One school suspends quarter of pupils in year

Mar 18 2008

By Jenny Clover


MORE than a quarter of all pupils suspended in one borough came from one school, according to Government figures.

Strict bosses at the Harris Academy in Peckham suspended nearly 30 per cent of its pupils - 319 youngsters - in one year.

In the same 12-month period, Southwark's eight council-maintained secondary schools suspended a total of 721 children.

But Harris bosses say their no-nonsense approach was necessary to get the former troubled Warwick Park School under control.

The total number of students given fixed-period exclusions at the Peckham school represent 28.36 per cent of its population - the national average was 10.4 per cent.


The Department for Children, Families and Schools figures relate to 2005/06 - the latest year for which figures have been released.

That year, the academy permanently excluded 13 pupils, or 1.16 per cent of its pupils.

The Harris Federation, which runs six schools in South London, has spoken about it strict discipline rules.

But the other four Southwark academies that were open at the time only expelled 106 pupils.

The City of London Academy on Lynton Road, gave 21 fixed-period exclusions, or 3.66 per cent of the school population. The Harris Academy in Bermondsey excluded 56 pupils and the Harris Girls' Academy in East Dulwich suspended 29.

Michael Davern, joint secretary of Southwark National Union of Teachers, said: "Instead of looking at the causes of this bad behaviour and making time to talk to the children to find out why they behave like this, it seems they are just taking the easy option and excluding them.

"This zero-tolerance approach doesn't allow for individual circumstances and you can't run a school like that."

Dan Moynihan, CEO of the Harris Federation, said a zero-tolerance approach to bad behaviour was necessary in the first few years of taking over the difficult Warwick Park school.

He said: "The school had to set out its stall in terms of discipline to make it clear to youngsters what was acceptable.

"In the following year, 2006/07, the number of fixed-term exclusions dropped hugely to 124.

"Peckham is a very challenging area and here is a school that is actually doing rather well.

"Its GCSE attainment levels are improving and Ofsted said it was a good school."

He said the 28 per cent figure included pupils suspended more than once.