Agenda item

The Panel will consider a report giving the current context around exclusions and suspensions in Kirklees and planned actions to support work in reducing these.

Contact:         Kelsey Clark-Davies, Head of Inclusion and Educational

Safeguarding

The Panel received a report on the current context around exclusions and suspensions in Kirklees and planned actions to support work in reducing them which was presented by Kelsey Clark-Davies, Head of Educational Safeguarding & Inclusion.

The Panel was informed that every year 8,000 children in the UK were permanently excluded from school.  Often children ended up in alternative provisions and not back in mainstream education.  School exclusion was directly linked with poorer life outcomes, these factors alongside school exclusions put some of the most vulnerable children and young people at greater risk of criminal exploitation.  These children deserved and needed the best possible support that could be provided.  They were more likely to live in poverty, have special educational needs or be looked after by the state.

Kelsey Clark-Davies explained that there had been an increase in permanent exclusions and suspensions across Kirklees which applied mainly to boys and secondary schools.  The main reason for exclusion and suspensions was around persistent disruptive behaviour.  It was noted that reducing exclusions and suspensions in Kirklees was a priority, with both the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) transformation plan and the Our Kirklees future learning strategy outlining a number of key actions underway. The Panel was informed that there was a need to refresh the approach to identify and support the needs of children and young people at a much earlier stage.  Projects were being implemented to develop specialist placements across the alternative provisions sector and wider special educational needs and disabilities sector along with training, learning and upskilling.

In response to a question from the Panel, which asked if a zero-exclusion policy within Kirklees was realistic, Kelsey Clark-Davies advised that it was Kirklees ambition to have zero exclusions, but there may be an instance when there was a need for the sanction, there would be enough support at the right place at the right time to prevent any sanctions. It was noted that schools for children with special needshad not experienced any exclusions for a number or years.

In response to questions from the Panel, on the number of academies which excluded children, compared to community schools, and how confident the service was that the same standards was applied across academies and community schools, Jo-Anne Sanders advised that a breakdown of information on the proportion of schools that were primary academies, compared to secondary academies would be beneficial to the Panel, as they were different.

In response to a question from the Panel, which asked what the progress was in the additionally resourced provisions, Kelsey Clark-Davies advised that there were 5 additionally resourced provisions were due to be opened in September 2023, which included –

-       two primary social emotional and mental health provisions

-       one primary cognition and learning resource provision

-       one primary communication and interaction provision and

-       one secondary communication and interaction provision

During a discussion regarding the progress on the cultural change towards supporting schools in developing a trauma informed approach and how progress would be measured, Kelsey Clark-Davies agreed that a report would be provided to future panel meetings to show how progress was measured.

During a discussion around ethnicity breakdown, living in wards and high risk of criminality, Kelsey Clark-Davies advised that living in wards was in reference to a cluster of schools in which the young people attend within that ward. The report provided information where there were higher exclusions or suspensions for ethnicity groups, and national research showed there was a risk of criminality from young people who had been excluded from school.

RESOLVED:

1)    That further information be provided to the Panel on the proportion of schools that were primary academies compared to secondary academies.

2)    That a future report be provided on how progress was measured on the cultural change to supporting schools in developing a trauma informed approach,

3)    That Officers in Children’s Services be thanked for their presentation.