Primary school pupil suspensions in England double in a decade

Jo’s 10-year-old son Jacob was suspended from his primary school several times, before recently getting permanently excluded for persistent disruptive behaviour. Jacob has an education, health and care plan (EHCP) after an ADHD diagnosis, and is awaiting an autism assessment.

Persistent disruptive behaviour is the most common reason given to suspend or exclude a pupil. But in primary schools, nearly 90% of those permanently excluded over the past five years also had special educational needs and disabilities (Send).

Jo says her son is a “very caring boy” who loves rugby and gaming, but his sensory issues meant he struggled to cope with larger class sizes.

His mum says she lived with constant anxiety about when the phone would next ring because of another incident at school.

Jacob’s school had put in place one-to-one support and access to a speech and language therapist, but Jo says there was no suitable space at the school for her son to decompress.

Perryfields has 24 spaces for primary-age children.

It also offers training, on behaviour and Send support, to more than 100 schools across South Worcestershire.

Head teacher Pete Hines has noticed growing numbers of younger children coming through his doors across his 20 years of experience.

“The complexity of the needs of the children I've seen in that time is growing and growing,” he says.

Most of the children at Perryfields are on short-term placements, and keep strong links to their mainstream primary school by wearing their school uniform, and often revisiting their old school in the afternoon.

Mr Hines says a successful referral unit “should be an intervention, not a destination” and that one of the most valuable things is seeing “happy children… having successes they didn’t believe that they could have”.

Vanessa Longley, chief executive of children's charity Chance UK, says an exclusion can follow a child beyond their school life. Their research suggests 90% of those excluded at primary school fail to pass GCSE English and maths.

“These are the children who were worst impacted by Covid, but also weren’t able to get early diagnosis and intervention for issues they were facing,” she says.

She is calling for the government to ring-fence money for early intervention in primary schools.