More than 400 pupils excluded from school in Sunderland in a year

More than 400 secondary school pupils served exclusions in Sunderland in a single school year.
School exclusionsSchool exclusions
School exclusions

But the city still has one of the lowest rates of exclusion in the North East.

In the school year 2015-16, 487 secondary pupils in the city served one or more fixed period exclusion, the equivalent of 3.13 per cent of the total school population. In County Durham there were 1,140 pupils excluded (4.15 per cent).

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The highest rate of exclusions in the North East came in Middlesbrough, where 984 pupils (12.75 per cent) were excluded at least once.

Barnsley, Doncaster, North Lincolnshire, Rotherham, Sheffield and North East Lincolnshire are also among the top 10 in the country for secondary school exclusions.

Ofsted’s Regional Director for the North East and Yorkshire and the Humber, Cathy Kirby, is writing to headteachers to raise her concerns about their rates of exclusions and calling on inspectors to look very carefully at schools’ use of exclusion when making judgements about leadership and management and pupils’ behaviour.

“Schools should only ever use exclusions as a last resort. Being removed from school can disrupt a child’s education and affect their future life chances,” she said.

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A spokesman for Together for Children, which runs children’s services in Sunderland, said: “As the vast majority of secondary schools in Sunderland operate as academies, schools themselves are responsible for the exclusion process. We do, however, continue to support schools to wherever possible prevent exclusions.”

Phil Hodgson, Durham’s head of education, said: “We work very closely with schools to try and find alternative solutions for pupils at risk of exclusion and it is very much a last resort when a student is removed.

“It is worth emphasising our exclusion rates are below the national average.”