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Press release: Schools need help tackling problem of education for excluded pupils

Nearly a third of schools surveyed are failing to provide pupils who have been excluded with suitable alternative full-time education, according to a report published today by Ofsted, the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills.

The report, Day six of exclusion: the extent and quality of provision for pupils, reveals that eight of the 28 secondary schools and two of the three special schools visited by Ofsted failed to comply with this duty, brought in under the Education and Inspections Act 2006. Although six of these schools did make some provision on their own site to ensure continuity of learning, they did not work in partnership with other schools as they were required to do.

The act requires schools to provide suitable full-time education, either off-site or in partnership with other schools, from day six of a pupil’s exclusion where previously it was day 16. Local authorities are also required to make suitable arrangements for permanently excluded pupils from day six.

Christine Gilbert, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, said: “Ofsted’s survey shows that some schools are struggling to provide suitable alternative full-time education for excluded pupils. It is essential that all schools are given the help they need to ensure their excluded pupils continue to receive their education. I hope that this report will help those responsible improve the quality of their provision.”

There were 128 exclusions for six days or more across the 36 schools surveyed during the academic year 2007/08. Five of the secondary schools had not excluded any pupils for more than six days during the year, while one secondary school had used longer-term exclusion 23 times.Although the small sample size means it is difficult to draw wider comparisons, the survey would suggest that a positive outcome of the new requirement was that the number of exclusions of six days or more fell in 23 of the secondary schools in the survey.

The survey findings suggest that schools have responded to the act’s requirement by deciding not to exclude as many pupils for longer periods, instead they put greater emphasis on prevention. Managed moves in seven of the schools enabled young people to have a fresh start, reducing the need for formal exclusion.

Seven of the 26 schools that met the requirement used Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) to support pupils and 13 educated them on site or within the partnership. Only a handful of schools used alternative providers and two used local authority provision, such as the youth service.

Twelve of the 18 local authorities provided effective guidance and so their schools were able to support pupils well. However weak guidance and support from local authorities led to weak provision for excluded pupils and, in one case, a failure to comply with the legal requirements. Two of the authorities were unable to report what their schools were doing for excluded pupils from day six.

Although 16 of the local authorities had identified their PRU to provide education for permanently excluded pupils, in practice eight of them did not meet the requirement since the legal requirement was reduced from day 16 to day six. This was commonly blamed on a lack of capacity in the PRU, despite the fact that the DCSF had issued guidance to local authorities identifying that capacity in PRUs might need their attention.

The key recommendations from the report are:

The Department for Children, Schools and Families should:

• support schools by gathering and disseminating examples of good practice in meeting the day six regulations to suit a range of situations.

Local authorities should:

• take steps to ensure that full-time and suitable provision for all permanently excluded pupils is in place from day six.

Schools should:

• ensure that they meet the current requirements fully by providing full-time education for each excluded pupil from day six.

Ofsted should:

• ensure it incorporates monitoring and evaluation of provision for permanently excluded pupils into its new inspection of safeguarding in local authorities.

Notes For Editors

1. The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) regulates and inspects registered childcare and children's social care, including adoption and fostering agencies, residential schools, family centres and homes for children. It also inspects all state maintained schools, non-association independent schools, pupil referral units, further education, initial teacher education, and publicly funded adult skills and employment-based training, the Children and Family Courts Advisory Service (Cafcass), and the overall level of services for children in local authority areas.

2. Media can contact the Ofsted Press Office through 020 7421 6899 or via Ofsted's enquiry line 08456 404040 between 8.30am - 6.30pm Monday - Friday. Out of these hours, during evenings and weekends, the duty press officer can be reached on 07919 057359.

3. The report, Day six of exclusion: the extent and quality of provision for pupils, can be found on the Ofsted website.

4. The report, ‘Day six of exclusion: the extent and quality of provision for pupils’, is based on visits by inspectors to 28 secondary, five primary and three special schools, 16 pupil referral units (PRUs) and two other types of provision for permanently excluded pupils in 18 local authorities during the autumn 2008 term. The major focus of the inspection was on secondary schools, since the largest number of exclusions occur there. During the visits, inspectors held discussions with local authority representatives, headteachers, other senior managers, staff, parents, carers and pupils. Lessons were observed and documents scrutinised. Schools and local authorities provided data for inspectors about exclusions.

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