Increase in pupil suspensions from schools in Northumberland due to racial abuse

Department for Education figures show there were 45 suspensions at Northumberland schools for racial abuse during the 2022-23 spring term, significantly up from 20 across the same period the year before.

This follows the national trend with 3,779 suspensions for racial abuse recorded across English schools, a 21% rise from spring 2021-22.

The figures also show a substantial increase compared to spring term in 2018-19, before the pandemic, when there were 1,690 such temporary exclusions. In Northumberland schools, pupils were suspended on 11 occasions during this period.

Becca Rosenthal, hate crime lead at Victim Support, said: “This increase in suspensions and exclusions could be an indicator that schools are clamping down on this behaviour, rather than reflecting an actual rise in racist abuse.

"It is vital that schools and youth services have the tools to tackle racist abuse and staff are confident in having challenging conversations.”

There was a total of 2,298 temporary suspensions in Northumberland, a 34% increase compared to the year before. On average, those suspended missed 4.2 days from school.

Pupils were suspended for bullying 10 times.

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said these cases are linked to wider societal issues such as access to hateful and prejudiced online content.

He said: “There is a wider issue about behaviour in general which we believe is linked to factors such as the erosion in local support services for families and children and unmet special educational needs.

“More investment is needed in these areas as well as more regulation to prevent hateful online content.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Racism, discrimination, and violent behaviour have no place in our schools, nor in society.

“The government is very clear it backs head teachers to use exclusions where required so they can provide calm, safe, and supportive environments for children to learn in.

“We are providing targeted support to schools to help improve behaviour, attendance, and reduce the risk of exclusions with an investment of £10m in our behaviour hubs programme and our mental health teams, who will reach at least 50% of pupils by 2025.”