Numbers of school exclusions rise sharply

[AttilaTheMeerkat]

I quote but one example:-

In the reception year alone, 60 pupils aged four or five were expelled in just 12 months - a three-fold increase compared to year earlier. A further 960 - or five a day - were suspended.

I can think of many reasons why this is happening, how can such problems be addressed?.

Adequate special needs support.
An understanding that for many children, four is simply too young for full-time schooling.
An understanding that the majority of boys do not learn well when told to sit still and be quiet for much of the time.

I just heard on the news that some of the suspensions were for drug use and racism. In primary school fgs

totally agree with humphrey. it's mad to exclude under 5's. and surely the school could do more to help them rather than pass the buck.

I to was very shocked by this story primarily of the 60 children expelled in reception groups

To label a child at that age is wrong I think it leads to children having more problems later in there schooling life

I would be interested to see out of those 60 how many have been expelled since

we seem now to put our least experienced teachers in at reception yr 1 I believe if we give them a good grounding when the get to school teach them how to behave in class this would follow through into later schooling
It saddens me that we are failing our children in this way

this article has a few interesting factoids including nthe worst places here

zippitippitoes thanks for that link it was interesting. I heard this on the news this morning and thought.

Aswel as some other thoughts, I do think we expect alot of some children who have only just had their 4th Birthday to go into a class and work, sit, do, listen etc.

Reception age is very young in the UK compared to some other coutries. My dd was a late Aug birthday so she had just had her 4th Birthday and went to school a week later!

I didn't know I had the option to let her go a year later if Is made some sort of appeal. I have read this on here somewhere.

The most experienced trachers should be in reception and year 1, with a class helper and/or SN helper, this is when teaching is far more than just reading and writing.

am i alone in thinking that perhaps, just perhaps, out of control kids might just have something to do with the parents?

i watch this item on the news and i hear

the school is failing...
the schools need to...
education is not...
teachers must......
why is the government not...

what i don't hear is any suggestion that a lot of these kids have parents who need to pull their socks up.

Wotzsaname - in this country a child has to go to school in the term they are rising 5.
You don't have to appeal about it.

I am totally aghast that according to GMTV this morning a number of children in the age bracket of reception and UNDER 6 had been excluded for drug use. WTF is that all about ? I genuinely don't get that one, 4 & 5 year olds taking drugs at school ?

mytwopenceworth I agree on that, but then we are all perfect parents on mn, so didn't feel I need to mention it.

My dd managed very well but I know some in the reception class didn't at all and that was due to what was going on outside school more than what was happenig inside school.

the numbers are high in some locations though ...why are parents worse there?

surely it is school policy on exclusions that alters the statistics

let me guess, worse in rough run down high crime areas than in leafy middle class suburbs? all part of the bigger picture, but still a parenting issue.

mytwopenceworth lots of children have special educational needs, they may not be picked up before 5.

it could be a reflection on nursery provision, family support etc

i know southeastastra, my 2 are autistic.

these were the worst places

The worst areas for exclusions, based on the number of suspensions as a percentage of the overall school population, were: 1 Portsmouth (5.24), 2 Bristol (3.16), 3 Brighton and Hove (3.15), 4 Southampton (2.75), 5 Walsall (2.62) 6 Hull (2.51), 7 Reading (2.4), 8 East Sussex (2.32), 9 Durham (2.17) and 10 Hackney, East London (2.01)

now clearly Porstmouth has a local problem

My DS2's behavioural problems in YR were due to undignosed food allergies, and the fact that he is profoundly dyslexic, but is very keen to succeed.
But yes, most people though that the blame lay with me and my husband - that we were poor parents.
Behavioural issues are often complex, and though poor parenting is sometimes an issue, I think it is failing the children to assume this is always the case - and schools and LEAs and other parents are very good at assuming, IME.

"undiagnosed"
Doh!

I think its all to easy to blame parents obviously if a six yr old is taking drugs then that has to lay at the parents door, but what about children with definate problems my oldest son has aspergers, I tried to tell people for years that something wasn't right, I was told he was a normal little boy and I didnt know how to react to him despite being qualified

Luckily my son isnt disruptive more apathetic or rude his pictures at a young age were disturbing and his social skills were and still are terrible

I sent my son to school to get eduacated and to socialise with other children to learn about differences and to tolerate others these children need help not excluding and the parents need support to

on a different note if a child is taking drugs at six should this not be a matter for police and social services not sending them out of school to disrupt there lives but finding out how and where these children are getting them

i assume this is in response to my saying about poor parenting, Humphrey.

i agree 100% that there needs to be more support for sn - god knows i could tell you a million tales of how we have had to fight for the smallest crumb, but i stand by my belief that parenting is the key.

my kids are autistic. lifes been - in nappies until about 6rs, mute till about 4yrs - still talk at about 2yr old level, screaming violent tantrums like you wouldnt believe, smashing everything, smearing poo everywhere, biting, hitting, scratching. so on and so forth. i say this to illustrate that i mean severe problems for us to deal with and i'm not talking out of my hat!! Deal with it we must and deal with it we do. it is hard and it seems like you'll never have a breakthrough! but it happens. my kids have had some real acheivements, ds1 is doing especially well - and he was the more violent and challenging of the two.

i know that it can be hard, i dont mean parents who are trying. i mean parents who are not.

i see them, my dad who is a teacher sees them, parents who go in screaming at the teacher, who wont help, support, participate. people who dont parent in a meaningful way.

there are far more of those around whose kids are running into trouble at school than parents of kids with sn who are battling to help them progress and to help with the challenging behaviour.

i cant know who is who, which is why i dont go round pointing and saying that one needs to change the way they deal with their kids and that one needs some extra help for the sn. i just say that the 2 different issues exist. and there are far more of type 1 than type 2.

its like - i am very fat, there are very many very fat people around. some fat people have metabolic problems or things like prada-willie (sp), some have serious emotional problems but most are fat because they eat too much. i cant tell by looking who has a medical problem, who has an emotional problem and who eats too much and moves too little. i can tell you that there are more of type c than type a and b put together.

people need to parent their children not abdicate (sp??) their responsibility and say its the schools fault the school needs to discipline/control my child, make them into a Good Person. No. Thats the parental role. school is there to support you not raise your kids. while i agree that schools could do with improving in so many ways, i just feel that in these stories no importance at all is placed on the home environment and it is all The Schools Fault.

parenting classes

becuase the government is trying to influence future parenting through the existing educational system - think healthy eating, sex education etc etc.

but the kids who need it are being exclused

the rational behind teaching the children of today becuase they are going to be parents of tomorrow - is flawed.

we need an all out assault on bad parenting

we need to change societies expectations.

rather like breastfeeding campaigns. although not 100% i would argue that societies view has changed dramatically due to investment from teh govt in tthings like sure start and other things.

we need this investment in parents of today.

not just POOR parents - but parents.

if your pregnant - there should be a societal pressure to attend parenting classes.

if you want your kids to go to school - you should be made to go to parenting classes.

at the moment there is increased parenting through the school

then the school gets the shit - the teachers have no time for proper lessons ( PHSE MY FUCKING ARSE) when kids cant even read or write teachers are having to teach about healthy eating, excersise, vitamins, sex education things that SHOULD be done by the parent but arnt.

becuase the GOVT wont invest money in a new initiative which changes societies expectations.

its easier to do it throughs schools.

and it's not as effective is it custy? because the parents haven't been educated, the children are getting conflicting messages and get confused. i know from experience how much easier a message gets across to kids when the adults are all singing from the same hymn sheet.

"not just POOR parents - but parents."

Totally agree with that. There's a stigma attached to going to parenting classes at the moment because they're only offered to a minority when things are going obviously wrong. Make everyone do em.

But actually, I can't think that exclusion is the way to go for the vast majority of infant aged children. That smacks of not looking for other solutions to me,

I think sometimes as parent if you are interested you get pushed out anyway
we only get one parents evening a year
I go into school at least once a term to ask how he is getting on if there is anything I can do to help I wrote letters for funding to get ds1 some help in the classroom occasionally as school couldnt get it

But I really believe that a child shouldnt be excluded from school because they have bad / uninterested parents because then we will end up with more bad parents

unfortunatly if you are interested now you seem like a pushy parent that is sticking there nose into teachers business I can assure you I am not but want to help make ther job easier so my son has a better time at school