The Guardian - 31.08.2019

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:7 Edition Date:190831 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 30/8/2019 18:15 cYanmaGentaYellowbl

Sat urday 31 Aug ust 2019 The Guardian •

7

41 schools in England gave fixed-term exclusions

to at least one in five pupils in 2017-

50.2%

Exclusion rate at

Red House academy

Sunderland

40.3%

Exclusion rate at

North Shore academy

Stockton-on-Tees

34 schools had

exclusion rates of

20-29.9%

Great Yarmouth

Bournemouth

Portsmouth

Nottingham

Burnley

Bristol

Five schools had

exclusion rates of

30-39.9%

Four schools in

Doncaster have

rates above

20%

Four schools in

London have

rates above

20%

Source: Department for Education, permanent and fixed-period exclusions in England: 2017-

Source: Department for Education exclusions statistic

The proportion of pupils receiving

a fixed term exclusion has risen

every year since 2014-

Thousands

0

50

100

150

2013-14 14-15 15-16 16-17 2017-

School in academy chain suspends

more than half its students in a year

▲ Rob Tarn is the chief executive of

Northern Education Trust academies

Niamh McIntyre

Frances Perraudin

An English state school has suspended

more than half its pupils in a single

year for the fi rst time since records

began, Guardian analysis has found,

as national exclusion rates rise.

Red House academy in Sunderland,

run by the Northern Education Trust

(NET) academy chain, recorded the

highest fi xed-term exclusion rate in

England in the 2017/18 academic year.

It handed at least one fi xed-term exclu-

sion to 254 of its pupils – just over half

of all pupils attending the school.

A total of 41 schools excluded more

than one in fi ve pupils, 10 times the

national rate of 2.3%. Two academy

chains – Outwood Grange academies

trust (OGAT) and the NET – dominated

that list, with nine and seven of their

schools featuring respectively.

The NET runs 19 schools in the north

of England, while O GAT has 31 schools

in the north and the east Midlands. Rob

Tarn, the NET’s chief executive , was

the regional chief executive (north)

for OGAT until March 2017. Accord-

ing to the NET ’s accounts , he was paid

£183,000 last year.

The latest Department for Educa-

tion fi gures show that in the 2017/

school year the rate of fi xed-term

exclusions rose for the fourth con-

secutive year. A fi xed-term exclusion

is where a pupil is suspended from

school for a set time, usually up to

three days. The average length of

exclusion last year was two days.

This week the Guardian published

leaked government plans to improve

behaviour in schools through

extending exclusions and the use of

“reasonable force”, prompting teach-

ers and charity leaders to express

concern that such a move could tar-

get disadvantaged pupils.

This year’s highest fi xed term exclu-

sion rate was significantly higher

than last year’s, which was recorded

by the OGAT-run Outwood academy

Ormesby in Middlesbrough. The

school excluded 41% of its pupils in

the 2016/17 academic year.

The fi ndings come amid a debate

over the use of “zero-tolerance” or “no

excuses” behaviour policies – includ-

ing the regular use of isolation and

sending pupils home for minor indis-

cretions. Some argue the approach

is necessary to raise standards and

ensure a calm learning environment,

while others say it means children with

complex needs miss out.

The latest DfE fi gures show that

schools with highest exclusion rates

had on average 32% of pupils receiving

free school meals – more than double

the national average, which is 15%. At

Red House, the rate was 46.5%. Acade-

mies accounted for 39 of the 41 schools

with the highest rates, while just two

were run by a local authority.

In November 2017, the NET and

OGAT joined six other chains to form

the Northern Alliance of Trusts. Delta

Academies Trust, one of its members,

is run by Rob Tarn’s brother Paul , who

also used to work at OGAT.

One teacher, who worked at an NET

school with the highest exclusion

rates, said he witnessed pupils being

excluded for what he said were minor

off ences – from wearing jewellery to

having eyebrows deemed too dark.

“[The trust take over] these very,

very deprived schools and they come

in with a one-size-fi ts-all approach and

say: ‘If you don’t do things our way

then you are out, simple as’. It’s kind

of militaristic,” he said, adding that

pupils often fell behind with their work

because they were being excluded so

much. “There were times when I was

teaching 25 kids and you had four or

fi ve diff erent groups of starting points

because so many of them had been

given fi xed-term exclusions.”

Philip Tye, a councillor in Sunder-

land who sits on the local authority’s

children, education and skills scru-

tiny committee, said they had been

concerned about the high rates of

exclusions at several schools in the

area, including Red House academy.

“It fundamentally aff ects the edu-

cation of the child because, obviously,

if they are not in school, they are not

being educated,” he said. “Look at the

robust approach taken when parents

want to take their kids out of school

for a couple of days to go on holiday,

yet they’re saying they can exclude

pupils and it won’t have an impact on

their education.”

A spokesperson for the NET said the

proportion of Red House academy stu-

dents who attained a pass in English

and maths had risen from 32% in 2017

to 58% this year.

“Good discipline in schools is essen-

tial in ensuring that all children receive

the best education possible. At North-

ern Education Trust we would always

try to avoid the use of exclusion but we

do expect our students to comply with

our behaviour policy in order to create

an environment where everyone feels

safe and able to learn.

“Excluding students for short peri-

ods to refl ect on their behaviour does

not mean that we give up on them : it

means we care enough to say ‘no’.”

A spokesperson for O GAT said it

took on schools that needed improve-

ment in the most vulnerable parts of

the country, and that all but one of the

trust’s inspected academies had either

been rated as outstanding or good by

Ofsted. It said the use of fi xed-term

exclusions had fallen by 29% across

the trust since last year.

OGAT added: “Our approach of

using short suspensions [fi xed-term

exclusions ] in the face of extreme

behaviours from students, along with

signifi cant support to help students

obtain record results quickly, is a suc-

cessful one.”

A DfE spokesperson said: “Head-

teachers do not take the decision to

exclude lightly and we will continue

to back them in using permanent

exclusion as a last resort. Moreover,

exclusion from school should not

mean exclusion from education.”

£183,

The amount that Rob Tarn, who runs

19 schools, was paid by the Northern

Education Trust last year

The mega cruise

Six continents, 245

days, £67, ...

Page 19

Film review

Renée Zellweger stars

in Judy Garland biopic

Page 17

▲ Red House academy in Sunderland recorded the most fi xed-term exclusions PHOTOGRAPH: CRAIG CONNOR/NORTH NEWS & PICTURES

RELEASED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws