Temporary exclusions in East Lancashire schools on the rise (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Temporary exclusions in East Lancashire schools on the rise

1:00pm Wednesday 15th August 2012 in News By Lisa Woodhouse, Assistant picture editor

TEMPORARY pupil exclusions have seen a sharp rise in Burnley and Rossendale.

In Burnley, 552 fixed term exclusions were enforced on 224 pupils — a rise of 181 incidents in 2010/11 compared to the previous year.

Rossendale also saw a rise from 311 to 393 incidents — an increase of 82 — for the same period.

The number of permanent exclusions has reduced slightly across Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale, while there has been a slight increase from 11 to 13 in Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley.

County Councillor Susie Charles, cabinet member for children and schools, said: “The raw data on exclusions does not tell the full story.

“Figures can vary year on year depending on individual headteachers’ policies, such as ‘zero tolerance’ periods for specific types of incident, or the same pupil being excluded more than once.

“However it is heartening to see that overall the percentages of pupils being excluded is low.

“The vast majority of schoolchildren in Lancashire want make the most of their time at school without getting into trouble, and the figures bear this out."

Meanwhile in Blackburn with Darwen the number of secondary exclusions have increased from seven to 21.

The number of temporary exclusions and permanent exclusions within primary schools have dropped slightly compared to last year.

The number of permanent exclusions in 2010/11 reduced by half to two.

And the number of temporary exclusions in primary schools dropped from 103 to 93, compared to a decrease of 414 for 400 for secondary schools within Blackburn with Darwen.