Expulsion shouldn’t equal end of education

ONLY one in five pupils expelled from schools in Oldham are achieving five GCSE passes above grade G — but it is still a higher number than in other areas of the North-West. 

Figures from the Department for Education show 68 secondary school students were shown the door last year — and 20.6 per cent of those achieved the five passes when they went on to sit their exams.

It makes Oldham’s percentage rate the third highest across Greater Manchester with 33.3 per cent of students expelled in Rochdale securing five passes and 28.6 per cent in Stockport. All other areas had lower achievement levels than Oldham.

The problem of low achievement is wide-spread across the country. Now the Government says it will force schools to take responsibility for pupils they expel.

As it stands, when a child is permanently excluded, their parents take responsibility for them for the first five days after the exclusion.

It is then up to the local authority to provide the youngster with full-time education, for example in a pupil referral unit, or another organisation, such as one that specialises in vocational subjects or improving behaviour.

But this responsibility could be handed to schools if a trial in other parts of the country is successful.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said: “Improving behaviour in our schools is a key priority of the Government, which is why we support head teachers who permanently exclude those children who persistently disrupt the education of others or who bully other children.

“We need to ensure, however, that exclusion does not lead those children to abandon education.

“Many of these children are the most vulnerable in society and we need to ensure that, despite being expelled from school, they continue to receive a good quality education, albeit in an alternative setting.”