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 •
741 schools in England gave fixed-term exclusions
to at least one in five pupils in 2017-50.2%
Exclusion rate at
Red House academy
Sunderland40.3%
Exclusion rate at
North Shore academy
Stockton-on-Tees34 schools had
exclusion rates of
20-29.9%Great YarmouthBournemouthPortsmouthNottinghamBurnleyBristolFive 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 statisticThe proportion of pupils receiving
a fixed term exclusion has risen
every year since 2014-
Thousands0501001502013-14 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 academiesNiamh McIntyre
Frances PerraudinAn 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 academyOrmesby 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 kindof 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.ӣ183,
The amount that Rob Tarn, who runs
19 schools, was paid by the Northern
Education Trust last yearThe mega cruise
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Page 17▲ Red House academy in Sunderland recorded the most fi xed-term exclusions PHOTOGRAPH: CRAIG CONNOR/NORTH NEWS & PICTURESRELEASED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws