Monthly Column by Beds Police and Crime Commissioner John Tizard: There must be fewer school exclusions

There are too many school exclusions across the country. There are too many in Bedfordshire.

In the 2023/24 academic year in England, over 10,000 children were permanently excluded from state schools. In Bedfordshire in 2022-24 the number was 365.

Children at risk are being let down. We must do better. By we, I include local authorities, the NHS, especially child mental health services, schools and multi-academy trusts, parents and society.

There is a positive correlation between school exclusions and violent crime. Over sixty percent of prisoners in our prisons have been excluded permanently or temporality from school at some stage of their lives.

Exclusion is statistically more likely for children living in poverty, poor housing or whose families are homeless, and in care. This means that to reduce school exclusions we must address underlying social and economic contributing factors.

We must also ensure that parents are supported at every stage of parenting and that there are interventions to identify potential candidates for exclusion at the earliest stages in their education. This is where the government’s new family hubs will have an important role to play as Sure Start did in the past.

Local authorities have critical responsibilities to address school exclusion and its causes.

I know that they take this aspect of children’s services very seriously across Bedfordshire, but more is required.

It also means that there must be better housing, better mental health services, and inequality and poverty must be tackled by government.

The lifting of the two-child benefit cap is very welcome and will lift thousands of children out of poverty. Other measures are necessary.

I also welcome the government’s commitment that suspending and excluding pupils should be reserved for the most serious cases of bad behaviour including violence. The recent education white paper has stated that it is intended to keep more children sanctioned for non-violent misbehaviour in schools in units known as “internal suspension”, rather than sending them home. This is very important.

We must have very good provision for those children who are excluded, but it would be far better if we could reduce the numbers of children facing exclusion in the first place.

I am calling on all agencies and system leaders with the power to act to do so consistently and in unison for the benefit of the children affected and for our wider society.