Get out! Huge rise in number of expelled pupils in Dudley
The number of children expelled from Dudley secondary schools has risen by 75 per cent over a three year period, new figures reveal.
Nearly half of the 89 students kicked out in 2014/15 left because of persistent disruptive behaviour.
Council chiefs labelled the numbers as 'a very rapid rise'. In the 2012/2013 school year 51 pupils were permanently excluded across Key Stage 4 with that figure leaping to 89 for 2014/2015, seeing an increase of 75 per cent. In 2013/2014 75 children were expelled.
The highest increase came from Year 10 pupils with 11 expelled in 2012/2013 rising to 28 in 2014/2015. A total of 24 were excluded in 2013/2014.
Councillor David Vickers, who sits on the council's People Services Scrutiny Committee, urged for more to be be done, saying 'children were the future'. He said: "We need to do some hard work. I am disappointed with the figures that this report shows."
Councillor Ian Cooper, cabinet member for children's services, said:
"The education authority is working with all schools to try to reduce the need for permanent exclusions and this proactive approach has already seen a much lower rate of permanent exclusions in the current academic year, to a level which is already less than a half of what it was at the same point last year."
Councillor Vickers added: "The children are our future in this borough. We need to generate more ideas to know how we can move forward."
Data also revealed that six schools have expelled 15 or more pupils during that same period, with three schools excluding 21 or more. But bosses stated there was an 'enormous variation' between schools.
The School Standards Report 2015 stated: "The raw numbers of exclusions, at 74 for the year 2013-14, is higher than all other local authorities except Birmingham and Staffordshire.
"Both are much larger authorities. As a proportion of the school population, the rate of permanent exclusion is more than twice as high as most of our closest geographical neighbours. These figure hide an enormous variation between schools. One school has only permanently excluded one student, and another only two, during the last three years six schools have permanently excluded 15 or more during that period, with three schools excluding 21 or more. The majority in the secondary phase are for persistent disruptive behaviour at 46 per cent."
