable pupils has been launched to address the challenges that pupils and schools face when young people move up to secondary school. In addition, there are new rules to ensure greater consistency in commissioning alternative support to help pupils remain in school.

“We are also directing funding towards more early support and alternative provision in mainstream schools, rather than spending on high cost, independent placements for excluded pupils.

“As a result of all these measures, the number of permanent exclusions in Bury schools dropped substantially in the following academic year (2017/18).

“We will continue to work closely with all our schools to ensure that permanent exclusions are as low as possible and that all of our children get the best education they can.”