news
South West Bedfordshire MP asks for action to help Bedfordshire schools deal with seven exclusions for violence a day.
09 March 2010
South West Bedfordshire MP Andrew Selous yesterday asked the schools minister to stop excluded pupils from being sent back to the schools they were excluded from against the school’s wishes. The latest figures for Bedfordshire show that in 2007/08 there were 520 incidents of verbal abuse or threatening behaviour against an adult, 500 physical assaults against other pupils and 140 physical assaults against an adult.
Speaking after his exchange with the Schools Minister in the Commons, Andrew Selous, who is also a local school governor, said, “All children and staff deserve to be safe at school so they can concentrate on learning. Exclusion should be a last resort, but is sadly necessary to protect the education of the other children in the school. Excluded pupils must also be properly taught in pupil referral units. It concerns me that schools are being overruled by exclusions appeals panels and are being sent back to the schools they were excluded from.”
“We need firm action on school discipline and I would like to see school governors handling these appeals and new powers for teachers to tackle violence in the classroom.”
The exchange in Hansard was as follows:
Andrew Selous MP: Why do the Government undermine schools that exclude pupils by sending some of them back to the same schools, thus putting at risk the education of all the children in those schools?
The Minister for Schools and Learners (Vernon Coaker MP): We do not do that at all. In a proper system, schools exclude pupils and pupils have an opportunity to appeal. Sometimes it is right for pupils who are excluded to be returned to their schools. That is a proper system, and when I was a deputy head teacher it operated quite well without undermining school discipline.
