A SECONDARY school in York carried out 45 exclusions per 100 pupils in the last academic year - a rate of 17 per cent - and students in the city are excluded at a higher rate than England’s average.
York High School, a state secondary in Cornlands Road in Acomb, carried out the most exclusions in the 2020-21 academic year, of which 327 were temporary and five were permanent – a rate of 45 per 100 pupils.
Department for Education figures show that there were a total of 1,205 permanent or temporary exclusions across the 61 state schools in York that academic year, a rate of 4.7 exclusions for every 100 pupils – above the 4.3 average across England.
York High School head, Rod Sims, said: “At York High we refuse to compromise on our excellent standards of behaviour for learning. The school really is a place where children can learn and teachers can teach. All visitors to our wonderful school comment on this.
“Our rapid and sustained improvement has been underpinned by our robust behaviour system. To allow all students to achieve their potential, we use suspensions only as a last resort, in line with our policy and national guidance.
“The main reason that we suspend students is when they refuse to moderate their behaviour despite a wealth of support, repeated advice and patience from our highly trained staff.
“Permanent exclusions are rare and would only be issued in response to serious breaches of the behaviour policy.
“I would welcome anyone to visit York High School to see the calm, inclusive and purposeful learning environment and of course the culture of mutual respect between all staff and students.”
York High School was last inspected by Ofsted in January 2017, and received an ‘inadequate' rating, however the school’s website says it has seen a “rapid and sustained improvement in its Quality of Education, Behaviour and Attitudes, Leadership and Management and Personal Development.”
The other schools with the highest exclusion rates in York in 2020-21 were:
- Vale of York Academy, Rawcliffe Drive, Clifton, at a rate of 32.4 per 100 pupils
- Millthorpe School, Nunthorpe Avenue, South Bank, at a rate of nine
- Joseph Rowntree School, Haxby Road, New Earswick, at a rate of 8.9
- Burton Green Primary School, Clifton, at a rate of 7.8
Vale of York had ordered 199 exclusions with two being permenant. However in the academic year 2021-22, this dropped to 163 at a rate of 24.9 with none being permenant.
Head Toby Eastaugh said "As with most schools, pupil exclusion is absolutely our last resort, but in a very small number of cases, it is the only option left for us.
"With the support of the Hope Sentamu Learning Trust, we work hard to do everything we can to try to make sure we do not reach this stage. I am proud to say that the majority of our students are very well behaved."
The Hope Sentamu Learning Trust came about in September 2021, merging Hope Learning Trust York and Sentamu Academy Learning Trust.
Vale of York was rated 'good' by Ofsted at their last inspection in November 2019.
Mr Estaugh added: "This is largely due to our firm but fair behaviour policy which ensures that persistent poor behaviour is dealt with swiftly, so that the majority of students do not suffer as a result of a small minority. Unfortunately, this does occasionally result in an exclusion.”
At the other end of the scale, 28 York schools did not exclude a single pupil.
Across England 37 per cent of schools did not exclude any students while almost a dozen issued more exclusions than they have pupils.
The Children’s Society say there needs to be stronger government guidance on school exclusions.
The organisation say behavioural issues are often an indication of larger issues, such as unmet special educational needs, bullying or abuse, which some schools may lack awareness of how to tackle.
- An earlier version of this story reported that 45 per cent of pupils at York High School had been excluded in the last academic year. The actual figure is 45 exclusions per 100 pupils in the last academic year. The figure can include pupils who has been excluded more than once. In all, 17 per cent of pupils were excluded in the last academic year at York High School. The Press is happy to clarify this point.
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