In the report of Labour Councillor Philippa Storey, Middlesbrough Council’s executive member for education, being presented to full council on Wednesday 10 September, it is confirmed that during the 2024/25 academic year, the number of permanent exclusions (also known as expulsions) have once again seen a decline.
In 2022/23, there were a total of 112 permanent exclusions from schools across Middlesbrough. This figure saw a marginal decrease in 2023/24 to 111 and a bigger drop to 106 in the most recently completed academic year. It is worth noting that these figures are all more than double the number recorded in 2021/22 – a year which saw 52 permanent exclusions.
There continues to be high levels of suspension in the town, however the days lost to this cause have now reduced, with detailed data of these statistics set to be available to the public in 2026.
On the permanent exclusions, Cllr Storey’s report said: “This is the third consecutive year that there has been a reduction and there is evidence of the rate plateauing and beginning to reduce.” Documents explain that the most frequent reason for exclusion is “persistent disruptive behaviour”, which is in line with previous years as well as regional and national data.
The government’s website explains that headteachers have the ability to exclude children if they misbehave either inside or outside of school. There are two types of exclusion: suspension (sometimes referred to as fixed-term or fixed-period exclusion) and permanent exclusion (sometimes called expulsion).
A suspension occurs when a child is removed temporarily from school. They can only be removed for up to 45 school days in one school year, even if they’ve changed schools. If a child has been suspended for a fixed period, schools should set and mark work for the first five school days. If the suspension is longer than five school days, the school must arrange suitable full-time education from the sixth school day, for example, at a pupil referral unit.
Permanent exclusion means a child is no longer allowed to attend a school. The local council must arrange full-time education from the sixth school day. The school or local council must inform parents about any alternative education they arrange. It’s a parent’s responsibility to make sure their child attends.
Middlesbrough does continue to have high levels of suspension compared to regional and national rates. But documents add: “The growth rate for suspensions in Middlesbrough is significantly lower than the growth rate seen in regional and statistical neighbour local authorities.”
The number of days lost to suspension in Middlesbrough has reduced, which is bucking the trend when compared to regional and statistical neighbour local authorities, who are seeing increasing rates of suspension and increasing days lost, according to the report going in front of full council. The data for 2024/25 will be published by the Department for Education in June 2026.
While the early indications are that the trend of plateauing growth and a reduction in days lost is continuing, Cllr Storey says: “This does not mean that work around this can stop – it absolutely must continue and the rates must reduce further and continue the downward trajectory.”
