School pupil suspensions revealed
Thursday 16th April 2009, 1:00PM BST.
Unruly pupils are being suspended from school more than 10 times in a single year in parts of Shropshire, figures released today by the Tories reveal.
Seven youngsters were handed multiple fixed-period exclusions in Telford & Wrekin for bad behaviour in 2007/08, plus one in the rest of Shropshire.
Nationally, at least 867 children were repeatedly suspended more than 10 times – almost three times the 310 pupils in 2003/04.
The Conservatives said the repeat exclusions illustrated the battle teachers face against Government rules discouraging them from expelling pupils.
Telford & Wrekin and Shropshire County councils were among the 125 out of 150 authorities who res- ponded to the Tories’ freedom of information request.
Shadow schools minister Nick Gibb said: “The huge increase in children being repeatedly suspended from school is a direct result of the Government making it harder for teachers to expel violent and disruptive pupils.
“Teachers want these pupils out of their classroom so other children can learn, but the Government’s restrictions on expulsion have caused this phenomenon of endless suspension.
“Suspending a child from school over and over again does them no good at all. If a child has been seriously disruptive or violent they should be properly removed so they can get the specialist help they need to return to mainstream education.”
Teachers should be able to use reasonable force to control or restrain a pupil, says Government behaviour expert Sir Alan Steer. He also suggests the creation of “withdrawal rooms” to isolate disruptive pupils.
Schools Secretary Ed Balls said in most cases, one or two “fixed-term” exclusions were enough to improve a pupil’s behaviour.
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Isn’t Telford & Wrekin a Tory controlled council? ;)
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Many questions need to be answered here. How old were the pupils concerned?? what was the exact reason .
I believe some schools especially primary schools hand them out like smarties priamry age children are trying but some primary school teachers are unable to cope .We have school assistants etc smaller classes and still some teachers cant cope with a child who is being a little disruptive they some how manage to essculate something minor in to a far worse situation which resylts in a suspension .The answer to a lot of this is the instulation of cctv in the class room in order for out side agencys to view what is going on in the class room it will show poor behavior, violence,and poor teaching and then all can be dealt with by an out side agency.
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Rather than suspending them (days off school – what sort of punishment is that?) why isn’t there some kind of detention centre that they can be required to attend, where they are lectured on behaviour and deprived of a few privelidges. If the situation is changed so that school is the ‘best option’, they might be encouraged to behave when there.
Or is that too much like common sense ?
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SCHOOLS ARE SUSPENDING PUPILS FOR VERY MINOR THINGS LIKE DRESS CODE NOT ALWAYS BECAUSE OF AN ACT THAT IS STOPPING OTHERS FROM LEARNING,MAYBE SCHOOLS NEED TO BE QUESTIONED A LITTLE MORE OVER THEIR HIGH RATE OF SUSPENSIONS.AND THE QUESTION REALLY DOES NEED TO BE ASKED ..DOES A CHILD REALLY NEED TO BE DEPRIVED OF AN EDUCATION ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY WANT TO LEARN BECAUSE THEY HAVE STRONG BELIEFS ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION??
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Any child who behaves, conforms with the norms and rules of the school and goes there to learn and not to buck the sytem will not be suspended.
As for teachers escalating situations in primary schools to something worse, I ask you – is this supposed to be a major reason for suspensions, utter rubbish, we are talking about babes in arms almost. The rule should be “shut up, do as you are told or go home – NOW”. The problem is indisciplined pupils not teachers.
And as for the following comment from Helen, well, no wonder society is like it is. Yes I suppose we must let them have total freedom of expression to the point of anarchy, tell the teachers to get knotted, come and go as they wish, dress as they like and treat the school just like their own backyard where anything goes.
The indiscipline in our schools and the removal from our teachers of any meaningful sanctions is at the heart of many of our ills and accounts for our society being more akin to that of a Clockwork Orange than anything else.
Do you seriously ask us to accept the following Helen.?
DOES A CHILD REALLY NEED TO BE DEPRIVED OF AN EDUCATION ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY WANT TO LEARN BECAUSE THEY HAVE STRONG BELIEFS ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION??
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Helen has a point . What bothers me is teachers & the silly nut are decideing if to boycott sats.
How dare they the teacher is the employee and as such should do as they are told. If all employees went around saying we are not doing what our employee has asked what a state we would be in .
Teachers need to be educated.
YOU ARE THE EMPLOYEE NOT THE EMPLOYER.
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MAYBE IF PARENTS PUT THEIR FOOT DOWN A BIT MORE AND STOPPED THEIR CHILDREN GOING TO SCHOOL INAPPROPRIATELY DRESSED, THEY WOULDN’T END UP SUSPENDED. THERE ARE FAR TOO MANY BAD PARENTS TRYING TO PASS THE BLAME ONTO THE SCHOOL FOR THEIR OFFSPRING’S BAD BEHAVIOUR.
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Very true David, the only problem is, the parents themselves have been brought up on a diet of challenging authority and in an “anything goes” society.
Those who say that we are not living in a “broken” society are living in cloud cuckoo land and, if the truth were known they are responsible for it. The first place to start in mending it is in the schools with pupils given two strikes then they are out – for good.
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Could I ask the shropshire star:
Please ..
As there are now two responses above, 4, and 6
that are “shouting” – that is using CAPITAL LETTERS continuously,…
Can you embed some software into the forum system that disallows,ie filters out the continued use of CAPTITAL LETTERS in responses? (that is, it will allow capital letters at begining of a sentence,names etc)
Can I just say that:
It is generally the case on Forums that the continued use of capital letters throughout the text is not acceptable.
It is genrally seen as “shouting”
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Oh dear please get a life number nine it is not shouting it is being assertive via a key board.
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I was only shouting in response to number 4, as a subtle way of chastising the contributor. Sorry that went completely over your head number 9 !
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Oh! come on askeric, I agree with Andrew in the main. A whole comment in capitals is a bit disconcerting but not enough to crib about.
I am aware of one local paper – not to far from here who has what they call a “Digital Editor” or moderator, he is so pedantic that he would love to get his teeth into your complaint. He has been so “pernickety” that many regulars have stopped their blogs and he has ended up with nothing to be “pernickety” about. In fact, the over officious, small minded clot who shouldn’t be allowed near a PC.
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