Pupil expulsions and suspensions jump to record

SUSPENSIONS and exclusions from schools in England have hit a record high for recent times, Government figures show.

- By Eleanor Busby

There were 954,952 suspensions in the 2023/24 academic year, up 21% on the year before when there were 786,961.

There were 10,885 permanent exclusions in 2023/24, compared with 9,376 the year before — a rise of 16%, according to the Department for Education data.

The increase comes amid warnings of challenging behaviour in classrooms following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Suspensions, which are when a pupil is excluded for a set period, rose in state primary schools by nearly a quarter in a year. They were up 24%, from 84,264 in 2022/23 to 104,803 in 2023/24, figures show.