Nearly 50 Primary School Pupils A Day Suspended For Assaulting Teachers

Nearly 50 Primary School Pupils A Day Suspended For Assaulting Teachers
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Peter Cade
children eating school dinner

Nearly 50 primary school pupils a day are suspended for assaulting teachers.

New figures reveal that schoolchildren aged five to 11 were suspended 9,080 times for assault against an adult in 2012/13, up five per cent from 8,630 in 2011/12,

The total number of suspensions in state primary schools rose slightly year on year but fell in secondary schools for the sixth year in a row.

Department for Education figures also showed that number of state pupils being permanently expelled from primary and secondary school has also fallen, from 5,080 in 2011/12 to 4,570 last year.

Boys are still three times as likely to be permanently or temporarily removed from school than girls.

The Government said the statistics showed how its reforms to give headteachers powers to stamp out bad behaviour were working.

School Reform Minister Nick Gibb said: "A tiny minority of disruptive children can absorb almost all of a teacher's time and attention, and have an enormously negative impact on the education of other pupils.

"We have given heads and teachers more power than ever before to ensure strong discipline in school, so they can take action before exclusion becomes necessary.

"We have introduced new search powers, no-notice detentions, and have put schools back in charge of exclusion appeals.

"We are also tackling the causes of exclusion by improving the quality of teaching, tackling disadvantage through the pupil premium, overhauling the Special Educational Needs (SEN) system and making radical improvements to alternative provision.

"These figures give further confirmation that our reforms are starting to have a real impact on improving behaviour in schools and this is supported by teachers on the ground - in 2013, more teachers rated their school's behaviour as good or very good than when previously surveyed in 2008.

"And 130,000 fewer pupils are persistently missing class than in 2010."

As well as 9,080 attacks on teachers, the figures show there were 8,740 attacks by primary pupils on other students in 2012/13, down from 9,120 the previous academic year.

Violence in schools against teachers and other pupils accounted for almost half – 47 per cent - of all primary pupil suspensions, although 'persistent disruptive behaviour' was the single most common factor, accounting for 26 per cent of suspensions.

In contrast, at state secondary schools there were 4,690 suspensions for attacks on adults, or 2.2 per cent of the total suspensions, and 40,780 for attacks on other students (18.9 per cent).

Persistent disruptive behaviour, which saw 52,080 pupils suspended, was the largest single cause of suspensions.

It also accounted for 30.8 per cent of all school expulsions, the figures showed.