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Fewer excluded over bullying at West Midland schools

Schools in the West Midlands have seen a decrease in the average number of pupils excluded for bullying, new figures reveal.

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The Department of Education figures have been examined by Oxford Home Schooling, comparing schools across the country from the 2016 to 2017 academic year to 2017 to 2018.

Schools in Wolverhampton have seen a 53 per cent decrease - 34 down to 16 - with only one exclusion per 2,893 students during 2017 to 2018.

Other schools in Walsall and Sandwell reflect these figures, with exclusions in Walsall decreasing by 26 per cent and Sandwell by 32 per cent.

The only borough that did not reflect the regional average was Dudley, with schools reporting an increase in exclusions of 26 per cent.

Dr Nick Smith, principal at Oxford Home Schooling, said: "Exclusions for bullying vary significantly across the country. This could be due to a mixture of factors, including the natural variation in behaviour standards across England.

"Funding is always an issue when it comes to education and with schools facing enormous budget cuts over recent years, resources are as stretched as they’ve ever been.

"Class sizes are rising and this often leads to poor behaviour. Exclusions can be seen as a way of addressing this problem - removing the source of the disruption and reducing the class size at the same time.

"However, across the country, the average number of school exclusions has decreased by 14 per cent since 2016 to 2017. This could be due to widespread improvement in children’s behaviour, but it is more likely a result of schools introducing new measures to deal with such incidents.

"It is encouraging to see that in many areas the numbers of exclusions for bullying are decreasing. While this doesn’t necessarily mean that bullying is becoming less of an issue."

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