Rise in pupils excluded from school

Traditionally, exclusion from school has been the last resort for pupils who were so disruptive it made teaching others impossible. But according to an MPs’ report out today, rising numbers of young people are being banished from mainstream education for a host of other reasons.

They’re concerned the trend is affecting children living in poverty, in the care system, or with special educational needs disproportionally, and that schools are shedding pupils less likely to achieve high grades in order to boost results. We have been to a specialist unit in London to talk to excluded young people.