School suspensions hit record high in Wolverhampton - but how does the city compare with the rest of the UK?
The number of school suspensions handed out in the last academic year in Wolverhampton was the highest on record, new figures show.
Figures from the Department for Education show that 3,186 suspensions were handed out in Wolverhampton schools during the 2023/24 academic year – up from 3,068 one year earlier.
It was also the highest figure since local records began in 2006/07, and means the area had a rate of 6.4 suspensions per 100 pupils last year.
The release of the data comes after the school leaders' union NAHT warned the causes of classroom disruption "lie beyond the school gates".
Across England, there were about 955,000 suspensions in the 2023/24 academic year, the highest on record.
Permanent exclusions also reached a record level, with 10,900 recorded last year, a number that included 101 exclusions in Wolverhampton.
Beth Prescott, education lead at the Centre for Social Justice, said: "There is a crisis of bad behaviour disrupting classrooms. Government and schools have an important role to play, but our research shows that parents also need to up their game and take responsibility for their children’s behaviour in class.
"There has been a fundamental breakdown in the school-parent social contract."
The figures also showed pupils on free school meals and those receiving special educational needs support faced a higher rate of suspensions.
Wolverhampton recorded a rate of 11.4 suspensions per 100 pupils receiving free school meals – 3.8 times the rate for pupils not receiving them.
Meanwhile, the area had a rate of 16.9 suspensions per 100 pupils with special educational needs, which was 4.2 times the rate for children not receiving support.
Avnee Morjaria, associate director at the Institute for Public Policy Research, said: "Those hardest hit are often the most disadvantaged: children from low-income families, those with special educational needs, and those from minority ethnic backgrounds.
"Schools are overstretched and under-supported, and without urgent action, we risk letting this crisis of lost learning become a lasting legacy.
"We need bold reform, investing in a system that is inclusive by design instead of support being locked behind legislative thresholds."
