Shropshire schools ban hundreds of pupils
Drugs and alcohol, assaults on staff and other pupils, theft and bullying were just some of the reasons why children were kicked out of schools in Shropshire.
The latest evidence of terrible behaviour in classrooms revealed that 224 children aged from four to 16 were permanently excluded in the county over the last five years.
The figures, obtained by the Shropshire Star, relate to primary and secondary schools in both of the county's council authority areas. Shropshire Council also revealed it had recorded a total of 2,696 fixed-term exclusions, where a pupil could not attend school for a stated period of time.
The details were revealed under the Freedom of Information Act. From assault, threats and verbal abuse to other children and school staff, the county's youngsters have been permanently expelled mainly for "persistent disruptive behaviour".
Telford & Wrekin Council recorded 94 occasions where pupils were permanently expelled in the last five years. More than two-thirds were from the borough's secondary schools, 26 from primary schools and two from special schools.
A total of 27 of these children were persistently disruptive, 21 made a physical attack on an adult, 15 attacked another pupil and seven were linked to drugs or alcohol. On another occasion one pupil was expelled from a secondary school in Telford for theft.
A total of 130 young people were excluded from Shropshire Council-run primary or secondary schools since 2011, according to the figures. Two of these were from special schools.
Eduction leaders today spoke of the upheaval and cost caused to staff and other pupils by problem youths.
They said that no child is temporarily or permanently "banned" from education and stressed that it meant they were banned from their current education provision.
