Diane Abbott calls on heads in Hackney to tackle exclusions

31 Jul 2012
Diane Abbott is calling on headteachers in schools in Hackney to do more to keep pupils in school as the latest figures reveal that the numbers of exclusion in Hackney are on the rise.

Ms Abbott asked a parliamentary question and discovered that in 2009/10 1,810 pupils were excluded for a fixed period of time from schools in the borough[1]. In 2010/11 that figure rose to 2,090 or 7% of the school population.

Ms Abbott said: “It’s disappointing that while the number of exclusions in London is going down in Hackney the figure is going up.

While disruptive pupils need to be disciplined we cannot give up on our young people. We know from last year’s riots that if you exclude young people and disenfranchise them they will make their voice heard one way or another. We cannot exclude pupils from our schools because this means we
eventually see them in our criminal justice system.

I know that this is an issue for many of my constituents and I have asked the government to publish a list of exclusions by school so that parents can know all the facts. We have known that certain communities suffer worse from exclusions and these latest figures confirm this. A shocking 19% (or 583 school children) of black Caribbean heritage in Hackney were excluded from school last year.  Nationally, 11% of black Caribbean were excluded.  To put that in context nationally 5% of white British pupils were excluded from school last year.

I think our headteachers need to do more and instead of giving up on pupils we must find a way to engage our pupils using the carrot as well as the stick with methods such as mentoring.[2]”

--Ends—

For more information contact Toby Bakare on 02072194426

[1] Parliamentary question on school exclusions was asked by Diane Abbott, answer
can be found here: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2012-07-09b.115187.h&s=diane+abbott#g115187.q0

[2] Statistical information obtained from statistical release on school exclusions
2010/11: http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001080/index.shtml





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