Minister for Early Education's response to today's suspensions and permanent
exclusions stats 2023/24.
Key statistics for 2023/24 – the academic year running up to the
point of the election - show that:
-
There were 954,952 suspensions – increasing
from 786,961 in 2022/23.
- The rate of suspension increased to 11.31 from a rate of 9.33
in 2022/23.
- Permanent exclusions reached 10,900 – increasing from 9,376
in 2022/23.
- The rate of permanent exclusion reached 0.13, equivalent to
13 for every 10,000 pupils.
Pupils on free school meals and those with SEND continue to see
high levels of suspensions and permanent exclusions.
- There were 573,538 suspensions for pupils eligible for Free
School Meals and 6,929 permanent exclusions.
- There were 330,908 suspensions for pupils receiving
Special Educational Needssupport and 4,639 permanent
exclusions.
- There were 101,381 suspensions for pupils on an Education
Health and Care plan and 1,044 permanent exclusions.
Minister for Early Education, , said:
“Every moment in the classroom counts - but with almost one
million suspensions in the 2023 academic year, the evidence is
clear that this government's inheritance was classrooms in chaos,
with swathes of the next generation cut off from the opportunity
to get on in life.
“Through our Plan for Change, we've wasted no time in tackling
the root causes of poor behaviour, including by providing access
to mental health support in every school, making sure every child
gets the fuel they need to learn through free breakfast clubs and
expanding free school meals, and launching our new Attendance and
Behaviour Hubs which will directly support the 500 schools that
need the most help.
“We're also continuing to listen to parents as we reform the SEND
system, while already putting in place better and earlier support
for speech and language needs, ADHD and autism and £740 million
to encourage councils to create more specialist places in
mainstream schools.”
Background:
- The statutory Suspension
and Permanent Exclusion guidance is clear
that, in all cases, school leaders need to consider early
intervention strategies to address the underlying causes or any
contributing factors towards pupil's disruptive behaviour
before issuing an exclusion. This can include a where a
pupil has SEN or an unmet need.
- RISE Attendance and Behaviour Hubs will see us build on the
approach our existing attendance and behaviour hubs with nearly
£1.5m in funding to support in the first year.
- We have already committed to establishing free breakfast
clubs in every primary school, providing access to mental health
support in every school, ensuring earlier intervention for pupils
with special educational needs and have made attendance one of
the four core priorities of our school improvement teams.
- We're also extending free school meals to every single child
from a household that claims Universal Credit from the start of
the 2026 school year, lifting 100,000 children entirely out of
poverty.
- Details of the government's intended approach to SEND reform
will be set out in a Schools White Paper in the autumn.
- We have already announced £740 million capital for councils
to create more high needs places, including specialist places in
mainstream schools.
- We've allocated £3.4 million in 25/26, jointly with NHSE, to
continue delivering the ELSEC(Early Language
Support for Every Child) programme, extending to up to 20,000
more children.
- The Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools
(PINS) helps build
teacher and staff capacity to identify and better meet the
needs of neurodiverse children. We've announced £9.5 million in
25/26 to continue delivering PINS in a further 1,200 schools –
reaching 300,000 children, including those with dyslexia,
autism and ADHD.
