Children have been suspended or expelled from their school more than 3,000 times in the past two years, according to figures obtained by the Enfield Independent.

A Freedom of Information request by this paper revealed that between 2012/13 and 2013/14 academic years, there were 3,369 cases of children being given fixed term suspensions, including one child as young as four.

A total of 110 pupils were permanently expelled during the same period.

The statistics showed that the number of fixed term suspensions had risen from 1,558 in 2012/13 to 1,811 in 2013/14.

Nightingale Academy, in Turin Road, Edmonton, suspended pupils on 446 occasions during the two years and made eight permanent suspensions.

Broomfield School, in Wilmer Way, Arnos Grove, had the second highest rate of suspensions and expulsions with a total of 256 – 21 of which were permanent.

Statistics also show that the number suspensions handed out for violence soared to about 1,000 cases in just two years.

Of these, 142 took place at Nightingale Academy, with Aylward Academy, in Windmill Road, Edmonton, suspendine 83 pupils for violence.

Debby Lipkin, executive principal for Nightingale Academy, told the Enfield Independent that action is being taken following the worryingly high figures.

She said: “Actions taken to tackle anti-social and disruptive behaviour have been effective.

“Number of days exclusion per student is reducing as serious physical confrontations between students becomes very rare.

“The level of fixed-term exclusions is high compared to the national average, even though they have reduced recently. This is because exclusions are being used as part of a combination of strategies to improve the behaviour expected in the academy.

“Over half of all parents and staff agree that the academy ensures students are well behaved. Older students say behaviour has improved. This shows the success of the academy’s work to promote a cohesive community.”

More than 650 primary schoolchildren were suspended in the borough, with seven being expelled.

During his visit to Kingsmead Academy, in Southbury Road, this week, Prime Minister David Cameron told the Enfield Independent that standards must improve for “disruptive pupils” so they do not “wreck” the education of others.

He said: “According to teachers, discipline and order in the classroom has improved a lot over the past five years because of the changes we have made.

“In the end you have to give the school to right to exclude disruptive pupils and we have to set expectations for those pupils and their parents at a high level so that they recognise that they are not allowed to wreck the education of others – but the signs are that is working.”

Figures also showed that 116 school pupils were suspended or expelled during the two years for drug or alcohol-related incidents.

There were 58 separate cases of a pupil being suspended or expelled for bringing in an offensive weapon to school.

Enfield Council's cabinet member for education, children’s services and protection, Cllr Ayfer Orhan, said: “Enfield Schools have clear behaviour policies, designed to promote positive behaviour for learning amongst their pupils. Under those behaviour policies, the decision to exclude children for either a fixed number of days or permanently is taken by individual headteachers in response to serious breaches of the school’s behaviour policy.

"We work in partnership with schools to promote positive behaviour amongst the 55,000 pupils who attend our schools.

"The decision to exclude is never taken lightly and there is clear evidence that fixed term exclusion can have a positive impact. It encourages students to improve their behaviour; a fact borne out by the significantly lower numbers of permanent exclusions compared with fixed term exclusions."