Warning of bad behaviour 'crisis' as record number of school suspensions dished out to pupils in Shropshire
The suspension rate for pupils in schools across Shropshire soared to the highest level on record in the last academic year, new figures show.
The Department for Education figures cover the 2023/2024 academic year and reveal how many school suspensions were given out in the Shropshire Council and Telford & Wrekin Council areas.
The new data shows that both areas had the highest number of suspensions since local records began in 2006.
It shows that 5,165 suspensions were handed out in Shropshire schools in the same academic year – 843 more than the 4,322 from a year earlier.
It meant that Shropshire schools had a rate of 13 per 100 pupils, slightly higher than the rate of 11.9 found at schools in Telford and Wrekin.
In total, 3,850 suspensions were handed out in Telford and Wrekin schools in the 2023 to 2024 academic year – 144 more suspensions than the previous year's figure of 3,706.
Permanent exclusions also reached a record level across England - with 10,900 recorded last year - 60 pupils were permanently excluded from schools in Shropshire, and seven in Telford and Wrekin.
The new data comes as the school leaders' union NAHT warned that the causes behind classroom disruption "lie beyond the school gates".
Beth Prescott, education lead at the Centre for Social Justice think tank, said: "There is a crisis of bad behaviour disrupting classrooms."
She added: "Government and schools have an important role to play, but our research shows that parents also need to up their game and take responsibility for their children’s behaviour in class.
"There has been a fundamental breakdown in the school-parent social contract."
