Permanent and Fixed Period Exclusions in England: 2014 to 2015

From Department of Education statistics (please see the link on the right).

The number of permanent exclusions across all state-funded primary, secondary and special schools has increased from 4,950 in 2013/14 to 5,800 in 2014/15. This corresponds to an average of around 31 permanent exclusions per day in 2014/15, up from an average of 26 per day in 2013/14.



Exclusions by pupil characteristics 


In 2014/15 we saw a similar pattern by pupil characteristics to previous years:

 age, national curriculum year group and gender
:

• Over half of all permanent and fixed period exclusions occur in national curriculum year 9 or above
.
• Just over a quarter of all permanent exclusions were for pupils aged 14, and pupils of this age group also had the highest rate of fixed period exclusion, and the highest rate of pupils receiving one or more fixed period exclusion.

• Boys were over three times more likely to receive a permanent exclusion and almost three times more likely to receive a fixed period exclusion than girls

.
• Free school meals (FSM) eligibility
.
• Pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals (FSM) were around four times more likely to receive a permanent or fixed period exclusion than those who are not eligible

.

Special educational need (SEN)


• Pupils with identified special educational needs (SEN) accounted for just over half of all permanent exclusions and fixed period exclusions
.
• Pupils with SEN support had the highest permanent exclusion rate and were over 7 times more likely to receive a permanent exclusion than pupils with no SEN
.
• Pupils with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan or with a statement of SEN had the highest fixed period exclusion rate and were almost 7 times more likely to receive a fixed period exclusion than pupils with no SEN

.

Ethnic group


• Pupils of Gypsy/Roma and Traveller of Irish Heritage ethnic groups had the highest rates of both permanent and fixed period exclusions, but as the population is relatively small these figures should be treated with some caution
.
• Black Caribbean pupils were over three times more likely to be permanently excluded than the school population as a whole. Pupils of Asian ethnic groups had the lowest rates of permanent and fixed period exclusion.