Primary school exclusions in Haringey double (From This Is Local London)

Primary school exclusions in Haringey double

11:42am Wednesday 13th January 2010 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

THE number of pupils as young as seven-years-old being permanently excluded from the borough's primary schools has more than doubled over the past year.

The sharp rise comes as Haringey Council prepares to implement a strategy to phase them out completely by 2012.

The data — obtained by a Freedom of Information (FoI) request — indicates the number of pupils, aged between seven and 11, who have been expelled during the 2008/09 academic year was at its highest peak since 2005.

Of the nine permanent exclusions, there were five cases of physical assault against an adult rasing concerns over the safety of teachers.

No violence against staff was recorded in the previous year.

Two of these incidents took place at Nightingale Primary School, in Bounds Green, which has an above average number of pupils with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties.

Other schocking incidents in Haringey schools included a physical assault against another pupil, one report of damage to property and two uncategorised exclusions.

The children were all aged between seven and 11.

Haringey councillor Lorna Reith, cabinet member for children and young people, dismissed the figure as an anomaly.

She said: "Haringey compares well with other London boroughs and we are talking about a very small increase this year.

"We hope to have no permanent exclusions at all by 2012 through a combination of appropriate alternative curriculum, peer mentoring and role modelling, addressing behaviour at a whole school level and taking an holistic approach to working with young people and their families."

A teachers' union spokesman agreed the figures should not be blown out of proportion, but admitted that schools found it difficult to exclude pupils, even for those pupils whose behavior is the most extreme.

Tony Brockman, chair of Haringey National Union of Teachers (NUT), said that while permanent exclusion should be used as a last resort, it was a necessary measure for managing behaviour in schools and could often help prevent serious incidents.

He said: "In many cases, teachers believe that children are being kept in mainstream schools when they are presenting health and safety risks to other pupils and staff.

"The pressure on schools not to exclude are enormous. That is why the residual rate of exclusions is very low, comprising of children presenting extreme emotional and behavioural problems. Our concern is that there are not sufficient resources to reduce expulsions further."

Liberal Democrat councillor Gail Engert, opposition spokesperson for children and young people, said it was important to identify why exclusions had risen in the borough.

Ms Engert said: "We need to understand the underlying reasons why expulsions from primary schools are increasing in Haringey.

"The council and schools need to analyse these cases and work together with the children and their families to make sure that support and intervention is provided at an early stage to avoid, where possible, repeat cases."

She added: "Statistics show that children who have been expelled often run into difficulties later on in life. Many people in prison were excluded from school. We need to nip it in the bud."