Southwark first local authority in country to stop excluding pupils

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

Schools in Southwark will stop kicking kids out for behaving badly under new council plans.

Secondary schools in the borough will agree to keep all children in education even if they are disruptive – but not if they put other kids’ safety at risk.

Teachers will be told not to treat naughty kids’ behaviour at “face value.” Instead they will be encouraged to take a “trauma-informed” response to misbehaving children, where they try to understand the cause of their behaviour.

Southwark council is the first local authority in the country to have schools sign-up to an agreement not to exclude pupils.

Councillors hope the borough will be the first in England to exclude zero pupils in the coming years. Schools in Southwark managed to exclude no students in the Autumn 2021 term.

The pledge to stop exclusions will be signed by schools and the council.

The local police will also be asked to commit to the agreement, which reads: “Our aspiration is for 100 per cent inclusion of children in education that keeps them safe and enables them to flourish. Where appropriate, we will implement a trauma-informed response to behaviour of concern in children.

“By this, we mean not taking concerning behaviour at face value, but striving to understand what is driving that behaviour. […] We will strive for best practice across our policies and processes and towards 100 per cent inclusion approaches to behaviour in education settings.”

Southwark schools excluded 49 pupils in 2018 but efforts to reduce permanent suspensions mean the number has plummeted in the years since then.

In 2019, 36 students were excluded from school and in 2020 that number more than halved to ten. In Autumn 2021, not a single child was excluded from schools in the borough.

Black and ethnic minority kids are excluded at unequal rates to white kids in Southwark. Children in care and those with disabilities or special educational needs are also excluded at a higher rate than other kids.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting on July 18, Cllr Jasmine Ali, cabinet member for children, young people and education, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to bring this charter.

“In 2018 we were rightly concerned that 49 pupils were excluded from education in this borough and they were disproportionately represented by children and young people of black and minority ethnic backgrounds, special education need or disability and many of them had care experience. Even one child excluded from school in this borough is one too many.”

Pictured top: Southwark council offices in Tooley Street (Picture: Stephen Craven)